Ohio State tops Michigan 81-79 in Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal
There’s an old adage that gets repeated ad nauseam at this time of year in college basketball.
It’s hard to beat a team three times in a season, the theory goes. When two teams meet for the third time, typically in a conference tournament, those who believe in the theory expect the team that lost the first two to emerge victorious from the third game.
Twice in the regular season, the Ohio State women’s basketball team beat Michigan — once in Columbus, on Dec. 31, and once in Ann Arbor on Feb. 20. On Friday afternoon at the Target Center in Minneapolis, in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament, the Buckeyes and the Wolverines faced each other for the third time.
Ohio State, the fourth seed in the tournament, took the lead late in a back-and-forth first quarter and fended off a comeback attempt from Michigan, the No. 5 seed, over the game’s frenetic final few minutes to win 81-79. It is the first time the Buckeyes have ever beaten the Wolverines three times in a season.
After losing at the last second to Maryland last Friday, the final game of the regular season, Ohio State entered the conference tournament carrying the ending against the Terrapins as motivation. On Friday, the Buckeyes again found themselves in a tightly-contested late-game situation, and this time, they pulled off the narrow victory, led by 28 points from freshman forward Cotie McMahon.
Michigan last led 15-14 with 4:29 left in the first quarter, but at the 6:26 mark of the fourth, a 3-pointer from Maddie Nolan gave the Wolverines the lead again, 70-68. From that point, the teams traded blows as each side battled to pull ahead for good.
With the game tied at 76 points apiece, with 1:18 left to play, senior guard Jacy Sheldon, who has appeared in just six games this season while battling a lower-leg injury, made a 3-pointer to put Ohio State back ahead. On the next play, McMahon forced a steal and fed Taylor Mikesell for a transition layup.
Another 3-pointer from Nolan made it a two-point game with under 30 seconds left. Michigan had the ball with 23.7 seconds left, looking to force overtime, but the Buckeyes got the stop on the game’s final possession. In a game where she was a dominant presence throughout, it came as no surprise that McMahon was a key facet of the final defensive stand; she blocked one shot and grabbed the final defensive rebound as the buzzer sounded.
Ohio State will face top-seeded Indiana, which beat the Buckeyes twice in the regular season, in a semifinal at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.
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