Ohio State loses to Maryland at buzzer
Through the first 19 games of the season, the Ohio State women's basketball team was on a roll. The Buckeyes absorbed injuries to Jacy Sheldon and Madison Greene and somehow kept winning.
That luck ran out a month ago, when Iowa handed Ohio State its first loss. Suddenly, what had started as a dream season — 19 straight wins for the second time in program history, and the team's best start ever — began to fall apart. The Buckeyes lost to Indiana, Purdue, Maryland and Indiana again over the course of three weeks, managing to win only against the bottom feeders of the Big Ten.
But after a win at No. 12 Michigan on Monday, Ohio State coach Kevin Mcguff felt something different about his team. The Buckeyes were getting back to the form that carried them through the first 19 games of the season.
On Friday at Value City Arena, in a rematch against the No. 7 Terrapins after losing by 36 points on Feb. 5, No. 16 Ohio State came within a split-second of seeing its luck return. Freshman forward Cotie Mcmahon's last-second putback was ruled to have left her hand just after the buzzer sounded, giving Maryland the 76-74 win rather than forcing overtime.
But after being dominated by the Terrapins in the first meeting, Friday's loss was markedly different. The Buckeyes
went toe-to-toe with Maryland for all 40 minutes, coming up just short in the end.
"I told them it should really, really hurt," Mcguff said. "When you invest as much energy, effort, togetherness into a game and you don't get the win, it's really hard. It should hurt. That's the tough part of college athletics.
"But we walked out of College Park
three weeks ago and didn't compete, quite frankly. We shouldn't have felt bad about ourselves. We shouldn't have felt angry that we didn't win, because we didn't put enough into it. Tonight, we put enough into it to win. They just made a couple more plays than we did. That was the difference."
With 11.3 seconds left and the Terrapins still leading 75-74, Maryland's Abby
Meyers went to the free throw line and made one of the two shots, putting Maryland ahead by two. Rikki Harris was fouled on the inbound play and stepped to the line, but she missed both shots. Mcmahon came up with the offensive rebound and missed a layup under the basket, but the ball stayed with Ohio State with 5.9 seconds left.
Maryland poked the ball out of bounds, forcing the Buckeyes to reset with 4.7 seconds left on the clock. Taylor Thierry's jump shot bounced off the rim, and Mcmahon elevated for a putback at the buzzer, which would have forced overtime.
The Buckeyes maintained brief hope for a moment, but officials ruled that Mcmahon's shot went in just after the final buzzer sounded. Despite the two that didn't count, Mcmahon finished with a team-high 20 points.
With the loss, Ohio State ends the regular season 23-6 overall and 12-6 in the Big Ten. The Buckeyes secured the No. 4 seed for the Big Ten Tournament with the win over Michigan on Monday, so their next game will be Friday in Minneapolis in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament.
MARYLAND 76, OHIO STATE 74
MARYLAND - Masonius 1-1 0-0 2, Meyers 11-15 1-2 24, Miller 7-17 2-2 16, Pinzan 1-2 0-0 2, Sellers 2-9 3-4 7, Alexander 4-10 4-4 16, Briggs 3-7 0-0 8, Mcdaniel 0-0 1-2 1. Totals: 29-61 11-14 76.
OHIO STATE - Mcmahon 8-14 3-7 20, Walker 0-3 0-4 0, Harris 1-4 2-4 4, Mikesell 6-16 2-2 18, Thierry 7-15 1-3 16, Mikulasikova 6-8 0-0 13, Shumate 1-3 0-0 3. Totals: 29-63 8-20 74.
Maryland 15 23 20 18 - 76
Ohio State 16 17 30 11 - 74
3-point goals: Alexander 4, Briggs 2, Meyers; Mikesell 4, Thierry, Mikulasikova, Shumate, Mcmahon. Rebounds: Maryland 31 (Miller 7), Ohio St. 42 (Harris 8, Mcmahon 8). Assists: Maryland 12 (Sellers 4), Ohio St. 20 (Harris 8). Fouled out: Sellers. Total fouls: Maryland 16, Ohio St. 16. A: 8,949.