Ohio State Women’s Basketball Suffers Blowout Loss to Iowa, 105-72, in the Big Ten Tournament Championship

After Ohio State accomplished a 24-point comeback – the biggest in Massive Ten Match historical past – to knock off top-seeded Indiana on Saturday, the Buckeyes suffered a 105-72 blowout loss to No. 2-seeded Iowa within the Massive Ten Match championship on Sunday.

Ohio State trailed by as many as 38 factors within the finals matchup as Caitlin Clark proved herself worthy of Naismith Girls’s Participant of the Yr recognition. The veteran Hawkeye guard recorded a triple-double with 30 factors, 10 rebounds and 17 assists in her group’s victory over the Buckeyes – a efficiency that mirrored her triple-double effort to defeat Ohio State, 83-72. in Columbus six weeks prior on Jan. 23.

Massive Ten Freshman of the Yr Cotie McMahon led the Buckeyes with 23 factors and 7 rebounds within the contest. Taylor Mikesell (24) and Taylor Thierry (13) had been the one different Ohio State gamers to complete in double figures, whereas Rikki Harris, Jacy Sheldon and Rebeka Mikulasikova couldn’t contribute a lot offensively.

With the loss, Ohio State will now wait till March 12 to obtain their seed for the NCAA Match. The Buckeyes had been projected as the ultimate No. 3 seed by the ladies’s basketball choice committee on Feb. 23. Nonetheless, their efficiency on the Massive Ten Match will certainly create dialog about the place the group will find yourself subsequent Sunday.

First Quarter

Ohio State and Iowa battled forwards and backwards for the primary 5 minutes of the competition, buying and selling made baskets from contained in the paint and behind the arc earlier than the preliminary media timeout, at which level Iowa held a 10-7 lead.

From that time ahead, it was all Iowa for the rest of the quarter. The Hawkeyes went on a 10-0 run over the following two minutes of motion, extending their result in 20-7 and forcing Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff to burn his first timeout. The Buckeyes responded with a layup from Thierry on their second possession out of the transient break, however the Hawkeyes answered with two made baskets and two free throws to enter the second with a 24-9 lead.

Thierry and Mikesell had been Ohio State’s solely scorers within the opening body. Thierry contributed 5 factors on 2-of-4 taking pictures with a 3-pointer, whereas Mikesell added 4 factors from two layups. In the meantime, Harris, McMahon, Sheldon, Mikulasikova and Eboni Walker mixed to shoot 0 for 12 from the ground, because the Buckeyes made solely 22.2% of their makes an attempt and 14.3% of their threes within the quarter.

Second Quarter

Iowa continued its dominance within the second quarter and jumped out to a 10-2 run within the first 1:23 of play to take a 34-11 lead. McGuff used his second timeout in an try to rally his gamers, however that try was unsuccessful.

After the gamers returned to the courtroom, the Hawkeyes prolonged their result in 44-15 earlier than Iowa referred to as a timeout of their very own at 5:01 to make substitutions. Throughout that stretch, Iowa made 5 of six photographs whereas Ohio State went chilly and missed all 9 makes an attempt from the ground. The Buckeyes’ solely factors got here from McMahon, Sheldon and Hevynne Bristow – all of which got here on the free throw line.

When the clock hit triple zeroes contained in the Goal Middle, indicating halftime and sending Ohio State to its locker room for a much-needed break from Iowa’s offensive onslaught, the Hawkeyes led by 37 factors, 61-24.

Ohio State ended the primary half 9-of-36 taking pictures (25.1%) with a 2-of-15 mark (13.3%) from the 3-point line. Then again, Iowa made 21 of 29 photographs (72.4%) and 5 of eight threes (62.5%) as Clark shined with 23 factors, 5 rebounds and 9 assists. Monika Czinano added 17 factors and 7 boards to the Hawkeyes’ efforts.

Third Quarter

If there was any hope for Ohio State to start out one other historic comeback within the second half, Iowa put that to relaxation with one other spherical of environment friendly play on each ends of the ground. The Buckeyes outscored the Hawkeyes 30-22 within the body, however the eight-point distinction solely minimize Iowa’s result in 83-54 after three quarters.

Clark’s push for a triple-double started after the intermission. She scored 5 factors and added two rebounds and 4 assists to bump her stat totals to twenty-eight factors, seven rebounds and 13 assists after three quarters.

For Ohio State, Mikesell (11) and McMahon (10) got here alive and mixed for 21 factors on 6-of-10 taking pictures and a 6-of-7 mark from the free throw line. Their contributions turned out to be the one supply of offense within the quarter, as Theirry (six) and Emma Shumate (three) had been the one different Buckeyes to attain within the body.

Fourth Quarter

Clark secured her triple-double close to the halfway level of the fourth quarter as Iowa pushed again 100 group factors within the contest. Czinano additionally continued to be a sensational No. 2 to Clark and scored eight factors on 4-of-4 taking pictures within the body. Czinano completed the sport with 26 factors and 7 rebounds.

McMahon and Mikesell had been as soon as once more the one gamers McGuff may depend on to attain offensively. The pair of Buckeyes had a number of made baskets within the fourth with McMahon making a number of journeys to the charity stripe. Nonetheless, their efforts had been for naught as Ohio State noticed its deficit improve to as many as 38 factors within the ultimate quarter.

For the competition, Ohio State made solely 34.8% of its discipline purpose makes an attempt and 31% of its 3-pointers. The Buckeyes had been additionally outrebounded by the Hawkeyes, 44-28, and had been outscored 52-24 within the paint.

Sport Notes

• Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff began the identical gamers for the seventh recreation in a row: Rikki Harris, Taylor Mikesell, Taylor Thierry, Cotie McMahon and Eboni Walker.
• The Buckeyes’ most up-to-date Massive Ten Match championship got here throughout the 2017-18 season in Kevin McGuff’s fifth season as head coach of the ladies’s basketball program. That 12 months’s Ohio State group reached the second spherical of the NCAA Match and completed with a 28-7 report with a 13-3 mark in convention play.
• Earlier than Ohio State’s matchup with Iowa in Minneapolis, the Buckeyes had gained 5 Massive Ten Match championships: 2005-06, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2017-18.