Ohio State Off To Best Start In Four Seasons

Ohio State women’s basketball earned its biggest win of the season Thursday, knocking off No. 12 Maryland by a score of 91-85, and earning its fifth-straight win in the process.

That puts the Buckeyes with a 14-3 (5-2 Big Ten) record through 17 games, their best since head coach Kevin McGuff’s squad started the 2017-18 season with a 15-2 record. They would go on to start 20-2 before finishing the season with a 27-8 record, falling in the NCAA tournament to Central Michigan.

The Buckeyes started this season 8-2, with losses to Syracuse and then-No. 10 Indiana, before playing a stretch of just four games in 23 days between Dec. 15 and Jan. 6, due in part to Ohio State’s winter break as well as cancellations due to COVID-19.

Since returning Jan. 6 against Illinois, the Buckeyes have rattled off five straight wins over the Illini, Northwestern, Michigan State, Minnesota and Maryland, and are now fourth in the conference behind Iowa (11-4, 5-1), Michigan (16-2, 7-1) and Indiana (14-2, 6-0).

Among the teams near the top of the conference standings, Ohio State has games remaining this season at home against Michigan (Jan. 27) and on the road against Iowa (Jan. 31) and Maryland (Feb. 17).

Ohio State will play next at Rutgers on Sunday, with tip set for 1 p.m. The game can be viewed on ESPN2.