Buckeyes’ slide continues with loss to No. 2 IU
It wasn’t just one bad quarter this time for the Ohio State women’s basketball team against Indiana.
When the teams played in Bloomington on Jan. 26, the Buckeyes more than held their own except for a disastrous third quarter in which they were outscored by 21 points in a 78-65 loss.
Monday night at Value City Arena, the Hoosiers left no doubt about their superiority. No. 2 Indiana shot 72.4% in the first half to take a 25-point lead in an 8359 victory over the No. 13 Buckeyes.
“Give Indiana credit,” Ohio State coach Kevin Mcguff said. “They were just better than us tonight from start to finish. They especially started really well, and we got a little bit rattled with the start that we had.”
The Buckeyes (21-5, 10-5) did show some grit by having a much better third quarter than they did three weeks ago against IU.
A 15-2 run cut Indiana’s lead to 10 late in the period before the Hoosiers stretched it back to 15 entering the fourth quarter.
The blowout shouldn’t have been that shocking. Indiana (24-1, 14-1) is on a roll. The Hoosiers’ lone loss came Dec. 29 against Michigan State.
For Ohio State, which has lost five of seven after a 19-0 start, the mounting injuries
appear to have reached a critical mass. The Buckeyes will be without guard Madison Greene the rest of the year. Jacy Sheldon, who returned against Maryland from her foot injury, didn’t play for a second straight game. Forward Rebeka Mikulasikova also didn’t play after spraining an ankle against Minnesota last week.
“It is tough,” Mcguff said, “but as I told them, no one’s going to feel sorry for us, so we better toughen up and find ways to win.”
Without Mikulasikova to guard Indiana’s star post player Mackenzie Holmes, the Buckeyes had no answers defensively in the first half. Eboni Walker tried gamely to contain Holmes, who had 33 points on 15-of-18 shooting. But when the Buckeyes tried to provide help, the Hoosiers’ ball movement and hot shooting allowed them to build a big lead.