photo credit: Savanna Smith
The title of a buckeye isn’t one that The Ohio State women’s basketball team takes on lightly. They wear their scarlet and gray with pride and represent The Ohio State University in the best light Buckeye Nation could ask for. The 20-1 team is having an impressive season, being one of the last three teams left undefeated, before losing only to Penn state- the only loss as of Jan. 28.
Non-Ohio State basketball fans had a lot to say on social media before the game vs Maryland on Thursday, Jan. 23. The game was notable for a plethora of reasons, the most prominent one being that the two teams faced off with identical records, separated in the week 12 poll by only four spots, with Maryland at No. 8 and Ohio State at No. 12 according to the Associated Press.
Alumni and fans from other schools commented on various Instagram posts, saying OSU should prepare for a beatdown and that its record was only good because it hadn’t faced ranked teams yet. Finally, the day came, and it was time to see if the Buckeyes were just lucky or had indeed earned their success.
The Schottenstein Center was packed leading up to the Terrapins game. Fans were waiting in the 20-degree weather for 45 minutes leading up to the doors opening for the chance to receive a free Ohio State basketball t-shirt in coordination with the night’s white out team. Announcements and shoot around were uneventful with a cheerful Jacey Sheldon on the sidelines. Sheldon graduated from OSU last year and now is a powerhouse for the Dallas Wings in the WNBA.
The game started off slow, nerves apparent on both sides of the court. Maryland scored first and dominated the first quarter. Ohio State looked unprepared, missing many opportunities for rebounds- both offensive and defensive. The Terrapins outscored the Buckeyes, 22-12, in the first 15 minutes.
In the second quarter, things slowed down, and at the half the Buckeyes trailed by three scores. After an intense half time discussion from Head Coach Kevin McGuff, the Buckeyes came out fired up. The pace increased and the crowd started to get rowdy, especially after some poor calls by the referees. Maryland led until 3:05 left in the quarter when No. 3 Kennedy Cambridge, a sophomore guard earned a three pointer, assisted by none other than her little sister- freshman star Jaloni Cambridge No. 22. The week prior, Jaloni won Big10 Freshman of the Week. The sisters’ score put the Buckeyes up 51-50.
The fourth quarter was aggressive and in some ways impulsive, with missed shots on both sides each team was scrambling to show they were the best. The Buckeyes had their largest lead of the game with just over four minutes left and closed out the game with a 74-66 final.
The Buckeyes proved they had earned their place, and it was evident the rest of the country saw their outstanding performance when the week 13 Associated Press rankings were released. Ohio State’s standing was up four places, replacing where Maryland once stood.
There is still a lot of season left, and the Buckeyes face their two biggest challengers back to back- UCLA (No. 1 in the nation) and USC (No. 4 in the nation). Both games are on the road, before the team finishes out its regular season with six more games.
The last game of the regular season is an Ohio State/Maryland rematch at Maryland. While home court advantage is always nice, it’s not everything, and the Terrapins will have to show up as a different team if they want to beat the Buckeyes before they head to tournament play and March Madness begins.
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