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Ohio State took care of business in the first round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament on Saturday at the Schottenstein Center.
The third-seeded Buckeyes used a dominant second quarter to cruise by No. 14 seed Howard 75-54.
But they did not seem in the mood to celebrate afterward, perhaps for more than one reason…
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Of course the No. 3 seed is supposed to do that to No. 14.
Upsets happen, but dominant victories are more the norm.
Ohio State looked unstoppable at times against a Bison team that had a great season (as evidenced by not being a 15 or a 16 seed).
The Buckeyes led 20-15 at the end of the first quarter then put the Bison into the threshing machine that is their press in the second.
Ohio State turned the Bison over five times in the first three minutes of the second quarter and quickly increased their lead to 30-15.
By halftime, Ohio State led 43-19 and the game was effectively over.
The numbers for the second quarter: Ohio State scored 16 points off 12 turnovers. Kennedy Cambridge, Jaloni Cambridge and Ava Watson had two steals apiece, and Howard was 1 for 11 from the field.
(Side note: If you haven’t watch Jaloni Cambridge play, I strongly recommend doing so. She is a whirling dervish of a player who still manages to be under control most of the time as she zig zags through the defense and either finds an open teammate or finishes with uncanny effectiveness at the rim despite being just 5-6.)
Kennedy Cambridge, Jaloni Cambridge, Kevin McGuff
If they weren’t quite elated about getting their 27th victory of the season, there were two reasons:
This is not the one they are really focused on winning this weekend, and coach Kevin McGuff has already lamented this season seeing lulls like they had in the second half prevent them from being as good as they can be.
He did it again Saturday:
“I think our defensive intensity, focus and execution in the second quarter was really at an elite level. What I didn't like was we just didn't sustain it for long enough stretches, and we got really sloppy. And when we got sloppy, we didn't move the ball, make an extra pass. We had some uncharacteristic turnovers, and our defense kind of lacked when the intensity went down a little bit.
“So I think for us, and we've gotten a lot better throughout the year, but the thing that we've tried to emphasize of late is just we're really good when we’re good. I think today's a great example. When we were really good, we were really good. We have to do that for closer to 40 minutes. And we may not get to 40 exactly, but closer to 40 minutes than we got today is what we need to do if we want to continue to advance.
What’s next for the Buckeyes?
No. 6 seed Notre Dame beat No. 11 Fairfield 79-60 in the second game in Columbus on Saturday.
All-American guard Hannah Hidalgo had 23 points, nine rebounds and six assists for the Fighting Irish, who have won 10 of 12 since the first of February.
Prior to that they had lost four out of five and were 13-8 overall.
Monday figures to be a battle of the irresistible force against the immovable object.
While the Buckeyes rely on their press to get easy baskets and look to get as many open 3s as they can on offense, Notre Dame players said during interviews Friday defense is their “superpower.”
Beyond that, the 5-6 Hidalgo and 5-7 Cambridge have a lot of similarities as cat-quick small guards who are aggressive on both ends of the floor, so that should be a matchup worth the price of admission.
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