Women’s Basketball: Ohio State clinches Big Ten regular-season title

Jayla Vanhorn
Thu, 29 Feb 2024 02:11:54 +0000
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Fifth-year forward Rebeka Mikulasikova hoists the Big Ten Championship trophy after No. 2 Ohio State’s 67-51 win over rival Michigan at the Schottenstein Center Wednesday. Credit: Caleb Blake | Photo Editor

The Buckeyes are Big Ten regular-season champions.

The No. 2 Ohio State women’s basketball team (25-3, 16-1 Big Ten) clinched the conference title Wednesday in its final home game of the season after defeating Michigan (17-12, 8-8 Big Ten) 67-51 in Value City Arena at the Schottenstein Center.

It is its first “sole” regular season conference title in over a decade, as it last reached the feat way back in 2010.

The Buckeyes won a share of the Big Ten regular-season championship in 2021-22 with the Iowa Hawkeyes, and its 2017 and 2018 championships were vacated due to self-reported recruiting and policy NCAA violations.

However, this time around, there’s no question about who the definite winner is.

With the Iowa Hawkeyes and Indiana Hoosiers each having three in-conference defeats, the Buckeyes’ victory against the Wolverines knocked both teams out of contention and the Buckeyes back into the championship column.

The title is helping contribute to a reestablishment of the program’s former winning identity — one that was created in the early 2000s by former Buckeye head coach Jim Foster.

Head coach Kevin McGuff has revived this program in recent years, dating back to the 2019-20 season.

Now in his eleventh season, McGuff turned the Ohio State women’s basketball team around and into top national championship contenders.

Last year, the Buckeyes finished with a 28-8 overall record, completed the largest comeback in conference tournament history in the semifinals — erasing a 24-point deficit in the third quarter — against the Indiana Hoosiers and advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time in 30 years.

Buckeye fans hoped for the same results to be replicated the following year, but the departure of fifth-year sharp-shooter Taylor Mikesell to the WNBA Draft posed a huge threat, leaving a gaping hole inside the Buckeye puzzle.

McGuff then hopped into the transfer portal, snagging Duke graduate guard Celeste Taylor. In hindsight, the pickup has shown to be a great addition, both on the floor and on the stat sheet.

Twenty-eight games in, the 2023 ACC Defensive Player of the Year has gelled perfectly alongside graduate guard and Dublin, Ohio, native Jacy Sheldon. Though not the lethal deep shooter as Mikesell, Taylor adds a key defensive element to an already stout defensive team.

On any given night, Taylor is up against the toughest offensive players.

One of those players included Iowa star and reigning 2023 National Player of the Year Caitlin Clark. The Buckeyes faced the then-No. 2 Iowa Hawkeyes in a highly anticipated matchup in front of a sold-out crowd on Jan. 21 at the Schottenstein Center.

The matchup didn’t disappoint as the two teams went back and forth, with Clark putting on a shooting display as she recorded 45 points while hitting seven 3-pointers.

However, Buckeye sophomore forward Cotie McMahon had a career night of her own, putting up a double-double with 33 points and 12 rebounds. The victory catapulted Ohio State into the top-10 rankings, and since then it hasn’t looked back.

Now, a month and a half later, the Buckeyes haven’t lost a game since the calendar year began, defeating two top-10 teams in then-No. 2 Iowa and then No-10 Indiana. They now sit as the second-ranked team in the nation, just a slot behind the South Carolina Gamecocks.

The Buckeyes look to be one of the hottest teams in college basketball, and they ended their home slate — extending its win streak to 15 — in style, clinching their conference title against their rival Big Ten foe, Michigan.