For the first time in six years, No. 5 seeded Ohio State women’s basketball did not make the Big Ten Tournament’s top-four seeds. With that comes a double-bye right into the Friday quarterfinals. The Buckeyes still made the tournament’s third day after a win over the No. 13 Indiana Hoosiers, but Friday was different against the No. 4 Minnesota Golden Gophers.
On Feb. 18 in Minneapolis, the Buckeyes looked listless. As if the long season wore the team down and the result reflected that idea. That is not
a discredit to the Golden Gophers who entered that game on an eight-game winning streak, but Ohio State made the night easier.
“We were just missing fight and heart and energy,” Kennedy Cambridge told reporters after the 60-55 win over the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Friday. The Buckeyes forced 21 turnovers, a season high for Minnesota. The last time they met, the Gophers had nine.
“The press was better today,” head coach Kevin McGuff told reporters. “But even in the half court, I thought we were way better. If you looked at Ava [Watson] and Chance [Gray], Kennedy [Cambridge], their intensity and effort on the ball, I thought was way better today than it was the first time we played.”
Ohio State had 12 steals on those 21 forced turnovers, and half of them came from Kennedy Cambridge. At this point in the season, that is no surprise. After all, the redshirt junior had 121 steals on the season through the Buckeyes’ Thursday victory over the Indiana Hoosiers in the round of eight. Kennedy Cambridge did not know she had that many steals until she saw the stats in the locker room after the game.
Of the six, the most impressive, and arguably most impactful, came with 2:11 remaining in the fourth quarter. Ohio State had a four-point lead but prior to the takeaway, Minnesota scored the last three points of the game to cut the seven-point lead down to two possessions. The Golden Gophers passed the ball to forward Grace Grocholski, who ran to the left side of the arc. Grocholski had 18 points at the time, a game high, but she was not getting into a situation to shoot. No, she was dribbling to a position to continue a play.
That is when Grocholski made a mistake that Kennedy Cambridge picked up in an instant. In poker, the best players look at an opponent to look for a tell. That one thing that gives the player everything it needs to know about what they have in front of them.
“As soon as she [Grocholski] was going and she put her head down, I took it,” Kennedy Cambridge said. “As soon as you put your head down, and you can’t see me, I can poke it and go.”
Kennedy Cambridge’s teammates are used to the steals. Once the ball landed behind the Minnesota forward, and the Buckeye guard picked up the ball, senior Chance Gray was already running down the court. That is when Kennedy Cambridge threw a one-handed pass between two defenders, through a Golden Gopher’s legs and to Gray to push the lead to six points.
Those moments become an involuntary sprint drill, which, if ranked, is not the most favorite workout. In some circles it is a punishment. Take Ohio State practices for instance. In some drills, when a Buckeye does not stop a teammate or practice squad player, they have to run sprints off to the side.
“I think it’s a blessing in disguise, because it helps us get easier shots,” Gray told reporters. “She’s a great defensive player, and that’s what she does. So you just kind of stay ready for it all times.”
Friday’s victory for the Buckeyes marks the first time this season the side played someone they lost to earlier in the campaign. A moment of vindication that meant a lot more now that the Minnesota Golden Gophers are packed and headed home to Minneapolis.
Now, Ohio State has a chance to do it again, but this time it is a stronger test. The strongest test in the Big Ten — The No. 1 UCLA Bruins. Head coach Cori Close’s side struggled for the first three quarters against the Washington Huskies before UCLA coasted to a 78-60 victory. It is a rematch of last year’s Big Ten Tournament semifinal where the Bruins handedly beat the Buckeyes 75-46. Earlier this season there was a marked improvement in an 82-75 Buckeye defeat to UCLA, but for the Ohio State tournament run to continue, the side needs even more.
“I feel like every time we go on the floor, we feel like we have the opportunity to win. We’re not gonna go out and bow down to nobody, because you know we ain’t about that life,” Kennedy Cambridge said. “It’s just another game. The ball gonna keep bouncing.”
