Ohio State needed overtime to win after blowing a double-digit lead for the second game in a row.
After blowing a 14-point lead in the final three minutes of regulation in its previous game against Minnesota, Ohio State squandered a 12-point lead in the final two minutes of regulation against Iowa. Just like they did against the Golden Gophers, however, the Buckeyes battled back to earn a win in overtime, defeating the Hawkeyes 86-78 on Monday afternoon at the Schottenstein Center.
The Buckeyes improved to 22-3 on the season and 11-3 in Big Ten play while snapping a six-game winning streak for Iowa. Jaloni Cambridge scored 29 points, Cotie McMahon scored 25 and Kennedy Cambridge scored a career-high 16 points to lead the Buckeyes to victory. Lucy Olsen scored 27 points in defeat for the Hawkeyes.
| TEAM | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | OT | FINAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #8 OHIO STATE | 22 | 12 | 17 | 23 | 12 | 86 |
| IOWA | 12 | 9 | 23 | 30 | 4 | 78 |
Ohio State stormed out of the gates to a 14-6 lead as Jaloni Cambridge scored seven points and McMahon scored five in the game’s first five minutes. Jaloni finished the first quarter with nine points while Kennedy Cambridge came off the bench to hit two 3-pointers late in the quarter, giving the Buckeyes a 22-12 lead after 10 minutes.
The Buckeyes maintained a double-digit lead for nearly the entirety of a lower-scoring second quarter, taking a 34-21 lead into halftime as they held Iowa without a field goal for the final 5:33 of the first half.
Iowa went on a 6-0 run and a 7-0 run in the first six minutes of the third quarter to cut Ohio State’s lead to four points. The Buckeyes ultimately finished the third quarter with a 51-44 advantage, but the Hawkeyes got out to a 7-2 start in the fourth quarter to make it a two-point game.
Back-to-back scores from McMahon temporarily stopped the bleeding for the home team. After a three by Kylie Feuerbach made it a one-score game again, Ohio State went on a 6-0 run to build its advantage back to nine. But after Ohio State took a 12-point lead on a Kennedy Cambridge layup with 1:38 to play, Iowa made four 3-pointers and a three-point play over the next 82 seconds to make it a one-point game as Jaloni Cambridge and McMahon went 4-of-8 from the free-throw line.
| OHIO STATE | STAT | IOWA |
|---|---|---|
| 86 | POINTS | 78 |
| 27-58 (46.6%) | FGM-FGA (PCT.) | 26-62 (41.9%) |
| 6-15 (40%) | 3PM-3PA (PCT.) | 9-25 (36%) |
| 26-38 (68.4%) | FTM-FTA (PCT.) | 17-24 (70.8%) |
| 12 | TURNOVERS | 20 |
| 34 | TOTAL REBOUNDS | 41 |
| 7 | OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS | 11 |
| 27 | DEFENSIVE REBOUNDS | 30 |
| 21 | BENCH POINTS | 15 |
| 4 | BLOCKS | 1 |
| 11 | STEALS | 5 |
| 14 | ASSISTS | 18 |
McMahon just went 1-for-2 from the line again on Ohio State’s next possession, then fouled Lucy Olsen on the other end, allowing Iowa to tie the game with a pair of free throws and send the Buckeyes to overtime for a second straight game.
Iowa took an early lead in overtime on an Olsen layup, but Ohio State scored five straight points from there to take a three-point lead. Another pair of free throws by Olsen made it a one-point game with 1:05 to play in overtime. McMahon drove for a layup through a foul on the other end but missed another free throw on the subsequent and-one opportunity to keep Iowa within one score.
Kennedy Cambridge came up with a key block on Iowa’s next possession, though, that set up a fast-break layup for Taylor Thierry to extend Ohio State’s lead back to five points. Jaloni Cambridge followed up an Iowa turnover with two successful free throws to make it a seven-point game with 23 seconds to play, finally putting the game out of reach for the Hawkeyes.
After two close calls in a row, Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff says he thinks his team needs to be more consistent over the course of games.
“We're good enough, but we're not consistent enough,” McGuff said. “It’s just like I told them: If we would have played the last five minutes of the game like we played in overtime, because in overtime, we played really hard, we executed at a high level, we were together, we had great energy and great communication. But we didn't have that in the last five minutes. So we've gotta commit to that for closer to 40 minutes, and I think we can close out games. But until we really get that, we're going to leave ourselves vulnerable.”
After giving up more than 80 points in three straight games, McMahon says that all starts with the Buckeyes playing better defense.
“It's something we've been struggling with all season. Not sure what it's gonna take for us to really lock in and really take pride in our defense. I mean, we can only say so much; now, we just have to just do it,” McMahon said. “I'm not saying that we just don't know how to play defense, I'm saying we just don't know how to be consistent with defense. And we just take a lot of plays off when it comes to defense, including myself.”
The Buckeyes, which are ranked eighth in the AP poll but 14th in the NCAA selection committee’s initial top 16, hold a half-game edge over Illinois for third place in the Big Ten but sit two games behind USC and 1.5 games behind UCLA in the conference standings.
Ohio State hits the road for its next game against Indiana on Thursday (7 p.m., Peacock) before returning to Value City Arena to host Purdue on Sunday (Noon, Big Ten Network).
