Thursday was a rough night for No. 17 Ohio State women’s basketball. For the second season in a row the Buckeyes fell by 32 points to the UConn Huskies in an 87-55 rout. Head coach Kevin McGuff’s side had the chance to make it a quick distant memory with Sunday’s matchup against the Fairleigh Dickinson University Knights.
While the Knights made the NCAA Tournament twice in the last two seasons, and enter this season with sweeps of both regular season and conference tournaments in those two years,
Ohio State overcame losses on the roster to defeat FDU 93-49
First quarter
Before the ball even tipped, Ohio State already had a deficit to make up. That’s because junior center Elsa Lemmilä missed the game due to injury. In Lemmilä‘s place was freshman forward Adriana Díaz. Redshirt sophomore Kylee Kitts slid into the No. 5 center role and the Buckeyes turned early FDU fouls into a dominant first quarter performance.
The Knights had nine first quarter fouls and eight points. After the visitors went up 3-0 on their first shot of the game, it took 6:26 of game time for the Knights to hit a second shot after they missed the next seven baskets. Ohio State had their own foul problems when Díaz picked up two fouls in the first three minutes and went to the bench but offensively it ended up being a positive with the addition of forward Sydney Mobley into the game.
Ohio State rattled off a 15-point run and held FDU to three made baskets the entire first quarter. However, six Buckeyes got into the scoring column in the 21-point first quarter. Mobley led all players with six points. Mobley did it through strong play inside with two shots made underneath the basket, plus two free throws picked up from her physical play.
Second quarter
Ohio State scored 21 of the first 25 in the second quarter too and made a game that looked close on paper but much more difficult off of it. Of those 21 points in six game minutes, Díaz and Mobley combined for 10. Each of the bigs hit a shot from beyond the arc and Mobley went 3-for-3 from two-point range for a 4-for-4 quarter.
At halftime, they were the only two Buckeyes to score at least double-digit points in the first 20 minutes. Point guard Jaloni Cambridge scored seven points on 2-for-7 shooting, but added five assists in the half.
Unfortunately for McGuff and the Buckeyes, they had to do the second half without Kennedy Cambridge. In the second quarter, Cambridge dived to the court to get a loose ball and her head hit the shoulders of Megan Ngo. The Ohio State guard immediately held her face and the medical staff came onto the court to hold a towel over her face. Cambridge laid there as the Schottenstein Center sat quietly. McGuff and team staff picked Cambridge up and led her off the court, face still covered, and she did not return to the bench until the start of the second half.
The Buckeyes went ahead 28 points though at halftime, despite the loss. FDU began to hit shots from beyond the arc but defensively the Knights struggled. Ohio State went 13-for-17 in the second quarter.
Third quarter
Without Kennedy Cambridge in the lineup, and up by a wide margin, McGuff used his backup guards for much of the third quarter. Bryn Martin, Seini Henry and Atlee Vanesko each played at least five minutes. Henry led scorers in the third quarter with five points with one made three-point shot and two makes from the free throw line.
Mobley and Díaz each had another foul in the third quarter, which put them more as spectators to start the second half. Instead Kitts stood out inside for the Buckeyes. The big had three points and three rebounds in the quarter. It gave Kitts a 13-point, 8-rebound performance on a day where Ohio State did not have the size of Lemmilä in the post.
Fourth quarter
With eight players available for the Buckeyes in the fourth quarter, McGuff could not sit all the starters on the team, so they took their turns going to the bench. Jaloni Cambridge scored only nine points in the first three quarters, but had her best scoring quarter of the day in the final 10 minutes.
Mobley fouled out at the 4:33 mark of the fourth quarter and received a strong round of applause from the lighter Sunday afternoon crowd. The big ended the game with 18 points, 5 rebounds and went 2-for-2 from beyond the arc.
All Ohio State had to do was ride its lead out and not lose anyone else.
Number of the Game: 6.2
In the preseason, Jaloni Cambridge told reporters that she wanted to be more of a facilitator for other players on her team. The sophomore led the Big Ten in scoring last season, but the junior wanted to impact the game elsewhere this year and so far that is exactly what happened. Against Fairleigh Dickinson, Jaloni Cambridge added seven assists to give her 31 on the season. Now the point guard averages 6.2 assists per game, up from her 4.4 assists last season.
Key performers
Ohio State
- Sydney Mobley: 18 points, 5 rebounds
- Jaloni Cambridge: 15 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds
- Adriana Díaz: 18 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists
- Kylee Kitts: 13 points, 11 rebounds
FDU
- Reese Downey: 17 points
- Leah Crosby: 9 points, 4 rebounds
Up Next
Ohio State’s stretch against a higher difficulty level of opponent continues on Wednesday. That is when the Ole Miss Rebels come to Columbus for the last game against a Power Four opponent in Columbus until Big Ten basketball begins.
