For six weeks this season, the Nebraska Cornhuskers saw their name in the top-25 Associated Press rankings, until this week. Even so, Big Red brought a two-game winning streak with them to Columbus for
a matchup with No. 11 Ohio State women’s basketball in a matchup of two star sophomore point guards in Buckeye Jaloni Cambridge and Cornhusker Britt Prince.
Ohio State built a 20-point lead in the third quarter, but Nebraska made it a two possession game in the fourth quarter before the Buckeyes turned up the offense. A 30-point night for Jaloni Cambridge gave the Buckeyes the 90-71 victory.
First quarter
Entering Sunday, the Buckeyes left the first quarter with a deficit in eight of 10 Big Ten games. Ohio State flipped the script in the first with two quick made three-point shots from guards Chance Gray and Jaloni Cambridge. The Buckeyes built a nine-point lead at its highest point in the first quarter, and most of the time it was without Jaloni Cambridge.
A trend of late for the sophomore guard is picking up early fouls and Sunday was no different. After 3:10 of the game clock, Cambridge was already on the bench after a push on defense and followed it up with a charge on the offensive end of the court. Head coach Kevin McGuff kept Cambridge off the court for the rest of the period and even so, the Buckeyes outscored the Cornhuskers 11-8 to end the quarter.
What helped Ohio State was both its half court defense and press. The Buckeyes forced seven turnovers from the visitors and held the Cornhuskers to 35.7% shooting from the floor.
Second quarter
From the start of the second quarter, it looked like maybe the quarter Ohio State might not thrive in was the second instead of the first. Nebraska got off to a quick start and turned the six-point Buckeye lead into a one-point advantage. The Cornhuskers went inside and then followed it up with a three-point shot in the fast break that forced an early timeout from McGuff.
That timeout was enough calm Ohio State down and the Buckeyes took control of the game once again. Kennedy Cambridge helped lead the charge with a three-point shot and five points in the period but one play summed up how the game was going for Ohio State in the first half. When Jaloni Cambridge took a shot from beyond the arc, it missed the rim and looked destined to go out of bounds. Instead, Kennedy Cambridge leapt over the line, threw the ball backwards to the hands of Gray who hit a midrange jumper as the Cornhuskers stood around shocked that the play was still going.
The Buckeyes three-point shooting excelled in the quarter too when four players hit a shot from deep before halftime. Ohio State shot 4-for-10 in the quarter and 7-for-18 in the half.
When it came to the matchup between sophomore standout guards Jaloni Cambridge and Nebraska’s Britt Prince, the two played as expected in the half. Prince scored eight points with three assists for the Cornhuskers while Cambridge scored 10 for the Buckeyes.
Third quarter
That guard battle started the second half when Prince took the first offensive possession and attacked the basket. Ohio State guard Ava Watson went up to attempt and stop the shot and fouled Prince in the process, which the referees reviewed for a possible upgrade with contact to the head, but it stayed a common foul. Then, on the next possession for Ohio State, Jaloni Cambridge went to the rim herself and was also fouled in the act of shooting.
Jaloni Cambridge’s strong play continued through the quarter and the sophomore ended the frame with seven points, three rebounds and two assists. Kennedy Cambridge continued to excel too with the hustle plays. On offense, Kennedy Cambridge led a Buckeye fast break where the redshirt junior did a spin move that elicited a lot of “oooooo”s from the crowd and two points for the Buckeyes. Defensively, the guard had three steals in the third quarter alone.
With 3:49 remaining in the quarter, Ohio State built its largest lead of the game at 20 points and that is when Nebraska woke up. The Cornhuskers went 7-for-11 to close out the quarter and outscored the Buckeyes 12-2 to cut the deficit in half headed into the fourth quarter.
Fourth quarter
Things got worse for the Buckeyes at the start of the fourth quarter. Nebraska continued to hit shots and scored eight of the first 10 points.
Any kind of momentum that Ohio State built laid firmly with the Cornhuskers, especially forward Amiah Hargrove who hurt the Buckeyes with her inside and outside game. The 6-foot-2 big benefited from passing inside to get behind Ohio State defenders and shot 2-for-4 from beyond the arc through the opening moments of the third quarter.
Nebraska head coach Amy Williams called a timeout to avoid a turnover or jump ball situation and after the pause in play, Ohio State’s offense picked up from the end of the third quarter where the Buckeyes went 2-for-7 since going up 20 points. Jaloni Cambridge was the offense out of the timeout when she scored the next nine points for Ohio State. Then Watson hit a three-point shot in the corner to stop the Cambridge-only run to put the Buckeyes back up double-digits with half of the quarter remaining.
That run turned into baskets for more than just one Buckeye and Ohio State went in an 11-point run to push the game back into unattainable territory for the Cornhuskers. The fourth quarter surge put all five Ohio State starters in double-digit scoring.
Number of the game: 1,500
That is the career milestone hit by Ohio State’s Chance Gray. The Cincinnati, Ohio spent her first two seasons in Eugene with the Oregon Ducks but returned to her home state to finish off the last two seasons of her NCAA eligibility.
Gray’s 21 points put her over the career mark and although 791 of those points came with the guard wearing Green and Yellow, the Buckeye senior still has seven Big Ten games and likely at least two postseason games to score most of her points in Scarlet and Gray.
Key performers
Ohio State
- Jaloni Cambridge: 29 points, 5 rebounds
- Chance Gray: 21 points
- Kennedy Cambridge: 12 points, 8 rebounds, 7 steals, 3 assists
Nebraska
- Amiah Hargrove: 24 points, 6 rebounds
- Britt Prince: 12 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds
Up Next
Ohio State is back on the road for the next two games, this time for the team’s annual road trip to face two of the newest four Big Ten teams. Last season, the Buckeyes faced the UCLA Bruins and USC Trojans and returned to Ohio with two losses. This time around, Ohio State travels to Seattle, Washington to face the Washington Huskies on Thursday. Then, on Sunday, it is a trip south to Eugene, Oregon to face the Oregon Ducks.
At home last season, the Scarlet and Gray defeated both Pacific Northwest schools at the Schottenstein Center.
