After two close road matchups in which Ohio State allowed two unranked Big Ten opponents to hang around until late in the game, the Buckeyes made sure to shut down that trend Thursday at Value City Arena.

Holding a five-point lead going into halftime against Wisconsin, Ohio State put up 39 points in the third quarter, compared to the Badgers’ 11. This effort tied the OSU program record for most points in a quarter, previously set in November 2021, and helped secure the 87-49 victory.

“We came out at halftime, I thought we really moved the ball, made the extra pass,” Buckeyes’ coach Kevin McGuff said. “And it led to a lot of really open shots.”

Other than Taiyier Parks, every Buckeye who entered the game scored. Further proof this was a collective effort came in Ohio State’s 24 assists.

Cotie McMahon opened up the matchup for Ohio State with the team’s first five points, building on the strong performances the sophomore has been putting together since her career game against Iowa on Jan. 21. McMahon finished with a double-double, 15 points and 10 rebounds.

The first quarter was tit for tat with each team having an answer for the other on multiple occasions, whether in the form of a made layup or a forced turnover, and the Badgers held a 16-15 advantage after the first 10 minutes of play.

Wisconsin’s six offensive boards over that span helped lead to nine second chance points. Meanwhile, Ohio State recorded six rebounds overall in that time period. During halftime, McGuff made his thoughts on the team’s play clear.

“He just said firstly, get ourselves together because we were not playing to our capabilities,” OSU guard Madison Greene said. “But I feel like what he said, motivated us to play better.”

The Buckeyes’ biggest challenge was containing Wisconsin’s 6-foot-4 forward Serah Williams in the post. McGuff tried several different match ups, particularly relying on forwards Rebeka Mikulasikova, Eboni Walker and Parks.

Williams recorded 12 points and eight rebounds in the first half but was limited to four points and three rebounds the remained of the night.

In the second quarter, the Buckeyes started to find more success on the boards, outrebounding the Badgers 11-9. McMahon grabbed multiple rebounds in key moments to put an end to the back-and-forth nature of the game and help Ohio State pull ahead 31-26 before halftime.

“She’s really locked in on rebounding right now,” McGuff said in regard to McMahon. “Her effort on the boards, it’s terrific… We need that because sometimes that can be an issue for us.”

After being fairly limited in minutes following a solid outing against Northwestern at the beginning of January, Walker provided a bit of a spark late the half, scoring four of the Buckeyes’ six points in the final three minutes.

With Ohio State’s signature press starting to click in the second half, monument started to build on the defensive end and carried over on the offensive side of the ball.

Jacy Sheldon scored 11 of her 17 points in the third quarter, and the Buckeyes forced the Badgers to commit 12 turnovers in that stretch, which is more than the number of points they scored. Wisconsin had 27 giveaways in the game. Ohio State limited their total to 8.

“Our press is our identity,” Walker said. “So, I feel like when we start getting those steals and we get a steal and an ‘and-one’ and Jacy dives on the ground and we get another ‘and-one.’ It’s just little things like that we love for each other.”

Ohio State shot 16 for 24 from field goal range during the third quarter while holding Wisconsin to eight field goal attempts.

Ohio State’s next game pits the No. 8 Buckeyes against the visiting Indiana Hoosiers, who are ranked No. 10 nationally, at noon on Sunday.

bmackay@dispatch.com

@brimackay15