No. 13 Ohio State suffered another loss – the fifth in its last seven games – as visiting No. 2 Indiana left Value City Arena with a 83-59 win on Monday.
The Buckeyes (21-5, 10-5 Big Ten), who were without guard Jacy Sheldon or forward Rebeka Mikulášiková, could do little to stifle the Hoosiers (24-1, 14-1) and forward Mackenzie Holmes, who finished with a game-high 33 points on 15-of-18 shooting.
Ohio State kept pace with Indiana early on, tied 6-6 with 3:40 gone by in the first quarter. Forward Eboni Walker was briefly able to keep Holmes at bay, but she scored eight of Indiana’s next 11 points to take a 17-10 lead.
After Indiana finished the first frame with a 24-12 lead, it took just 43 seconds into the second quarter for the Hoosiers to go up 29-12 and for Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff to call a timeout. The timeout did little to get the Buckeyes back in form, as Indiana took off on a 12-2 run to increase the lead to 41-14 with 6:01 left in the first half.
Ohio State then began finding a groove on offense, scoring 15 points over the final six minutes of the second quarter courtesy of guard Taylor Mikesell’s first triple and six points from freshman forward Cotie McMahon. The turnaround was not felt on the defensive end, however, as the Hoosiers hit seven of their final eight shots to take a 54-29 lead into the half.
The Buckeyes ultimately shot a respectable 46.7 percent from the field in the first half, but the Hoosiers countered by shooting 74.2 percent, including a mark of 7 of 11 from deep, with both Holmes and guard Sara Scalia hitting double digits.
Ohio State show some fight coming out of the half, dominating most of the third frame with a 21-6 run to make it 60-50 with 2:11 remaining in the quarter. But after making the game as close as it had been since late in the first quarter, Indiana closed on an 8-3 run to make it 68-53 entering the fourth.
The short-lived rebellion for the Buckeyes did not persist into the fourth, as Ohio State was outscored 15-6 in the final frame.
The Buckeyes were led by McMahon, who finished with 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting. Walker notched her fourth career double-double with 12 points and a team-high 11 rebounds, and Mikesell finished with 15 points. Beyond Holmes, the Hoosiers also saw Scalia (24 points) and guard Grace Berger (16 points, 10 rebounds) finish in double digits.
Ohio State will head on the road for its next contest, traveling to face Penn State on Thursday. The game will tip off at 7 p.m. on Big Ten Plus.
