The No. 12 Ohio State women’s basketball team started its most difficult stretch of the regular season Thursday with a 74-66 win against No. 8 Maryland, one of three top-10 opponents the Buckeyes will face in a five-game span.
The victory came after the Buckeyes fell to Penn State 62-59 to snap their 17-0 record.
“I think they have confidence that, regardless of the score, we can come back and we can win,” Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff said. “We are still not close to where I think we could be. We weren’t blocking out and rebounding or executing at a high level to start the game, and we’ve got to get closer to 40 minutes.”
Ohio State struggled to contain Maryland with its press in the first half. Combined with being outrebounded 30-17, the Buckeyes found themselves behind 34-27.
These struggles occurred despite Maryland being without starting point guard Shyanne Sellers.
Crucial improvement in the Buckeyes’ defensive play was enough to build momentum for a comeback.
The Buckeyes snatched 10 steals in the second hal, and recorded 20 points off Maryland’s 17 turnovers.
“When you get a steal, it’s the energy,” Ohio State guard Kennedy Cambridge said. “You see Cotie (McMahon) yelling. When TT (Taylor Thierry) gets yelling, you really got to turn up for TT (to yell). But it’s the energy and energy feeds.”
Along with shooting 61.1% in the third quarter, Ohio State had the lead 7:55 into the second half.
How the bench factored into Ohio State’s victory vs Maryland
Starters Jaloni Cambridge and Cotie McMahon led the Buckeyes’ offense, scoring 20 and 13 points, respectively. However, Ohio State’s defense came alive behind the efforts of reserves Kennedy Cambridge and Elsa Lemmila.
“Just knowing my role and when to step up, I feel like I just do what I need to do, whatever my team needs,” Kennedy Cambridge said. “I’m a go-getter. If you need me to play defense, I’ll do it.”
Kennedy Cambridge grabbed a team-high four steals in 24 minutes of play and scored 12 points. The performance marks the second in recent games where Kennedy Cambridge was credited by McGuff for being a defensive spark. Against Oregon on Jan. 12, Kennedy Cambridge helped Ohio State come back in its 69-60 victory.
Playing a career-high 23 minutes, Lemmila had four blocks. While Lemmila has had other outings in which she had more than the five rebounds and 5 points, this game was evidence of growth for the freshman.
“She will continue to get better, given the opportunity,” McGuff said. “The way Elsa played gives me good hope that she can continue to come off the bench and really give us a big boost.”
Will Ohio State have to face Maryland once again this regular season?
The Big Ten’s new schedule format allows teams to face one of its 17 conference opponents twice in the regular season. For Ohio State, that team is Maryland.
The Buckeyes will close out the regular season in College Park on March 2, and there are lessons from this latest victory Ohio State will take into that next matchup.
“We’ve just got to come out faster, come out more on our game,” Jaloni Cambridge said. “We haven’t been playing (like) that in the last couple games, at the start of the game. We just have to come out way better than before.”
Kennedy Cambridge feels the possibility of Sellers being available will have no effect on the Buckeyes’ mindset, saying they’re planning to “play our ball and hoop.”
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State helped by Kennedy Cambridge, Elsa Lemmila in Maryland win
