In its first road game in front of fans since Feb. 29, 2020, the No. 18 Ohio State women’s basketball team suffered its first loss of the season Wednesday at the Carrier Dome, falling to the Orange 97-91.
Although the Buckeyes (5-1, 0-0 in Big Ten) led 39-36 at halftime, they ultimately could not slow down an effective Syracuse (4-4, 0-1 in ACC) offense which outscored Ohio State 61-52 and shot 64.3 percent from the field in the final two quarters.
Head coach Kevin McGuff said his team failed to expand its lead in the second half because it let their guard down and allowed a hungry Orange team to gain confidence as the game progressed.
“We had a chance,” McGuff said. “I thought in the beginning, we played really hard, we were together, we were really competing.Then, we quit doing those things that allowed us to get the lead. I think the biggest key is we gave them a lot of confidence early, and I think we could’ve stolen that from them if we had just kept playing as hard as we did to start the game.”
Although McGuff pointed to the team’s second half lapses, the Buckeyes struggled to contain redshirt sophomore guard Teisha Hyman throughout the game, allowing the White Plains, New York, native to earn a career-high 30 points on 12-18 shooting.
McGuff said his defense showed little resistance both in the paint and on the ball, as the Buckeyes repeatedly allowed Hyman and her teammates to get clean drives to the basket and put up open looks inside.
“We didn’t guard the ball off the dribble,” McGuff said. “We played a little zone to mix it up. We tried to mix our defenses, but the bottom line is we didn’t guard the ball well.”
The Buckeyes’ defense also surrendered double-digit scoring performances to graduate and senior guards Naje Murray and Chrislyn Carr, who scored 23 and 21 points, respectively, on a combined 50 percent shooting percentage.
Coming into the night with the No. 1 scoring offense in the nation at 89.4 points a game, the Buckeyes failed to replicate that production on the road, shooting just 10-for-31 from three and surrendering 12 turnovers.
McGuff said his team’s uncharacteristic offensive performance also stems from its inability to finish inside the paint and capitalize off of easy scoring opportunities.
“We had four or five great looks at the basket, like right around the basket, to start the second half,” McGuff said. “Then we got fouled. We didn’t capitalize around the basket and didn’t capitalize from the free throw line.”
Despite the stagnant offensive performance, the Buckeyes’ lone bright spot came from its three top scorers, as junior forward Rebeka Mikulasikova, junior guard Jacy Sheldon and senior guard Taylor Mikesell added 16, 23 and 21 points, respectively, on a combined 22-for-48 shooting.
Experiencing their first loss of the season, Mikesell said Wednesday’s result could help her team in the long run, as it will motivate Ohio State to work hard and learn from its mistakes before it continues its difficult December slate.
“With this being our first road game, we’re going to learn a lot from it,” Mikesell said. “The best thing about it is we have another great road test this Sunday. We don’t have time to sit around and be upset about it. [We need to] watch the film and get better from it.”
The Buckeyes will open Big Ten play Sunday with a battle with 6-2 Purdue at Mackey Arena. The game will tip at 2 p.m.