COLUMBUS, Ohio — For one half Thursday night, No. 17 Ohio State went toe to toe with No. 4 UConn at the Schottenstein Center. Then Sarah Strong came back from the bench, and the game was over. Strong scored 17 of her 25 points in a decisive third quarter as the Huskies pulled away for an 87-55 win over the Buckeyes, according to the Associated Press report published by NBC Sports.
Strong, the reigning national player of the year, made a career-high seven 3-pointers on eight attempts and finished 9 of 12 from the field, the Associated Press reported. She added nine rebounds, five assists and three steals in just 25 minutes, doing most of her damage after sitting out the entire second quarter with two fouls.
Ohio State (3-1) trailed just 38-35 at halftime after outscoring UConn 13-11 in the second quarter while Strong sat, The Columbus Dispatch reported in its game takeaways. The Buckeyes even cut the lead to 52-45 midway through the third on a Kennedy Cambridge 3-pointer, according to the Associated Press — before UConn answered with 13 straight points, five apiece from Strong and Ashlynn Shade.
The numbers show how quickly it unraveled. Ohio State shot 19 of 55 from the field (34.5 percent) and 5 of 24 from 3-point range after shooting nearly 50 percent through its first three games, and its 19 turnovers became 20 UConn points, USA Today reported. UConn outscored the Buckeyes 27-11 in the third quarter and 49-20 across the second half, according to The UConn Blog.
Jaloni Cambridge led Ohio State with 21 points but shot 6 of 23 from the field, and Ava Watson added 13 points, the Associated Press reported. Shade scored 15 points and KK Arnold 10 for UConn (3-1), while freshman Olivia Vukosa grabbed 12 rebounds. UConn has now won eight of the nine meetings between the programs, according to the Associated Press.
The loss was Ohio State’s second straight defeat in the series, after falling 100-68 at UConn last season, The Columbus Dispatch noted. The Buckeyes get little time to dwell on it: they host Fairleigh Dickinson on Sunday at the Schottenstein Center, according to AmeriLedger’s recap of the game.
UConn, meanwhile, continues a run of ranked opponents at No. 7 Louisville on Sunday. For Ohio State, Thursday’s first half offered the encouraging half of the story — the Buckeyes defended and rebounded well enough to stay within three of a national title contender — and the second half showed how thin the margin is when an opponent’s best player catches fire.
Photo: JonRidinger, CC BY-SA