Ohio State junior guard Jacy Sheldon (4) plays defense in the first half of the Ohio State-Indiana women’s basketball game in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament March 5. Ohio State lost 70-62. Credit: Casey Smith | Assistant Lantern TV Sports Producer
The top-seeded Buckeyes were one win away from a Big Ten Championship appearance, losing to No. 5 seed Indiana 70-62 Saturday.
The eight-point loss might make the game appear closer than it was, but the Hoosiers led by as many as 13 with 3:51 to go in the fourth quarter.
From that point on, though, Ohio State scratched and clawed, forcing six of its 11 turnovers in the fourth quarter — three of which came in the final 2:22 — to build some momentum ahead of the NCAA Tournament.
“We played really hard down the stretch,” head coach Kevin McGuff said. “We kept fighting. That’s what I told the kids afterwards; I said, ‘Hey, if we’ll continue to play like we practiced and take that intensity and focus and fight into the NCAA Tournament, we’ll have a chance to do some things.’ ”
Heading into the final 10-minute period, Ohio State trailed 57-48, having been outscored in every quarter. It flipped that script in the fourth, though.
The Buckeyes ramped up their intensity, creating a nightmare quarter for Indiana’s guards with their full-court zone.
Ohio State guarded the inbound with a defender about 5 feet from the baseline while another played tighter zone coverage on whoever was to receive the pass. The Buckeyes then attempted to trap in the backcourt, wreaking havoc on the Hoosiers’ offense.
“They got a good press and you saw it earlier in the season,” Indiana graduate guard Nicole Cardaño-Hillary said. “I think they stepped it up, too.”
In the backcourt alone, Ohio State forced two held balls — one flipping the arrow to the Buckeyes before the other gave them the possession — two bad-pass turnovers, a loose-ball turnover and a 10-second violation.
The Buckeyes’ half-court defense in the fourth quarter locked down Indiana sophomore guard Chloe Moore-McNeil, forcing an errant pass out of bounds to the sideline.
Then about four minutes later, Hoosiers graduate guard Ali Patberg controlled the ball in their frontcourt, stood at the left wing, looked for an outlet pass and turned it over after holding the ball and not dribbling for five seconds while being closely guarded.
“It was tough, but I think at the end when you’re down you take even more chances, and they were and we weren’t, so I think that’s all that matters,” Patberg said.
In the first three quarters, Indiana shot 50, 50 and 42.9 percent from the field, respectively, before the Buckeyes held the Hoosiers to a 36.4 clip in the final frame.
Ohio State had its worst shooting quarter in the fourth as well, closing the game by missing six of its last seven shots. With a better offensive output, the Buckeyes could have tied or won the game at the end, as they held Indiana without a field goal for the final 3:11.
The Buckeyes lead the Big Ten in forcing 18.5 turnovers per game, building onto their defensive momentum at the end of their conference tournament run, which will play a vital role in advancing through the NCAA Tournament.
“I was proud of them, just for, in terms of the season where we started to where we are now,” McGuff said. “We made significant progress, which is a real credit to our players, especially our upperclassmen, our leaders. They really have shown the way to the young people, and we had a lot of people make significant progress, and we have as a team because of that leadership.”
