The Ohio State women’s basketball team went on the road for the first time this season to face a familiar nonconference opponent, Belmont, and was met with a game that was much closer than expected. The No. 12 Buckeyes narrowly avoided an upset, defeating the Bruins 67-63.
It was a close game from tipoff until the end, with the deciding basket coming in the final 20 seconds.
Freshman Jaloni Cambridge hit a layup, followed by a free throw after being fouled on the play, to break a 63-63 tie and give the Buckeyes the victory.
“Those situations are hard sometimes because there’s a lot of pressure, and they executed exactly what we wanted to do,” Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff said. “We were trying to get Jaloni an iso drive. And if she didn’t have that, she could get Cotie (McMahon) involved, and she made a good decision.”
The Nashville native’s status for the matchup was uncertain, with Cambridge being unable to play a majority of the second half in Ohio State’s previous game on Tuesday. Despite taking a hard fall on her lower back, Cambridge was in the starting lineup for the Buckeyes and finished with 10 points.
Ohio State was led by junior Cotie McMahon, who recorded 21 points and 5 rebounds. In last season’s 84-55 win over Belmont, McMahon had just 1 point.
This time around, Belmont made it clear that this would be a more difficult challenge for Ohio State.
The Bruins exchanged eight lead changes with Ohio State during the first 10 minutes.
With both teams running a full-court press, Ohio State and Belmont made careless turnovers to start the game. The Buckeyes racked up four in the first quarter, but Belmont’s six gave Ohio State the 20-16 advantage at the end of the quarter.
Of those 20 Ohio State points, 10 were scored by McMahon. Cambridge and junior Chance Gray added 5 each.
McMahon kept the momentum rolling the second quarter, starting Ohio State’s 9-0 run with a 3-point basket. Forwards Ajae Petty and Taylor Thierry were able to get on the board during the run.
Belmont broke its scoreless stretch a little less than halfway through the quarter and scored 16 points to pull back within striking distance of the Buckeyes.
“We had opportunities, and we didn’t take advantage,” McGuff said. “I think that changes the game, because it puts a lot of game-pressure on them, and we didn’t do it.”
“We’re still a fairly new team, and when we would get a lead, it would seem like we would get away from doing the things, in terms of our offensive execution especially, that allowed us to get the lead and get a little sloppy.”
Ohio State led 36-32 at half, but Belmont was quick to close the gap. A jumper from Emily La Chappell tied the game for the first time since the opening quarter.
Belmont took a 48-47 lead when Kendall Holmes hit a layup with 1:30 remaining in the third quarter.
Belmont built as much as a nine-point lead before Ohio State began to come back.
The Buckeyes went on a 13-0 run, hitting three 3-pointers.
Once Ohio State took its final lead of the game with Cambridge’s layup, Belmont had one last opportunity to take away the Buckeyes’ three-point lead, but an offensive foul from Holmes sealed the result.
Ohio State went 23 for 68, a 33.8% shooting rate from the floor, while shooting only 52% (13 of 25) from the free throw line.
“Playing through adversity, that’s was really what (almost) lost us the game,” McMahon said. “We couldn’t find a way to get ourselves going. McGuff said it in the locker room, we had a chance to really bury them, but we didn’t.”
Ohio State plays at Ohio University at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State women’s basketball records slight victory over Belmont
