Hoosiers fall to top-ranked Buckeyes

A team boasting a 15-0 home record is typically hard to beat. Add in a 21-game win streak at home and figure that it has lost only five times at home since 2004-2005, and beating this team seems downright impossible.

However, the daunting statistics did not scare off IU (10-8, 3-4) as they took on the Ohio State Buckeyes (19-1, 7-0) in Columbus, Ohio on Sunday. Even though the Buckeyes prevailed 81-64, the Hoosiers hung on until the very end.

IU took the mentality “we respect all; we fear none,” coach Felisha Legette-Jack said.
The mental side showed as the Hoosiers continued to fight and play tough, even after starting the game with a deficit as Ohio State jumped out to an early 8-0 lead.

The Hoosiers wreaked havoc on one of the best offensive teams in the country, holding them to 35.7 percent in the first half and less than 45 percent on the game.

The Buckeyes, prior to the matchup, were ranked fourth nationally in field-goal percentage, averaging just less than 48 percent per game. The Hoosiers also caused the Buckeyes to commit a season-high 23 turnovers.

Offensively, however, the team came up short.

Three Hoosiers were able to score in double figures, including junior guard Jori Davis with 17 points, senior guard Jamie Braun with 11 points and junior forward Hope Elam with 10 points. But with the other six Hoosiers only scoring a combined 26 points, it wasn’t enough to push past the No. 7 scoring offense in the nation.

“They’re a very good team and they’ve got different weapons they can beat you with,” Legette-Jack said. “The press is one way, their size is another way, their ability is another way. Our team adjusted in one capacity but we have to continue to learn how to adjust in others.”

The Hoosiers also were without freshman forward Sasha Chaplin for the fourth consecutive game. Prior to her foot injury, Chaplin was the team’s leading rebounder, and not having her against the Buckeyes hurt the team on the boards, as they were outrebounded 55-29

But the rebounding edge might not have been the most vital thing lost with Chaplin gone, as the Hoosiers only suited up nine players. One of those players, freshman Jasmine Davis, had just come back from injury herself. The lack of available reserves seemed to hurt the Hoosiers in the second half, as they allowed the Buckeyes to score 50 points, 19 more than they did in the first.

The Buckeyes also dominated the paint, scoring 38 points down low compared to IU’s 12.

The win against the Hoosiers gave Ohio State coach Jim Foster his 200th win at Ohio State. Foster has reached at least 200 wins at three different schools now, joining Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer as the only two coaches to do so.

Foster accredited his winning success at Ohio State to one important thing, “recruiting great players.”

And while the Hoosiers were not able to defeat the Buckeyes, Legette-Jack felt her team’s resiliency was the reason they were able to stay competitive.

“We talk about this game being a microcosm of life, and how you attack and keep going when it seems like things are being unfairly put upon you,” Legette-Jack said. “I just love the way our young ladies attacked and played.”