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No. 8 Ohio State defeated on the road against Indiana, fall to 2-3 in last 5 games
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- No. 8 Ohio State defeated on the road against Indiana, fall to 2-3 in last 5 games
Ohio State junior Cotie McMahon has been emphasizing the Buckeyes' need to improve their defense , but their struggles continued in Thursday's 71-61 road loss against Indiana.
It marked the Buckeyes' third loss in five games , and Ohio State needed overtime to pick up the two victories.
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The Hoosiers broke down the Buckeyes' press early. Indiana scored 6 of its first 9 points off fastbreaks.
"We weren't matching up correctly," Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff said. " So, then they would throw it ahead and kind of sprint ahead, we didn't. They were getting ahead of us ... we just didn't get close enough to 40 minutes in the press."
Ohio State's half-court defense fared no better and performed worse at times.
From both on the perimeter and down low, Indiana had the upper hand. The Hoosiers shot 52.9% from the 3-point line and recorded 32 points in the paint.
Ohio State guard Chance Gray had just 2 points on 1-for-8 shooting against Indiana.
Guards Sydney Parrish and Yarden Garzon scored 16 for Indiana, combining for five of the Hoosiers' nine 3-pointers. 6-foot-3 forward Karoline Striplin recorded 11 points.
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The poor defensive performance left the Buckeyes' offense stagnant, with only McMahon and freshman Jaloni Cambridge scoring in double digits with 14 and 18 points, respectively.
Ohio State forced 21 turnovers but failed to hit their average of 25 points off turnovers, scoring just 20.
After a weak first quarter from the starters, Ohio State began the second down 26-17. McGuff opted to play bench players Madison Greene , Elsa Lemmila and Eboni Walker with starters McMahon and Taylor Thierry to attempt a comeback.
"Just with the pace of the game and all that, we wanted to sub and get some fresh people in there," McGuff said. "It was a good lineup, and I think just w haven't played as well as I think we're capable of late, which is why we've been trying some different lineups."
Ohio State point guard Madison Greene and her Buckeyes teammates have lost three of their last five games.
With that lineup on the court, Ohio State went on a 9-0 run in under 3 minutes to tie the game.
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When all the Buckeyes starters returned for the first time in the second quarter at the 4:41 mark, the Hoosiers responded with an 8-2 run to regain the lead, 40-28, going into halftime.
Ohio State was never able to come back from this deficit in the second half.
There are four games remaining in the regular season, and the Buckeyes (22-3, 11-3) head back to Columbus to face Purdue (9-17, 2-13) on Sunday. Tipoff is at noon.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State women defeated by Indiana in Big Ten play
