No. 19 Ohio State (11–2) was not quite up to the task in its first game of the season against a Big Ten title contender. Instead, the Buckeyes were defeated by No. 4 UCLA (12-1) 82-75 in their Big Ten home opener on Sunday.
Ohio State flashed signs of potential in its seven-point loss to the Bruins, but ultimately struggled to deal with UCLA’s size and was out-rebounded 47-33.
It was an ugly start for Ohio State, which, as a team, missed its first four shots from the field to fall behind 7-0. Eventually, sophomore center Elsa Lemmilä made Ohio State’s first shot of the game at the 6:58 mark, and after sophomore point guard Jaloni Cambridge converted a three-point play, sophomore guard Ava Watson tied the game at 7 with a layup. However, UCLA responded with a 9-3 scoring to go back in front 16-10.
Cambridge helped Ohio State trim the deficit to two points with a first-quarter-ending layup.
The Buckeyes went on another scoring drought to start the second quarter and fell behind 23-16. Then, after back-to-back layups from Jaloni Cambridge and her sister Kennedy Cambridge, UCLA went on a 7-0 scoring run to lead 30-20.
The Bruins’ lead grew to 11 at one point in the first half, but the Buckeyes ended the second quarter on a 6-1 spurt to trail 39-33 entering halftime.
After shooting just 1-13 from the three-point range, the Buckeyes made a couple of three-pointers in the first two minutes of the third quarter to make the score 41-39.
UCLA grew the lead back to six after buckets from senior center Lauren Betts and graduate power forward Angela Dugalic, but senior guard T’yana Todd made a three-point jumper that made the score 47-44. Betts scored the next four points, but Todd answered with another three-pointer. The Buckeyes couldn’t sustain their hot shooting, though, and went scoreless for over two minutes as UCLA took a 57-47 lead late in the third quarter.
After falling behind by 11 points in the third quarter, the Buckeyes went on a 7-0 scoring run, capped by another three-pointer by Todd. The Buckeyes had all of the momentum with a few seconds left in the third quarter until UCLA guard Kiki Rice drained a three-pointer from past half-court.
UCLA used Rice’s long shot to spark momentum in the fourth quarter. The Bruins opened the final frame on a 13-4 scoring run to take a comfortable 16-point lead.
The Bruins’ run was ended by Jaloni Cambridge, who converted a three-point play, but Dugalic answered with a layup on the other end.
The Buckeyes didn’t quit after facing the huge deficit. Instead, they scored nine straight points to make the score 78-72. However, UCLA’s Gianna Kneepkens made a clutch three-point shot on its next possession to grow the lead back to nine. Ohio State junior Chance Gray converted on a three-point play on the other end to get the lead back down to six points.
However, the Buckeyes failed to score in the last minute of the game before losing by seven.
The Buckeyes were led in scoring by Jaloni Cambridge. Cambridge, who shot 11-19 from the field, scored 28 points in the loss. Todd (16 points) and Lemmilä (13 points) also reached double-figures. Jaloni Cambridge and Gray led Ohio State with four assists, while Kennedy Cambridge had a team-high nine rebounds.
Ohio State went 28-64 (43.8 percent) from the floor in its loss, while the Bruins connected on 33-of-74 field goals (44.6 percent).
UCLA was led by Betts in the win. Betts had 18 points and a game-high 16 rebounds.
