The Ohio State women’s basketball team huddles up after a foul against Wisconsin. The No. 5-ranked Buckeyes defeated the Badgers 87-49 at the Schottesnein Center Feb. 1. Credit: Caleb Blake | Photo Editor
For the first time in 2024, the No. 2 Ohio State women’s basketball team came up short as its 15-game winning streak was snapped.
The Buckeyes (25-4, 16-2 Big Ten) fell to No. 6 Iowa (26-4, 15-3 Big Ten) 93-83 Sunday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa, behind another historic performance from Iowa senior guard Caitlin Clark, who became the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division I basketball.
Clark finished with a team-high 35 points on 10-of-26 shooting from the floor and 6-of-17 shooting from 3-point range, along with 6 rebounds and a team-high 9 assists. She broke the late Pete Maravich’s record of 3,667 career points — a record that’s been held for 54 years — on two free throws in the final seconds of the first half.
Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff said he believes Clark is going to be an incredible player when she heads off to the WNBA next season.
“I think [Clark]’s going to be a fantastic pro,” McGuff said. “It’s the way she leads the floor, the way she makes everybody better in addition to the scoring, so she’s really become an incredible player.”
The Hawkeyes used a 10-0 run late in the first quarter to build up a 25-10 lead before the Buckeyes got within four in the second quarter.
However, Iowa was able to pull away in the final seconds of the first half after sophomore forward Cotie McMahon picked up a technical foul after getting in an altercation with Clark, resulting in two free throws for the Iowa guard. Clark would make both, with the second one being historic as she broke the all-time NCAA Division I scoring record, extending the Hawkeye lead to 48-39 at the break.
The Buckeyes responded well to open the second half with a 7-0 run that cut the Hawkeyes’ lead to 48-46 with 7:40 to go in the third. However, it would not take long for Iowa to pull away from Ohio State.
After graduate guard Jacy Sheldon made a layup to cut Iowa’s lead to five, the Hawkeyes went on a 13-1 run in two minutes to build up a 71-54 lead with 2:01 remaining in the third. Sheldon led the team in scoring and assists with 24 and nine, respectively, and made four triples as well.
Sheldon said the Buckeyes’ key to success in battling with the Hawkeyes is that they never focus on the score, even when dealing with in-game adversity.
“Our mindset is we’re never out of a game, no matter what the score is, and I think we play like that, we fight like that, we play for each other,” Sheldon said. “I don’t even know at times how much we were down, but we’re planning to get back in the game.”
Ohio State kept trying to battle back in the fourth, but it could not slow down the explosive attack that Iowa brought on offense.
Graduate forward Rebeka Mikulasikova knocked down a triple to cut its deficit to 76-67 with 8:59 left, but the Hawkeyes responded with three straight layups, extending their lead to 82-67.
Sheldon cut Iowa’s lead to 10 with 3:01 left, but Clark responded 20 seconds later with her sixth and final 3-pointer of the game, putting the Hawkeyes up 87-74.
A fast-break layup from Iowa sophomore forward Hannah Stuelke with 2:18 remaining extended its lead back to 15, proving to be the dagger for the Hawkeyes. Stuelke added 23 points and nine rebounds on 9-of-12 shooting.
Fittingly, Clark ended the game by knocking down two free throws with 28 seconds left, putting Iowa on top 93-83, making Ohio State’s 15-game win streak a thing of the past.
Sheldon said the loss to Iowa is going to provide an important learning experience for the Buckeyes heading into the postseason.
“That’s just part of being a competitor, you got to move on, learn from it, and it’ll hurt today but I think tomorrow we wake up and we get better and we focus on the next one,” Sheldon said.
Ohio State will face the winner of the second-round matchup between No. 8 seed Maryland and No. 9 seed Illinois Friday at Target Center in Minneapolis at 12:30 p.m. EST in the 2024 Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals.
The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
