It is not everyday that somebody meets a personal hero. When the rare event does happen, there is a good chance that any sort of planned speech or thank you turns into a bundle of nerves, mumbling, and
tears or all three at the same time. For No. 19 Ohio State women’s basketball point guard Jaloni Cambridge, her response was different — she made history.
Wednesday night against the Illinois Fighting Illini, the Buckeyes had their work cut out for them. While Illinois is the youngest team in the Big Ten, it does not make them the least talented. Far from it. The two sides, full of underclassmen playmakers, traded the lead 14 times and at halftime, the two teams sat in a dead heat, tied at 36 points apiece.
That is when it happened. Ohio State players began to notice somebody special in the crowd. Sitting court side inside Illinois’ State Farm Center was none other than WNBA forward A’ja Wilson.
“We happened to look across the court, and I was like, I didn’t have my glasses on, so I couldn’t see I was like, she looks familiar, but I just left it,” Cambridge told reporters. She did not leave it for long.
“Me and Kennedy [Cambridge] were literally geeking, and I was just so excited, because that’s literally a dream come true,” Cambridge said.
Wilson, the three-time SEC Player of the Year, four-time All-American and NCAA champion with the South Carolina Gamecocks, sat next to her boyfriend Bam Adebayo, member of the NBA’s Miami Heat. The couple was there after the Fighting Illini made a plea to the WNBA MVP to come to a game, but after halftime Cambridge stole the show.
After the guard scored 12 points in the first quarter, Cambridge outscored Illinois 12-10 in the third quarter.
“She [Cambridge] got going early in the quarter, so we started calling a lot of things for her,” head coach Kevin McGuff told reporters. “Every time we go a stop, and we were able to outlet the ball and get the ball in her hands, she made something happen. A combination of, I tried to call as many things as I could for her, but really, when she got the ball, she kind of just took over.”
Cambridge was not just on a hot shooting streak. The sophomore leader of the Buckeyes in scoring and assists was almost challenging the Illini to stop her and nobody could step up to the challenge. Whether it was a run to the basket, midrange jumper or three-point shot, Cambridge took the fight out of the Illini.
Ultimately, the sophomore kept shooting and taking chances because Illinois allowed it to happen. When Cambridge was not scoring, she got teammates into the fold. The guard’s six assists resulted in 15 additional points for the Buckeyes bringing her total offensive impact to 56 of Ohio State’s 78 points.
“We’ve seen how good she [Cambridge] is, but she took it to another level tonight,” McGuff said. “Was just really fun to watch, fun to coach and just put us on her back and carried us to a big win.”
The Las Vegas Aces star Wilson is no stranger to carrying a team. In eight WNBA seasons, Wilson has four games where she scored at least 40 points on the road to four WNBA MVP awards and three WNBA championships. Wilson is highly regarded as one of the best to play professionally.
Did Wilson’s presence alone impact the 29-point second half for the point guard?
“I mean, no, but yes,” Cambridge told reporters. “But at the end of day, it was just about getting the win. Obviously, it was in the back of my mind, but it wasn’t at the top of my mind.”
With 41 points, Cambridge is now the fourth Buckeye in program history to hit the 40-point mark. She joined guards Samantha Prahalis and Katie Smith, with the latter watching it all unfold on the bench as one of Ohio State’s assistant coaches. Each achieved the feat once, but guard and WNBA All-Star Kelsey Mitchell had four in one season. Regardless, it is historic company for the sophomore who still has over half of her NCAA career to add to college record books.
After the Buckeyes’ Wednesday victory, guard Kennedy Cambridge got one of her shoes signed by Wilson. All the while, the redshirt senior stood there elated, in disbelief of what was happening. Once the team went to the locker room, Jaloni Cambridge won the dub crown as the team’s player of the game and left to do media. Then Cambridge was again in historic company, this time with Wilson.
Jaloni Cambridge added one more assist after the game with her older sister Kennedy. As the star of the game walked up to Wilson, she pulled her sister into the moment. The two basketball talents shared a moment of laughs, a photo and another keepsake — a compliment.
“She [Wilson] told me I had a good game,” Jaloni Cambridge said. “So, I think I’m going to take that and run with that for rest of my life, no matter how bad I play. She told me I had a good game, so that is all that matters.”
