While staying within five points against the second-best scoring offense in the Big Ten after the first half, IU allowed Ohio State to pull away late in the second half, dropping the Hoosiers’ conference record to 1-2 at the hands of a 97-70 road loss.
“We did a good job of focusing on the game plan in the first half,” IU assistant coach Todd Starkey said. “We still don’t want to give up 40 in the first half, but we just got tired in the second half.”
Jumping ahead of the Buckeyes 18-10 early in the first quarter, the Hoosiers allowed an 8-0 run to eliminate the early lead with an 18-18 tie heading in to the second quarter, where Ohio State would stack up 22 points to lead IU by just five, 40-35.
IU forced Ohio State to shoot just 38.1 percent in the first half, including 0-for-4 on three-point attempts, but the Buckeyes would get off 18 more total shots than the Hoosiers, making 23 of their 42 second-half shots.
“Those moments when we get tired, we can’t give in,” Starkey said. “[Ohio State is] one of the top teams in the nation in transition, and we were slower in transition lanes in the second half, which contributed to the loss.”
Coming off of a 28-point game in the upset win against No. 6 Maryland, Ohio State sophomore guard Kelsey Mitchell was the target for IU Coach Teri Moren and the IU defense, as Moren said she wanted to hold Mitchell and senior guard Ameryst Alston to fewer shots than the 37 combined shots the guards attempted against Maryland.
The duo combined for 36 shots, while Mitchell scored 23 points, 15 in the third quarter, and Alston put up 14, after the Hoosiers held the two to a combined 12 points in the first half.
The Hoosiers were also outrebounded 50-36 against an Ohio State team that maintains the worst rebounding margin in the conference at -4.2, something Moren said contributed to the loss.
“I thought the name of the game was boards, and we did not do a good enough job of keeping them off the glass offensively,” Moren said about Ohio State’s 23 offensive rebound performance. “Rebounding for us has been a problem. That’s really been our Achilles Heel — one of them, there’s a couple.”
IU sophomore guards Tyra Buss and Jess Walter combined for 7-of-11 from three-point range, while sophomore forward Amanda Cahill earned her fourth double-double of the season with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Junior center Jenn Anderson also added a season-high 14 points.
As a whole though, the Hoosiers shot just 38.2 percent in the second half and were outscored in both the third and fourth quarters, 27-20 and 30-15 respectively.
“The game is played in two halves,” Moren said. “I thought we played well in the first half, but obviously the fourth quarter is what really put us away. I thought we lost a little bit of our energy.”
IU will face another tough test Sunday, as it travels to West Lafayette. IU takes on Purdue (11-2), who resides at second in the Big Ten and have defeated Michigan and Illinois in conference play. Purdue has also beaten then-No. 22 Louisville and forced overtime against then-No. 13 Stanford.
