Ohio State captures top-four seed in Big Ten tournament with chance for share of B1G title on Sunday after win vs. Penn State
The Ohio State women’s basketball team has a chance to win a share of the Big Ten championship with a win in the final game of the regular season on Sunday at Michigan State.
The No. 17 Buckeyes (21-5, 13-4 Big Ten) clinched at least the No. 4 seed in next week’s Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis with a 78-55 win over the Penn State Nittany Lions (11-16, 5-12) on Thursday night at Value City Arena. With a win against Michigan State on Sunday, Ohio State will be no lower than the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten tournament.
After a loss to Maryland just seven days earlier, Ohio State seemed to have no realistic shot at getting at least a share of the regular-season conference title. The Buckeyes were two games behind Indiana and a game behind Maryland and Michigan.
Then chaos ensued. Indiana lost twice, and Maryland lost to Michigan, which put the Buckeyes back into the title race. Michigan knocked off Michigan State on Thursday night, setting up a critical game on Sunday against Iowa.
If the Buckeyes beat Michigan State and Iowa beats Michigan — regardless of the Indiana-Maryland outcome on Friday — Ohio State will be co-champion with the Hawkeyes and will be the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten tournament. If Michigan wins, the Wolverines will be the outright Big Ten champion.
There were very few scenarios in which the Buckeyes would be in the position they find themselves entering the regular-season finale. The cards fell where they had to, and Ohio State controlled what they could control to be in line for what seemed impossible at the start of the year when starting point guard Madison Greene suffered a season-ending injury.
“We want to make a statement,” said graduate senior forward Tanaya Beacham. “I think we were the underdogs going into the conference at the beginning of the season, so I think us winning it is a really good statement. Like, y’all should be scared of us, too.”
Ohio State suffocated Penn State defensively, holding a team that was averaging 74.6 points in its last five games to just 30.6% from the field (19-of-62). Taylor Mikesell led the Buckeyes with 19 points on 8-of-18 shooting, along with seven rebounds, while Beacham set a career high with 18 points in her final home game.
Penn State’s McKenna Marisa entered the night averaging 22.8 points per game as the Big Ten’s second-leading scorer, but struggled mightily against the Buckeye defense. She made just three of her 18 shots, missed all four 3-point attempts and turned the ball over six times in a 10-point outing.
Beacham has been a force off the Ohio State bench all season. Though a bit undersized for a big, Beacham plays above her size and isn’t afraid to clean up inside the paint or step out for a jump shot. When the Buckeyes needed to pick up the pace against Penn State, Beacham provided the spark.
Tied at 20 at the media timeout in the second quarter, the Buckeyes had missed their previous nine shots. They ended up making six of their final nine shots and going on a 14-2 run, with Beacham providing seven of those points. Penn State as a team was held to just nine points in the second quarter.
“I was just going into the game like I got to give it my all,” Beacham said. “It’s my last time here. I just wanted to remember something for it.”
Penn State never got close the rest of the game as the Buckeye offense began to look like itself again. Leading 51-36 after three quarters, Ohio State finished the game making 12-of-20 shots to put away Penn State in the fourth.
Beacham said the Buckeyes were talking throughout the day about the scenarios that needed to happen for the Buckeyes to win the conference outright. Had Michigan State beat Michigan, there would have been a chance on Sunday. That’s not the case, but coach Kevin McGuff said he’s seen the team stay even-keeled while the results play out.
"It’s a bit cliché, but big wins you can’t get too far ahead of yourself. Tough loss at Maryland, it’s not the end of the world,” he said. “I go back to the maturity and leadership on the team, I think, has kind of been the key to that.”
Ohio State is firmly into the NCAA tournament at this point. But there’s more it would like to do, such as host the first two rounds.
“Regardless of what happens in the Big Ten race, we still have a lot to play for in terms of seeding in the big ten, seeding in postseason,” McGuff said. “We’ve done enough to put ourselves in position that we know we still have a lot to play for.”
Editor's Note: The original article incorrectly stated Ohio State clinched a top-two seed in the Big Ten tournament.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State women's basketball has chance to be Big Ten co-champion
