The No. 9-ranked Ohio State women’s basketball team defeated Oregon 69-60 on Sunday at Value City Arena to improve to 16-0.
It was Ohio State’s first time hosting Oregon in program history, and only the third time facing the Ducks. The Buckeyes won the previous two games, the most recent being in December 2022.
Senior Taylor Thierry scored a team-leading 20 points on Sunday.
The Buckeyes opened the game struggling to find a rhythm, shooting 19% from the field in the first quarter before going on a 26-0 run in the second quarter to take control of the game.
“It was an awful first quarter, awful fourth, good in the second and third,” Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff. “It’s just hard to believe that’s all in one game we played like that and had stretches like that.”
Ohio State freshman Jaloni Cambridge, who went 1 for 8 in the first quarter, hit her only 3-pointer at 8:35 in the second quarter to start the run.
Cambridge was forced to sit more than 7 minutes in the second quarter after she picked up her second foul, but she finished the game with 13 points.
Ohio State started the second quarter down 11-8 but took a 39-22 lead going into halftime. Thierry led the team during this stretch, recording 15 points, three rebounds and two steals.
The defense was another key factor in Ohio State’s run, which recorded six steals, two coming by the hands of Kennedy Cambridge, who McGuff credited for creating the Buckeyes’ spark.
“She’s honestly the spark every game,” Thierry said. “Anytime we’re lacking energy or something’s off, especially defensively, we can always trust Ken’s going to come in the game, give it her all, dive on the floor. … Ken’s definitley important for us in that area.”
Overall, the Buckeyes outrebounded Oregon 40-38, with Ajae Petty grabbing a team-leading 14.
Playing against her former team, Ohio State’s Chance Gray scored her first basket at the 7:13 mark in the second quarter, a layup while being fouled to give the Buckeyes a 17-15 lead.
Gray transferred from Oregon during the offseason and has averaged 16 points through the first 15 games of the season. Gray had 6 points on Sunday.
“I think that today, I played for Chance,” Kennedy Cambridge said. “Obviously, because she came from there (Oregon) and the object was to blow them out. It didn’t happen, but everything I did was for Chance today.”
Ohio State’s momentum carried into the second half. Oregon got within 8 points in the final three minutes of the game when the Ducks went on a 13-2 run. The distance Ohio State built during the second quarter proved to be too much for Oregon to overcome.
The Buckeyes’ Big Ten schedule continues with a trip to Wisconsin on Thursday, Jan 16 at 9 p.m.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State women’s basketball defeats Oregon in Big Ten play
