Ohio State Beats Wisconsin 70-61 Thanks to a Huge Third Quarter

It wasn't pretty, but the Ohio State women's hoops team used a huge third quarter to survive a scare from Wisconsin, which owns the worst record in the Big Ten. It wasn't what they hoped, but Buckeyes gutted out 70-61 win.

For most of the game, it was evident the Buckeyes were the better team, but whenever they opened up a sizable lead, they seemed to get comfortable and allow Wisconsin to claw its way back into it.

"We got caught up in the score today when we got up in a lead," said Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff. "That's the surest way to not reach your potential."

Ohio State guard Kelsey Mitchell, who was the team's hot hand offensively with a game-high 24 points and four assists, echoed her coach's belief.

"I think the thing with our team that separates from the greats like your UConns or your South Carolinas," Mitchell said, "is that once their score goes up, their score continues to go up."

Both McGuff and Mitchell agreed the lapses are due to a lack of effort, but neither were quite sure how to force that effort out of a young team.

"Will it take more losing?" Mitchell asked teammate Stephanie Mavunga in jest. "I hope the losing won't be it. I hope one day we get it together and realize we can't do things like that, especially in Big Ten conference play."

The Buckeyes opened the game with a new starting lineup, inserting Alexa Hart and Kiara Lewis (who made her first-career start) for Shayla Cooper and Asia Doss. The move seemed to work – the team exploded out the gates thanks to five points from Lewis in the opening 37 seconds and took a quick 14-2 lead.

Ohio State controlled the game for most of the first and second quarters, but failed to close the half strong. The Buckeyes had a 13 points lead in the first, but hit a cold stretch midway through the second when they made just 1-of-9 field goal attempts while turning the ball over more than a few times. Meanwhile, Wisconsin heated up and cut the Buckeye lead to just 29-28 at the half.

OSU roared back to life to start the second half, equalling its first-half scoring output in the third quarter alone to stretch the lead to 58-39, but Wisconsin hung around. The Badgers outscored the Buckeyes 22-12 in the fourth quarter, cutting their lead to just six points, but the Scarlet and Gray held on and notched a 70-61 win.

With the win, Ohio State moves to 16-5 overall and 6-1 in the Big Ten. The Buckeyes host Illinois Sunday at 5 p.m. in Value City Arena.