4 Buckeyes reach double digits in No. 17 Ohio State women's victory over Rutgers
Ohio State women's basketball coach Kevin McGuff feels his Buckeyes are at their best when they get the ball moving and spread out the scoring.
The 17th-ranked Buckeyes proved that to be the case in their home matchup against Rutgers on Thursday. Putting together 19 assists, OSU picked up a 90-55 victory at Value City Arena. Four Ohio State players reached double-digit scoring, including Madison Greene, who put up a team-leading and season-best 16 points.
"I don't know if this was necessarily our best performance," McGuff said. "But I thought this was the best performance we had where our intensity and focus was the best we've had close to 40 minutes all year."
After missing the Buckeyes' last game against Northwestern due to illness, Rebeka Mikulasikova returned to OSU's starting lineup. McGuff felt the 6-foot-4 forward practiced well the past couple of days and the first chance she got Mikulasikova showed how better she was feeling by opening the contest with a 3-pointer. It marked her 15th of the season, which puts her tied for third on the team in 3-point baskets.
The Buckeyes capitalized on their 3-point opportunities all night, providing an improvement in an area they struggled with against Michigan on the road. Going 5 for 24 from 3-point range in Ann Arbor, Ohio State matched that total made in the first quarter and had recorded eight by the end of the first half.
Ohio State played a clean game on both ends of the court from the beginning. While limiting their own number of turnovers to 12, the Buckeyes forced the Scarlet Knights into 28.
"Our press is sort of all or nothing," McGuff said. "We're either all in it and we're doing it and we're pressuring the ball and we're flying around. If not, it's just not effective."
As Ohio State pulled ahead 27-13 by the start of the second quarter, Dublin's Jacy Sheldon was already nearing double digits with 9 points and five steals in the first 10 minutes of play while Pickerington native Greene was on pace to have her best night of the year, hitting two of her four buckets from beyond the arc.
"It felt good," Greene said. "My teammates did a great job of getting me the ball and creating openings for me to be able to shoot it."
The Buckeyes went into halftime with the 51-22 advantage, but that didn't stop Celeste Taylor and Cotie McMahon from amping up their performances. In six minutes of play in the third, Taylor accounted for 7 of her 12 points and McMahon recorded 5 of her 11 points throughout the quarter.
Ohio State will remain at home to face Michigan State at p.m. Sunday.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State has key offensive improvement in victory over Rutgers
