Three teams have separated themselves from the pack in the race for the Big Ten women’s basketball regular-season title. Two of those teams will meet in Columbus on Sunday afternoon.
Two weeks removed from earning its first marquee win of the season over then-No. 2 Iowa, Ohio State has the chance to get another one when it hosts Indiana at the Schottenstein Center on Sunday. The eighth-ranked Buckeyes and 10th-ranked Hoosiers both enter the game with 9-1 records in Big Ten play, putting them in a three-way tie with the Hawkeyes for the conference lead, two games ahead of fourth-place Penn State.
Indiana
Hoosiers
With a win over the Hawkeyes already on their résumé, the Buckeyes (who are 18-3 overall this season) could position themselves for the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament – though they still have to play the Hawkeyes again on the road in their regular-season finale – if they can defend home court against the Hoosiers.
That won’t be an easy task. Indiana is 18-2 this season; its only two losses have come against Stanford and Iowa, teams that are both ranked in the top four of the AP Top 25.
Some of Ohio State’s toughest matchups this season have come when it’s had to face standout post players, and it will face one of the best in the country on Sunday in Indiana’s Mackenzie Holmes. A 6-foot-3 fifth-year senior, Holmes ranks second in the Big Ten with 20.5 points per game and leads the conference with a 66.8% field goal percentage. She also ranks seventh in the conference with 7.5 rebounds per contest.
Mackenzie Holmes leads Indiana with 20.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game. (Photo: Tommy Gilligan – USA TODAY Sports)
Holmes scored 59 combined points in Indiana’s two regular-season wins against Ohio State last season. That said, the Buckeyes managed to limit Holmes to only 12 points when they beat the Hoosiers 79-75 in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals. The current iteration of the Buckeyes showed their ability to overcome another one of the Big Ten’s top post players on Thursday night when they blew out Wisconsin, 87-49, despite a 16-point, 11-rebound performance from 6-foot-4 Badgers star Serah Williams.
That said, Holmes is far from the only threat Ohio State needs to worry about on Sunday.
Indiana has five players averaging double figures this season, though only four of them are expected to play against the Buckeyes as senior guard Sydney Parrish is sidelined by a foot injury. The Hoosiers still have an excellent trio of guards in Sara Scalia, Yarden Garzon and Chloe Moore-McNeil.
Last season, Scalia had a 24-point game against the Buckeyes and Garzon had a 20-pointer of her own. Both of them are dangerous shooters, with each making more than 44% of their 3-point attempts this season.
| Indiana | Ohio State | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | No. | Player | Ht | 2023-24 Stats | Pos | No. | Player | Ht | 2023-24 Stats |
| G | 22 | CHLOE MOORE-MCNEIL | 5-11 | 10 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 4.5 APG | G | 4 | JACY SHELDON | 5-10 | 17.5 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 3 APG |
| G | 1 | LEXUS BARGESSER | 5-9 | 3.6 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 2.7 APG | G | 12 | CELESTE TAYLOR | 5-11 | 9.3 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 3.3 APG |
| G | 14 | SARA SCALIA | 5-10 | 15.5 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 2.7 APG | G | 2 | TAYLOR THIERRY | 6-1 | 12.3 PPG, 6 RPG, 1.6 APG |
| G | 12 | YARDEN GARZON | 6-3 | 11.6 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 3.4 APG | F | 32 | COTIE MCMAHON | 6-0 | 13.9 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 1.9 APG |
| F | 54 | MACKENZIE HOLMES | 6-3 | 20.5 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 1.4 APG | F | 23 | REBEKA MIKULASIKOVA | 6-4 | 9 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 2.4 APG |
Ohio State enters Sunday’s game on an eight-game winning streak. The Buckeyes are undefeated since the turn of the calendar, suffering their last loss to Michigan in their final game of 2023.
Sophomore star Cotie McMahon has played a crucial role in the Buckeyes’ success, posting double-doubles in all of Ohio State’s last four games. Jacy Sheldon has paced the Buckeyes with 17.5 points per game, scoring in double figures in all but three of Ohio State’s 21 games.
All five Buckeye starters are averaging at least nine points per game while the Buckeyes lead the entire conference with 21 forced turnovers per game, in large part thanks to their vaunted full-court press defense.
Much like they did against Iowa, the Buckeyes should get a boost from having a large home crowd cheering them on. After selling out the lower levels of the arena for Sunday’s game, Ohio State is opening up the upper bowl of the Schottenstein Center just like it did for the game against the Hawkeyes, meaning the Buckeyes will have plenty of fan support on hand.
“It’s great,” Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff said after Thursday’s win over Wisconsin. “Indiana’s got a great team. I’m really appreciative of the community coming out and supporting us in a big game like that, so it should be an incredible environment.”
General admission tickets ($15) are still available for Sunday’s game, which is scheduled for a noon tip-off and will be televised on FS1.
