Scarlet Sunrise: Ohio State clinches share of Big Ten title, No. 1 seed in conference tournament

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Ohio State women’s hoops clinches share of Big Ten title, No. 1 seed in conference tournament

A 14th straight win for Ohio State women’s basketball meant two things for the No. 2 Buckeyes: (1) they’ve clinched at least a share of the Big Ten regular season title, and (2) they’ve locked down the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament.

Head coach Kevin McGuff’s team defeated Maryland, 79-66, Sunday afternoon in the Schottenstein Center. The Senior Day victory went down as Ohio State’s 15th Big Ten win this season, the progam’s most since the 2015-16 season.

For the second time in the last four games, Celeste Taylor piled up 20 points. The grad transfer from Duke added three more steals after mounting seven thefts in a win over Penn State earlier in the week. The entire Ohio State starting five finished in double figures: Jacy Sheldon pocketed 17 points — not to mention her tying her season high with six assists — Cotie McMahon had 15 points, Rebeka Mikulášikov had 11 and Taylor Thierry had 10.

Taylor got the ball rolling for the Buckeyes, scoring their first five points. Ohio State used a 7-0 run midway through the first quarter to create separation from Maryland. The Buckeyes went into the half with a 44-31 advantage. Uncharacteristically, though, McGuff’s squad got outplayed in the third quarter, during which the Terrapins rallied to make it a five-point game. The Terps were paced Sunday by Bri McDaniel (21 points) and Brinae Alexander (five 3-pointers to the tune of 16 points).

Defense was the name of the game for the Buckeyes in the fourth quarter. They held Maryland to two baskets in the final seven minutes of action, en route to a 13-point victory.

Ohio State’s 14-game win streak is the program’s longest in conference play since the 2005-06 season.

Buckeyes ‘fight mentality’ pays off in East Lansing with Dale Bonner game-winner

Dale Bonner’s struggles this season have been well documented. He’s averaging 4.4 points and shooting below 30% from beyond the arc after coming to Ohio State from Baylor as a graduate transfer.

But Bonner has maintained a good approach throughout the back half of the season, and it paid off Sunday at Michigan State, where he knocked down a game-winning and buzzer-beating 3-pointer. The basket ended Ohio State’s 420-day drought without a “true” road win, a stretch that spanned a program-record 17 road games and started back on New Year’s Day last year.

“He do this in practice,” freshman forward Devin Royal said of Bonner.

“He hits game-winners in practice all the time.”

For the full story, go here.

RELATED

• Ohio State ends year-plus road drought with comeback win at Michigan State

Source: Ohio State football hires Alabama staffer Sam Petitto

Ohio State has hired a new director of player personnel for the third year in a row, and this time the pick is former Alabama staffer Sam Petitto, Lettermen Row sources indicated to our Alex Gleitman.

Petitto, who served as the Crimson Tide’s Director of Personnel Operations the last eight years under legendary coach Nick Saban, is starting his term with Ohio State Monday, one source told Lettermen Row.

At Alabama, Petitto consistently helped stitch together top-two-ranked recruiting classes under Saban. Now, he’ll try to assist Ohio State general manager Mark Pantoni in doing the same here in Columbus.

For more details, head on over here.

Counting Down

Buckeyes vs. Akron: 187 days
Buckeyes vs. Michigan: 278 days

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