Ohio State freshman forward Dorka Juhasz shoots a jumper in practice. Credit: Daniel McNatt | Lantern Reporter

The Ohio State women’s basketball team traveled to Seattle and was handed its third loss of the season, falling to Washington  69-59 on Wednesday night.

Washington junior guard Amber Melgoza led the team with 28 points on 50 percent shooting from the field, one point short of her season high.

Melgoza connected on each of her eight free throw attempts in Wednesday’s win, recording six in the first half.

“She’s a great player,” Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff said. “Every time we made a mistake against her she made us pay. You can’t do that against somebody as good as her.”

Washington was up by as many as 10 points in the first half despite shooting a worse field goal percentage than Ohio State, 35 percent to 43 percent respectively and left at halftime with a six-point lead.

Despite shooting 41.67 percent from the field in the second half, outscoring Washington 37-33, the Buckeyes could not overcome the first half deficit, connecting on 21.1 percent of 3-point shots, including one of nine in the first half.  

One of the main problems that has consistently plagued Ohio State this season was a factor against the Huskies, turning the ball over a season-high 21 times, killing the momentum on numerous occasions.

Ohio State redshirt senior guard Najah Queenland scored eight points off the bench, making four of her five attempts from the field.

Freshman forward Dorka Juhasz scored 11 points, but failed to reach a double-double in the game for just the second time this season, finishing with six rebounds.

Redshirt senior forward Makayla Waterman also scored 11 points and notched seven rebounds but recorded four turnovers, tied for the team lead with redshirt senior guard Carmen Grande.

Waterman said one of the main focuses going into the game was communication and said it was something that was lacking during the loss to the Huskies.

“Just from the beginning of the game we weren’t talking, we weren’t communicating, we just weren’t really ready,” Waterman said. “There’s too many fifth years on the team to be like that. I think coach McGuff really tried to emphasize communicating with each other and we weren’t doing that and I think that’s what lead to a lot of our turnovers.”

Ohio State will be back in Columbus on Dec. 16 to face the Florida Gators at 1 p.m.

Updated at 11 a.m. with quotes from Kevin McGuff and Makayla Waterman.