Ohio State women’s basketball completes regular season sweep of Michigan with a 74-61 win over the Wolverines in Ann Arbor

The Buckeyes beat the Wolverines at home in Ann Arbor, 74-61, to move to 2-0 against their rivals this season and earn their first victory over a ranked opponent since their 66-57 win over Michigan at the Covelli Center on Dec. 31.

After losing their last four games to ranked opponents with two losses to Indiana and losses to Iowa and Maryland, Ohio State coach Kevin McGough said Monday night’s win was “really important” for restoring momentum on the Buckeyes side.

“I thought we looked different tonight,” McGough said after the game. “I thought we competed for 40 minutes, for sure, and we played well for most of the game.”

Ricky Harris was the star of the night for the Buckeyes, scoring a career-high 23 points and adding seven steals and five assists while starting at point guard in place of Jesse Sheldon, who was sidelined with a foot injury that sidelined him. 22 games this season.

“Ricky was absolutely amazing,” said McGough. “She played it hard, she played with toughness, strength, focus and overall great leadership. Really proud of her.”

The Buckeyes’ full-court press caused Michigan trouble all night as the Wolverines turned the ball over 27 times.

“We looked more active in the press. I thought that was really effective,” said McGough. “Just our competitive spirit and our will to get stops and rebounds was better.”

As was the Buckeyes’ recent trend against big rivals, Ohio State got off to a slow start, falling into a 10-2 hole quickly as the Wolverines made 4 of their first 5 shots including a pair of 3-pointers.

This time, however, the Buckeyes quickly responded by making four straight three-pointers of their own, including two on one possession when an error was called off the ball on Taylor Mexell’s triple, which Taylor Terry followed with a long run. Make. Eboni Walker followed that string of threes with a steal and a quick touchdown to give the Buckeyes their first lead of the game, 16-14, with 3:48 to play in the first quarter.

Ohio State finished the first quarter with a 24-17 lead. The Buckeyes made six of their seven three-point attempts in the first quarter—with Mikesell making three and Terry making two—and stole four attempts in the first quarter as Michigan converted it more than seven times in the first ten minutes.

Rebecca Mikolasikova — who came off the bench in her second game from a sprained ankle — made the seventh of Ohio State’s three out of eight attempts to increase the Buckeyes’ lead to 10 points on their opening possession of the second quarter. Harris made the Buckeyes’ eighth consecutive three-pointer on their next possession.

Liga Brown single-handedly put Michigan back in the game by scoring 14 points in the second quarter, including 10 in the first three minutes of the period. Jordan Hobbs also made a pair of 3-pointers for the Wolverines in the second period, cutting the Buckeyes’ lead to one point with the second three. But Harris had a big second quarter of her own for Ohio State, finishing the quarter with 12 points—all on three scores—to keep Ohio State ahead on the scoreboard by a 41-37 lead at halftime.

The Buckeyes cooled off offensively in the third quarter, making just six of 18 shot attempts from the field and one of six from 3-point range, but still extended their lead to seven points as they held Michigan to just three kicked field goals and a power-up. Nine turnovers in the first 10 minutes after the end of the first half.

Michigan didn’t get the game any closer as Ohio State started the fourth quarter with a 7-2 lead, including five more points from Harris, to build the lead to 12 points. The Buckeyes had a double-digit lead for most of the final quarter before finally winning by 13.

Brown was exceptional in defeating the Wolverines, scoring a career-high 36 points, but did not get enough help from her teammates, who only totaled 25 points.

The win sealed a double Big Ten championship win for Ohio State, which is fourth in the conference standings with a 12-5 Big Ten record and just one regular season game to play against third-place Maryland on Friday. 6 p.m. at the Schottenstein Center. This game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.

Being the No. 4 seed in the Big Ten tournament, which takes place next week in Minneapolis, the Buckeyes will likely face Michigan again next Friday in the quarterfinals, as the Wolverines are currently positioned as the No. 5 seed in the tournament.

Game notes

• Jase Sheldon has now missed Ohio State’s last four straight games and all but one game since the beginning of December.

• Michigan’s Leila Vilea, the Wolverines’ second leading scorer this season (17 points per game), also missed the game due to a lower leg injury.

• Walker made her third consecutive start in place of Mikulasikova.

• Coty McMahon earned her sixth Big Ten Freshman of the Week award, tying the record previously set by Kelsey Mitchell, Monday afternoon for her performance in the Buckeyes’ previous two games against Penn State and Indiana. She recorded seven points, eight rebounds and seven assists in Monday’s game.