Women's basketball - Ohio State holds off upset minded Purdue 71-68

The upset minded Boilermakers fell short of a massive win on Sunday afternoon in Mackey Arena, falling to No. 12 Ohio State 71-68. Purdue looked poised to take down the top ranked Buckeyes for a second straight year, mounting a second half charge, before Ohio State's veteran leaders guided them to a gutsy win on the road.

The defeat is the sixth-straight for Katie Gearlds and the Boilermakers, who have not won since their January 2nd victory over Rutgers. Purdue now drops to 9-11 on the season and second to last place in the Big Ten. The Boilermakers will be back in action on Wednesday night against Nebraska.

Ohio State set the tone early on in Mackey Arena, getting out to a quick 7-0 lead less than two minutes in after a pair of layups by Taylor Thierry and a three-pointer from Celeste Taylor. Purdue forward Mary Ashley Stevenson stopped the run with a layup, followed by two free throws shortly after as the Boilermakers cut it to a 7-4 deficit.

Rebeka Mikulasikova then scored five straight points for the Buckeyes to extend their lead back to six at the 6:15 mark of the opening quarter. Caitlyn Harper helped the Boilermakers bounce back with a layup, as Purdue outscored the Buckeyes 8-3 after the Mikulasikova run.

Freshman guard Rashunda Jones was also a catalyst for the mini surge, scoring all seven of her then game-high first quarter points in the final 2:27 of the frame. Jones also scored five points in the last 47 seconds, including a late quarter jumper to bring the Boilermakers within one going into the second quarter.

The Boilermakers overcame poor outside shooting, going 0-4 from three-point range in the opening ten minutes to keep the 12th ranked Buckeyes within striking distance.

Ohio State came out firing in the second period, as they did to start the game. Rikki Harris, who scored the final five points for the Buckeyes in the first quarter, knocked down a three to begin the second quarter.

McKenna Layden connected on Purdue's first three of the contest in response, but that bucket was negated by Mikulasikova scoring four straight to keep the Boilermakers from taking the lead. A Mila Reynolds three briefly stopped the run before the Buckeyes' Emma Shumate knocked down a three of her own, followed by another jumper to give Ohio State a 32-25 advantage with 2:52 to play in the first half.

Reynolds then knocked down a jumper a minute later in what was the final made field goal in the half. The sophomore forward was one of just two Boilermakers with a made field goal in the second quarter, joining McKenna Layden. Ohio State added a free throw in the final minute to take a 33-27 lead into halftime.

Purdue was just 3-12 from the field in the period, but showed up defensively to keep the Buckeyes within range. Perhaps no stat line loomed larger than Ohio State's leading scorer and star guard Jacy Sheldon being held scoreless at the break.

Rebeka Mikulasikova and Rikki Harris led the Buckeyes in the first half, scoring eight and nine points respectively in the opening 20 minutes, helping offset an off half by Sheldon.

A similar situation happed to the Boilermakers, however, as their leading scorer Abbey Ellis did not break into the scoring column in the first half. Rashunda Jones and Mila Reynolds gave Katie Gearlds quality minutes off the bench in the first half, combining for 12.

The Boilermakers did cut back on their turnovers, which have been a glaring issue during the five-game losing streak coming into Sunday. Purdue coughed it up a respectable six times in the opening half, as did Ohio State.

Purdue bounced back in a big way early in the second half, going on a 7-0 run to start the third quarter. The run was kickstarted by Abbey Ellis, who got her first field goal of the game to fall, followed by a layup from Rashunda Jones and another Ellis bucket. The stretch gave the Boilermakers their first lead of the game just over two minutes into the half.

Purdue's backcourt duo of Ellis and Jones combined for 12 of the team's 19 points in the third quarter, helping the Boilermakers chip away at the sizable lead of Ohio State.

The Buckeyes had a response up their sleeve, however. Ohio State regained the lead and extended it to three less than a minute after Purdue's early third quarter charge. After trading three baskets apiece, the Buckeyes flexed their muscles once again.

Ohio State went on a 7-0 run across two minutes and outscored Purdue 12-5 over the final 3:33 of the third quarter. Jacy Sheldon came on strong in the last two minutes of the quarter, including knocking down a deep three to give the Buckeyes a 53-46 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

During the latter half of the quarter, Purdue's bad habit of poor ball security came back to bite them, turning it over seven times which led to nine Buckeye points off turnovers. Despite the charge of the Boilermakers, Ohio State shot 57% from the field in the quarter to stave off Katie Gearlds' group.

Cotie McMahon extended the Ohio State lead to a game-high nine points to open the final quarter of play. That layup was followed by a pair of layups from Caitlyn Harper and Mary Ashley Stevenson as Purdue cut the deficit to five.

The Boilermakers made another charge halfway through the fourth quarter, going on a 5-0 run to get within three of the Buckeyes with 5:10 to play. Cotie McMahon and Jacy Sheldon then went on a 5-0 on their own as the Buckeyes got the lead back up to eight with just over four minutes left.

In what was a back and forth second half, Purdue scored four straight to get back within four with less than three minutes to play after a layup from Stevenson and two Harper free throws. Stevenson added two more free throws after the Buckeyes went 2/2 from the charity stripe, keeping it a four point game.

The Boilermakers slowly chipped away at the deficit over the final two minutes as Stevenson and Jones both made two free throws to trail by two inside of 20 second left. Despite a late three by Abbey Ellis, Ohio State knocked down enough free throws to survive the upset bid and hand Purdue yet another defeat in conference play.

Purdue was led by its phenomenal freshmen tandem of Mary Ashley Stevenson and Rashunda Jones despite the loss. Jones scored 13 points on 5-11 shooting, while Stevenson tallied 12 points and seven rebounds. The rookie duo came up big as Madison Layden and Caitlyn Harper both struggled, combining for 10 points on 2-11 shooting from the field.

After being held scoreless in the first half, Abbey Ellis helped spur the upset bid with 14 second half points for the Boilermakers. It was her team-leading 17th game in double-figures and led Purdue in scoring for the seventh time this season.

Jeanae Terry put together another well-rounded performance, with eight points, eight rebounds and five assists, but had a game-high six turnovers in the loss.

The numbers were nearly identical between the Boilermakers and Buckeyes, 45% shooting from the field compared to 43%, both teams 7-21 from three, and Purdue having the rebounding edge 34-29. It was the Boilermakers' -5 turnover differential wound up looming large in the defeat as Ohio State scored 20 points off of those miscues.

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