COLUMBUS — Freshmen Adriana Diaz and Sydney Mobley each scored a season-high 18 points Sunday as No. 17 Ohio State cruised past Fairleigh Dickinson 93-49 at the Schottenstein Center, bouncing back in emphatic fashion from a home loss to No. 4 Connecticut. The Associated Press account of the game, carried by theScore, reported that Ohio State built a 21-8 lead after one quarter and never looked back.
Diaz made 6 of 9 shots, including two 3-pointers, and all four of her free throws, adding five rebounds and four assists, according to the Associated Press. Mobley came off the bench to make 7 of 10 shots with two 3-pointers, hit both of her foul shots and grabbed five rebounds.
The turning point came almost immediately. Reese Downey, who paced Fairleigh Dickinson with 17 points on five 3-pointers, hit a 3-pointer to give the Knights a 3-2 lead, according to the Associated Press — and that was the high point of the afternoon for the visitors. Jaloni Cambridge scored five points in a 15-0 Ohio State run that flipped the game for good.
Cambridge finished with 15 points, seven assists and five rebounds, the Associated Press reported, while Kylee Kitts posted a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. By halftime, Mobley already had 15 points off the bench on 6-for-8 shooting and Diaz had 12, and the Buckeyes led 53-25.
The third quarter was even — reserve Seini Henry made two free throws and a 3-pointer in a 13-13 period, according to the Associated Press — but Ohio State still carried a 66-38 lead into the fourth and closed out a 44-point win. The Buckeyes outshot the Knights 54 percent to 30 percent from the floor.
Four Buckeyes scored in double figures — Diaz and Mobley with 18 each, Cambridge with 15 and Kitts with 13 — and Kitts’ 11 rebounds gave her the game’s only double-double, according to the Associated Press line. Ohio State also won the 3-point battle 8-7 despite taking 10 fewer shots from distance, a measure of how clean the Buckeyes’ looks were all afternoon.
The win moves Ohio State to 4-1 on the young season. Fairleigh Dickinson falls to 2-3 — and the Knights got to Columbus the hard way: according to the Associated Press, the team took a 10-hour bus ride from Teaneck, New Jersey, on Saturday in order to play the game after the FAA grounded all flights on Friday.
Sunday’s game was the Military Appreciation matchup NewsForce247 previewed earlier in the day in Ohio State Women Host FDU Sunday for Military Appreciation at the Schott, and the Buckeyes delivered the performance that preview promised — a deep, balanced scoring day in which the freshmen set the tone.
It was a strong Sunday across Ohio State athletics. Earlier in the afternoon, the wrestling program opened its dual season in the same building complex — see No. 6 Ohio State Opens Dual Season With 34-10 Rout of Columbia at Covelli — giving Buckeye fans two lopsided home wins in a matter of hours.
What happens next is a step up in competition. Ohio State hosts No. 21 Mississippi on Wednesday at the Schottenstein Center, according to the Associated Press schedule — a ranked-on-ranked test that will show how much of Sunday’s shooting carries over. Fairleigh Dickinson, meanwhile, heads home to host Rider on Tuesday.
For a team coming off an 87-55 loss to Connecticut, Sunday was exactly the response Ohio State needed: an early knockout run, two freshmen playing like veterans, and a bench that outscored its role. The Buckeyes will need all of it again on Wednesday.
Photo: JonRidinger, CC BY-SA