Sophomore guard Taylor Thierry (2) throws a pass from the wing during the Ohio State-Maryland game Feb. 24. Maryland won 76-74. Credit: Caleb Blake | For The Lantern
For the first time in program history, Ohio State defeated Michigan three times in a single season.
And for head coach Kevin McGuff and the Buckeyes, it could not have come at a better time.
No. 14 Ohio State defeated No. 17 Michigan 81-79 in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals Friday at the Target Center, after a clutch defensive stop from the Buckeyes with 23 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.
“I thought we forced them to shoot over us, which was the goal, and everybody crashed the board,” McGuff said. “And I just felt like it took about 67 seconds, but other than that, it was fine.”
Freshman forward Cotie McMahon led with a game-high 28 points and 12 rebounds in the first Big Ten Tournament appearance of her career. Sophomore forward Taylor Thierry added 20 points, with senior guard Taylor Mikesell shooting 3-of-7 from 3-point range.
Fifth-year guard Leigha Brown led Michigan with 19 points on 7-of-21 shooting. Sophomore guard Laila Pheila chipped in with 17 points, making her second-straight appearance after returning from a lower leg injury that kept her out the last seven games of the regular season.
Across the board, the Wolverines filled up the stat sheet, as four players scored in double figures. It was not enough, as the Buckeyes made several defensive stops within the last 23 seconds of the ballgame.
In the final minute of the fourth quarter, senior guard Jacy Sheldon made her presence felt. After playing only one game since Nov. 30 due to a lower leg injury, McGuff said the Dublin, Ohio, native was chomping at the bit to get back into action.
McGuff said the Buckeyes are much better with Sheldon on the floor because the dynamic guard can impact the game in a variety of ways.
“She also just adds another scoring guard, and she can really score the ball,” McGuff said. “I think lastly she makes everybody around her better.”
Sheldon scored only five points, but her last three came in crunch time. With 1:20 remaining, Sheldon rose from beyond the arc and drained a 3-point shot, putting the Buckeyes ahead by three.
A missed layup attempt from Pheila led to a fast-break layup by Mikesell, putting Ohio State up by five with 60 seconds remaining.
The momentum looked to shift in the Buckeyes favor, but the inability to secure a defensive rebound let the Wolverines cut the lead to two. Wolverines senior guard Maddie Nolan made a second-chance 3-point jumper, leaving 47 seconds on the clock.
But the Wolverines looked to get one more shot attempt down the stretch.
And they did, as the Buckeyes 11th and final turnover of the game came from McMahon the following play. McMahon said with the Buckeyes only up by two, she knew the team had to get a defensive stop.
“Especially for me, I felt like after turning the ball over like we had no other choice but to get a stop, “McMahon said. “We had to buckle down and focus on one thing that was getting stopped and rebounding of course.”
In a game that opened with Michigan sophomore guard Jordan Hobbs and Mikesell scoring seven points in the first 30 seconds, defensive stops from Ohio State were the Wolverines’ kryptonite in the final minute of the game. The Wolverines had two opportunities in the final 23 seconds to tie the game.
A blocked shot from McMahon led to a missed jumper from Brown who was tightly guarded by Thierry throughout the game. Thierry, recently named to the All-Big Ten Defensive Team, said the Buckeyes looked to play their game.
“Honestly, just making sure we’re not forcing shots,” Thierry said. “And letting the game kind of come to us but also being aggressive, and I think that really helped me at least be more offensively aggressive.”
McMahon came up with the biggest defensive rebound of the night. After the missed jumper from Brown, McMahon secured the rebound, and the recently named Big Ten Freshman of the Year ran down the court smiling.
For McMahon and the Buckeyes, a win like this feels good after being on the receiving end of a one-point loss in their final game against No. 7 Maryland Feb. 24. McGuff said the team took lessons from that loss and executed much better in the final minutes of a tight game.
“I think that we played confidently down the stretch, and we hit some big shots,” McGuff said. “I thought our execution was pretty good, minus the one turnover that Cotie referenced earlier.”
Ohio State was also caught in early foul trouble with three different players having at least two fouls entering the second half, being McMahon, Harris and senior forward Rebeka Mikulasikova. The Buckeyes forced only nine Wolverines turnovers, fewer than the 27 caused in their most recent meeting of the regular season.
McMahon said entering this matchup, the Buckeyes knew the Wolverines would play a much cleaner game.
“I think the difference was their energy. No team wants to lose three times in a row, let alone twice,” McMahon said. “We knew coming into this game they would be a whole different team, just coming in. Definitely taking it play by play for them.”
Ohio State will face No. 2 ranked and No. 1 seed Indiana in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on Big Ten Network. The Hoosiers swept the Buckeyes in their two meetings of the regular season.
“Obviously, they beat us two times in a row,” McMahon said. “I feel like for us, it’s kind of personal. So, feel like just coming out tomorrow, we are going to have to focus on the little things.”
