IOWA CITY, Iowa - There just seemed to be too many elements playing against the Ohio State women's basketball team in its final game of the regular season against Iowa.
Playing in front of a sellout crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday afternoon on Caitlin Clark 's senior day, the No. 2 Buckeyes' 15-game winning streak was snapped by the No. 6 Hawkeyes 93-83 .
"It just felt like we were playing from behind most of the day, because we were," said Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff. "But even, every time we would get it to like four (points), it would be a costly turnover, something that wouldn't allow us to really put game pressure on them down the stretch."
Iowa had the momentum for a majority of the game, but the Hawkeyes ' biggest boost came in the final seconds of the first half.
After a foul was charged to Ohio State's Madison Greene with less than 10 seconds remaining in the second quarter, the Buckeyes ' Cotie McMahon was hit with a technical foul after a run-in with Clark. That put Clark at the line, where she broke Pete Maravich's NCAA Division 1 all-time scoring record with the 18th of her 35 points in the game.
"Not really," Clark said when asked if she realized she broke the record with a free throw. "But when they announced it and everybody screamed, that's when I knew. Pretty cool."
There was not much that could quiet the crowd of 14,998 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, which got loud after every Hawkeye basket and stop, but Jacy Sheldon managed it to do for a quick second with a layup and 3-pointer to open scoring for the Buckeyes.
The Hawkeyes had an answer for both of Sheldon's baskets and quickly re-energized the crowd, tying the game 5-5 in the first two minutes of play.
Following the first few possessions, Ohio State had multiple sloppy moments that would allow Iowa to start to pull ahead. Riddled with turnovers, missed baskets and fouls, the Buckeyes gave the Hawkeyes the opportunity to go on an 8-0 run to take a 15-7 lead halfway through the first quarter.
"I thought they got off to a great start," McGuff said. "And early on, I really liked the shots we were getting, but we weren't making them, and they were, to their credit."
Fouls caused a lot of trouble for Ohio State throughout the whole game, as the Buckeyes recorded 23 compared to Iowa's 11.
The Buckeyes committed six fouls during the first quarter that put the Hawkeyes at the free throw line, where they went 6 for 8. One of those calls was charged to McMahon, with a foul from behind on a Gabby Marshall 3-pointer, that led to an Iowa four-point play which really sparked the crowd's excitement.
Iowa increased its lead to as much as 15 points in the quarter, but some late baskets from Sheldon, who scored 9 of her 24 points in the first, cut it to 28-19 after 10 minutes of action. Leading the charge for the Hawkeyes was sophomore Hannah Stuelke with 10 points.
"I honestly think it was transition; I think that's where it honestly got us the most," said Ohio State starter Celeste Taylor . "We weren't playing the transition defense that we've been playing the past couple of games. ... We made some mistakes that we can control, especially me with my turnovers."
At the beginning of the second quarter, Ohio State's offense looked a little more coherent and started to chip into Iowa's lead. The Buckeyes cut the lead to four with 5:35 before halftime following back-to-back 3-pointers from Sheldon and Taylor.
Before that, though, Iowa's Molly Davis went down with what appeared to be an ankle injury off of a Madison Greene foul. Davis, a fifth-year guard, had to be carried off the court by her athletic trainers. Hawkeye coach Lisa Bluder later confirmed it was a leg injury but had no update on her status.
Going into the locker room down 48-39, the Buckeyes would have given up six points following the technical foul had Stuelke's last-second layup not been overturned. Coming off one of their worst moments in the game, Ohio State came out in the third and hit the first three baskets of the half, pulling within two points.
"It was something that we aren't proud of, something that we're going to constantly work on with each other, we all get frustrated at times," Taylor said in regard to the technical foul. "Honestly (the final seconds of the first half) maybe set the tone to help us just come together more and just be aware of what's going on around us and trying to stay focused on the main thing."
The game remained in reach for most third quarter until Rikki Harris was charged with Ohio State's second technical foul of the game for slamming down the ball. This time, Iowa was able to score six points in 10 seconds.
"It's tough, I mean the players sometimes don't feel like they are getting officiated evenly," McGuff said. "So, they react. And as I tell them all the time, we can't control that, we can control how we react and the things that we do."
Riding the momentum of that sequence of events, the Hawkeyes went on a 14-1 run to increase their lead to 17 points with 2:01 left in the quarter. Iowa finished the third ahead 75-64.
Ohio State never let up its fight, trying to make something happen in the fourth quarter, but those attempts would come to no avail.
"Even if there's 30 seconds left on the clock, we're going to give it all we can until the buzzer goes off," Taylor said. "So, just really proud of the group of girls we have, and how we play together and how we continue to fight together."
All five of the Buckeyes' starters finished the game in double-digit scoring.
The Buckeyes now shift their focus to the Big Ten Tournament, where they are heading to Minnesota as the No. 1 seed, earning a double-bye. Their first game is scheduled for Friday.
"Nobody likes to lose, especially to this team," Sheldon said. "It stinks, credit to Iowa, they're a good team and we're excited to go to the Big Ten tournament."
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Iowa tops Ohio State as Caitlin Clark becomes all-time leading scorer
