A focus of Ohio State women’s basketball recruiting over the previous three seasons is building strength inside the paint.
The Buckeyes struggled over four seasons to establish any sort of rebounding consistency. In addition, interior threats over that time more or less had their way with the Scarlet and Gray’s interior defense.
Since 2024 though, head coach Kevin McGuff brought in players to turn the tide back in Ohio State’s favor. Buckeye interiors that were once occupied by players like Jantel
Lavender and more recently Dorka Juhász now features players like Elsa Lemmilä and Kylee Kitts.
However, there is one player who has not featured much over the last two seasons who has attributes that fit well into Ohio State’s system, especially on offense. It’s redshirt sophomore Ella Hobbs.
Name: Ella Hobbs
Position: Forward
Class: Redshirt Sophomore
High School: Jay M Robinson High School (Concord, North Carolina)
2025-26 Stats: 2.1 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 0.4 apg, 45.1 FG%, 43.8 3PT FG%, 83.3 FT%
Last Season
Look back at the 2024-25 season and Hobbs entered the program as the No. 95 prospect in the nation. Alongside guards Jaloni Cambridge and Ava Watson, the North Carolina native was the third recruit from the Southeast, an area not normally a hotbed for Buckeye commitments.
While the ability of Cambridge and Watson is clear over their two years of competition, Hobbs came to Columbus in recovery mode off an ACL tear sustained before coming to Ohio State.
The 25-26 season was still part recovery for Hobbs, but the redshirt freshman did get onto the court. Hobbs played mostly during the non-conference schedule. Only once did the 6’4 forward play double-digit minutes in Big Ten play, but that was in a blowout defeat for the Buckeyes at the hands of the Iowa Hawkeyes.
In the first 11 appearances of the season, Hobbs played 10.7 minutes per game and scored 3.7 points and grabbed 3.3 rebounds per game. The best of those outings came in the second game of the season when Hobbs had seven points and 10 rebounds against Bellarmine in 20 minutes on the court.
What to Expect
Hobbs can do the things expected of an interior player and at 6-foot-4 has the size to compete in the Big Ten. Another area that does not get talked about much with Hobbs is the forward’s confidence to shoot from beyond the arc.
Take those first 11 games for instance, Hobbs shot 10 times from beyond the arc and there is not hesitation when the forward decides to take her chance.
What is valuable about that confidence is that Hobbs hit half of them. Stretched over the entire season and Hobbs hit seven from three-point range on 16 attempts. In McGuff’s Five-Out offensive set, putting a big who can shoot on the perimeter does wonders for inside the paint.
When Hobbs gets open and hits deep shots, it has the potential to take someone away from the paint, even a step or two. That allows others like Jaloni Cambridge to go into the open space.
When former Buckeye forward Rebeka Mikulášiková got into hot shooting streaks, it was a valuable option for Ohio State. That was also the last time Ohio State made it to the Elite Eight. It is a good strategy on paper, but something that holds Hobbs back are injuries.
Prediction
At the Ohio State open practice for season ticket holders before the start of the season, Hobbs was not a full participant in drills. Instead, Hobbs was off to the side stretching and doing exercises, pointing to a potential injury to start the season.
Even without the injury, it is now a crowded group of interior players for Ohio State. Lemmilä and Kitts cemented themselves as starters last season until Kitts suffered an injury midway through January. Both bigs are back this season and McGuff added two more post players to add more competition.
Freshmen forwards Sydney Mobley, out of Central Ohio, and Adriana Díaz, out of Spain, are each slightly shorter for a Power Four big at 6’1, but each brings their own strengths.
It will be tough for any big outside of the top two to get regular minutes, barring an injury. Hobbs will need to get healthy first before getting a shot at taking some of those minutes away from her peers.
Highlights
Watch Hobbs play in high school before joining the Buckeyes in the 2024 class. It shows the forward’s rebounding ability and how Hobbs can both use her size in the paint and also hit shots from outside of the post.
Miss any player previews? Here’s the list so far:
- Ava Watson
- Adriana Díaz
- Sydney Mobley
- Kennedy Cambridge
- Bryn Martin
