Ohio
Young Indiana women’s basketball ‘not going to lose hope’ after 0-8 Big Ten start
It was a “tale of two halves,” Indiana women’s basketball coach Teri Moren said Thursday night.
Her team had a tall task heading to No. 11 Ohio State, but for the first 20 minutes, they lived up to it. Indiana started the game on a 13-4 run and maintained that advantage throughout the first half, leading by as many as 15 points and going into halftime with a 10-point lead.
Then, similar to much of Indiana’s losses so far this season, it fell apart in the second half.
“Tale of two halves. I thought we played very well in the first half,” Moren said following IU’s 81-67 loss in Columbus. “Loved how we shared the ball, kept them out of transition, did a lot of really, really good things (in the first half). And then, you know, the second half came, and we knew they were going to turn up their pressure. We didn’t handle it as we needed to.”
IU collapsed under Ohio State’s full-court press in the second half, with the Buckeyes guarding the inbounder and any receivers in the far backcourt.
Ohio State initiated 16 steals over 40 minutes, and IU had 26 turnovers to give Ohio State 34 points off them. So, even though IU shot 56% from the field (22 of 39) with a 64% mark from 3-point range (11 of 17), Ohio State had a clear advantage with 25 more shot attempts on 48.4% shooting from the field (31 of 64).
“Twenty-six turnovers is going to make it pretty hard to win a basketball game,” redshirt sophomore Lenee Beaumont, IU’s leading scorer with 20 points, said. “And I think that goes back to just kind of helping each other. You know, there were a few in the first half where we left people on an island, or I remember one specifically in the second half, where we got the rebound and then they went back and trapped Shay (Ciezki) and we’re all running and on the other side of the half court. So we got to be more aware.”
It was yet another learning lesson for the young Hoosiers, who are now 0-8 in Big Ten play with no end in sight.
With a lot of turnover because of graduations and transfer portal entries after the 2024-25 season, Moren has a young team — even younger, she says, than it appears on paper.
Maya Makalusky and Nevaeh Caffey, both in the starting lineup, are freshmen. Moren considers sophomore Zania Socka-Nguemen and Beaumont pseudo-freshmen, too, considering how little they played before this season.
Socka-Nguemen transferred to Indiana after one year at UCLA, where she played minimal minutes. Beaumont played minimal minutes off the bench as a freshman at Indiana in 2023-24, then was out the entire 2024-25 season because of a knee injury.
“Maya and Nevaeh are true freshmen, but you’re talking about two other kids that have had little to zero playing time in the Big (Ten) and this is a very, very great, this is a great conference,” Moren said. “And we’ve played all the ones, and you know that have been ranked so far, right? We haven’t had an easy path to start Big Ten play. And you know, that’s been part of it. It’s the league, it’s how good it is. And, you know, nobody feels sorry for Indiana.”
Moren’s job, too, is to teach her young players how to work through this tough slew of games. IU has seen a lot of success as a program over the past five years, including a Big Ten championship and No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, so this is uncharted territory — and likely not what players expected when they committed to the Hoosiers.
But this is where they’re at now. And Moren needs to make sure her players don’t lose hope in this stretch.
“It’s just the communication piece, right,” Moren said. “It’s making sure that we are showing them, you know, the things in film, those lessons that we have to learn. But it’s also showing them all the things that they’re doing well. And then, last night, at the end of the night, when we watched film, we had a deep dive of some analytics, some statistics. We’re so close, and that’s what we keep saying to them.”
IU may have some opportunities for its first Big Ten win in its games coming up; it plays in-state rival Purdue, who is 2-6 in Big Ten play, on Jan. 25 and Feb. 8, and Northwestern, also 2-6 in conference, on Feb. 1.
And Beaumont thinks her team will have the fight for it.
“Believe it or not, I do believe that the fight in the locker room is in a really good spot, and we’re not going to lose hope,” Beaumont said. “We just take tomorrow as a new opportunity to continue to grow and get better. It would be so easy for us to fall apart right now and not stay together, but I give credit to the people in the locker room that we’ve stayed together as one unit, the best that we could possibly do that.”
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Ryan Day explained the hiring process that led to former Falcons head coach and NFL assistant Arthur Smith becoming the offensive coordinator of Ohio State football.
Appearing as a guest on “The Jim Rome Show” March 3, Day emphasized the importance of hiring a someone with an extensive body of work to coach the Buckeyes’ offense.
“When Brian [Hartline] moved on to South Florida [we] wanted to go bring in somebody with great experience,” Day said.
Day said the Buckeyes first looked at coaches with collegiate coordinator experience, then the NFL. Smith’s three-year tenure as a head coach in the NFL, along with his extensive time with the Tennessee Titans as an assistant and offensive coordinator, made him stand out as a candidate, Day said.
“…[I] had a chance myself to sit down and talk with him. It was excellent,” Day said. “He’s a great communicator, very intelligent, and really loves the game of college football. When you hear a story about growing up and how much time he spent around college football, you could just see it in his eyes.”
Day added that the new role has been almost “refreshing” to Smith when given the chance to work with college players and young talent.
Smith has spent the majority of his coaching career in the NFL. He served a year as a graduate assistant at North Carolina, his alma mater, and brief stint with Ole Miss as an administrative assistant.
Smith was then hired by his hometown Titans in 2011 and spent the the rest of the decade with them, rising from quality control coach to assistant offensive line coach to tight ends coach. Promoted to offensive coordinator in 2019, he led Mike Vrabel’s Titans to proficient offensive seasons with running back Derrick Henry.
Day said hiring Smith will allow him to take a back seat on the offense.
“It was great to have Matt [Patricia] on defense, and Brian [Hartline] did a great job as well, but I think this year will allow me to even step back even more and try to do as much as I can from the head coaching seat,” Day said.
After Hartline accepted the South Florida head coaching job, Day stepped in to call plays during the Cotton Bowl against Miami. Ohio State lost 24-14.
Smith joins Buckeyes defensive coordinator Matt Patricia as an Ohio State coordinator hire with previous NFL head coaching experience. Smith went 21-30 as the head coach of the Falcons for three years.
Ohio
Woman dies after saving grandchild playing in driveway from out-of-control car, Ohio officials say
A woman in Pickaway County, Ohio, died after moving a child out of the way of an out-of-control car, authorities said.
The Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office said in a post on Facebook that 52-year-old Laura J. Hammond of Mt. Sterling was fatally struck by the vehicle on Feb. 27 on Walnut Creek Pike in Circleville.
The sheriff’s office said officials were called to the area for a report of a crash around 10 a.m. At the scene, investigators learned that the driver of a Nissan Sentra was headed southbound on Walnut Creek Pike when they went off the west side of the road. The car then careened through two yards before hitting a Chevrolet Equinox parked in the driveway of a home, officials said.
The Nissan, at the same time that it smashed into the Chevrolet, hit Hammond, pinning her between the two vehicles. Before being hit, the sheriff’s office said Hammond moved a child out of the way, which “more than likely saved his life.” CBS affiliate WBNS reported that the young child Hammond saved was her grandson.
“Laura actually picked up the child and tossed him. At the end of the day, it saved his life,” Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office Capt. John Strawser told the news outlet. “And when Laura tossed him, very unfortunately, she took the brunt of the vehicle.”
Hammond was taken to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The young child was taken to a local hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
The driver of the vehicle was also taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office and the Ohio State Highway Patrol are investigating the crash. The sheriff’s office did not release any additional information about the crash.
First Brands closing corporate office in Cleveland, three other Ohio facilities amid bankruptcy. Its CEO is facing federal fraud charges
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A major auto parts supplier is laying off more than a thousand workers and closing four facilities around Ohio, including its corporate offices in Cleveland.
First Brands, whose founder and former CEO is facing charges in multi-billion dollar fraud scheme, notified the state in late February of its intent to permanently close the facilities by April 30. The layoffs created by these closures are also permanent, according to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notices filed with Ohio Job and Family Services.
The company — which supplies Fram oil filters and Anco wiper blades, among others — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 2025. In January, First Brands had started winding down some of its operations in North America while seeking a buyer, according to Reuters. However, several potential buyers “have suddenly and unexpectedly withdrawn or narrowed their bids” according to one of the recent WARN notices.
Which facilities are closing? And how many jobs are being lost? Here’s what to know.
First Brands closing four Ohio locations, cutting more than 1,200 jobs
According to WARN notices, First Brands is closing the following facilities:
- Corporate Office, 127 Public Square, Suite 5300, Cleveland. In the first round of layoffs here, 146 workers were cut on Feb. 23, according to a WARN notice sent that date. A second notice dated Feb. 27 for this address advises that the facility will close on April 30, and the remaining 110 workers will be laid off.
- FRAM facility, 851 Jackson St., Greenville. According to a WARN notice sent Feb. 27, this facility will close April 30 and 302 jobs will be lost.
- TMD facility, 1441 N. Maule Road, Tiffin. All 407 employees will be terminated when this facility is permanently closed on April 30, according to a Feb. 27 WARN notice.
- TMD facility, 515 E. Gypsy Lane Road, Bowling Green. First Brands will also close this facility on April 30, laying off 302 workers, according to another Feb. 27 WARN notice.
In total, First Brands is laying off 1,267 workers in these four closures.
Indictment alleges Cleveland auto supplier CEO, VP defrauded lenders. Both plead not guilty
First Brands Group founder and former CEO Patrick James and his brother, Edward, a senior vice president, are accused of defrauding lenders out of billions of dollars before the auto parts supplier fell into bankruptcy according to an indictment made public Jan. 29 in Manhattan federal court.
The nine-count indictment includes charges of running a continuing financial crimes enterprise, bank fraud, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. Both pleaded not guilty on Feb. 4, Reuters reports. A trial is set in July. Both could face decades in prison if convicted.
Prosecutors said the defendants “perpetrated a series of fraudulent schemes” against First Brands’ lenders and financing partners, Reuters reported, including allegedly inflating invoices, double- and triple-pledging loan collateral, falsifying financial statements and concealing substantial liabilities.
“It is very much Mr. James’ intent to go into court and proclaim his innocence,” said Scott Hartman, a lawyer for Patrick James, according to Reuters.
Patrick James and Edward James are Malaysian-born U.S. citizens.
Seth DuCharme, a lawyer for Edward James, told Reuters that his client is not going to “run off to Southeast Asia where he allegedly has all this money.”
What is First Brands Group? Company filed for bankruptcy in September
First Brands, founded in 2013, was one of the world’s largest suppliers of auto parts such as brakes, filters and lighting systems, according to Reuters. It had $5 billion in sales last year.
Prosecutors say First Brands borrowed billions to finance its growth. Those loans were secured by inventory and physical assets like plants and equipment. Reuters reports that this left First Brands vulnerable to cash flow issues and dependent on its access to the capital from those loans.
The company filed for bankruptcy in September 2025. Patrick James stepped down as CEO that October, according to Crain’s Detroit Business.
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