On Monday, Ohio State women’s basketball defeated the Belmont Bruins 68-56. A comfortable win by a comfortable margin. Look deeper and the game was no sure bet for head coach Kevin McGuff’s side.
For the
first time in the early 2025-26 season, the Buckeyes had to play important fourth quarter minutes and it ended with spells of positive defensive basketball.
In the previous four games of the season, the Scarlet and Gray entered the final quarter of games either up, or down, big. Belmont, a tested mid major side, was a different story. The Bruins led the Buckeyes 17 minutes of the first half.
Head coach Bart Brooks’ Bruins hit three-point shots with regularity, out rebounded the Buckeyes and held Ohio State to 34.7% shooting from the field in the first 20 minutes.
It looked like another third quarter Ohio State surge was in order, and for a few minutes it worked. In the third quarter, the Buckeyes built a six-point lead in the first seven minutes but Belmont was not rattled. The Bruins tied the game on the final shot of the third quarter, a buzzer beater that followed three consecutive threes.
Ohio State was in for a fourth quarter fight — and forward Kylee Kitts and the Buckeyes had more fight.
“Each game I’m getting a little bit better,” Kitts told Land-Grant Holy Land. “I still have a lot to work on, but each game is getting better, so that’s good.”
Kitts was not only good. Kitts was game changing.
Ohio State used Kitts offensively on the pick and roll and the redshirt freshman scored the first four points of the quarter. The first two came from the free throw line, where the aggressive Kitts visited six times in the win. Kitts hit all six attempts. Those were the game-winning points for the Buckeyes in the fourth, and Kitts made sure of it.
The Floridian, in a more familiar climate of the Bahamas, played like she felt right at home. Kitts had six rebounds in the fourth quarter, which matched Belmont’s total for the last 10 minutes. On top of extra possessions for Ohio State, two of those came on the offensive boards, Kitts also had two blocks and led the team in scoring with six points. It earned Kitts her first collegiate double-double with 12 points and 15 rebounds.
A single player cannot win a game alone. Kitts was the focal point, but the entire Ohio State roster stepped up to the occasion of their first meaningful fourth quarter minutes.
All season, McGuff said the team needed to improve in half-court defense. Full-court forced turnovers on Monday, but when Belmont broke through the press, Buckeye defenders were not quick enough in their adjustments to stop open shots when the Bruins set up their offense.
In that final quarter, the Scarlet and Gray were not tired and its conditioning paid off, because it was not turnovers or steals that caused issues for the Bruins but half-court defense. The Buckeyes were in the faces of every Belmont shooter.
“Thought we had some stretches where we disrupted them in the full court, and then also got back and made it tough on them in the half court,” McGuff told Land-Grant Holy Land. “And when we put those two together, I think we’re pretty good on that end of the floor.”
Ohio State’s “pretty good” was a 3-for-17 shooting quarter for the Bruins, a similar side to the Belmont team that was tied with last year’s edition of the Buckeyes with 30 seconds remaining in regulation.
Like last year, point guard Jaloni Cambridge was a difference maker on Monday. The guard did not turn on the big game moments in the last 30 seconds though. This time around, the offense flowed through the sophomore guard, sometimes to a fault.
Cambridge had to force shots, mainly inside the paint, but showed she is more than an offensive weapon or key to the full-court press. In the fourth quarter, Cambridge was second on the team with four rebounds, including one offensive board for the 5-foot-7 guard.
While the 25-26 season is young, only halfway towards the one-third point of the campaign, the fourth quarter showed evidence that Ohio State can improve. Now, a bigger test awaits Wednesday when the Buckeyes play their final game of the Baha Mar Pink Flamingo Championship against the No. 21 West Virginia Mountaineers.
