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No. 11 Ohio State handily defeats Stanford in Bay Area Women's Classic
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- No. 11 Ohio State handily defeats Stanford in Bay Area Women's Classic
The No. 11 Ohio State women's basketball team finished its nonconference schedule with an 84-59 victory over Stanford in San Francisco on Friday.
Without regular starter Jaloni Cambridge for the third consecutive game due to a shoulder injury, the Buckeyes (12-0) relied on Madison Greene to fill in for the freshman point guard. A sixth-year graduate student, Greene had her best performance of the season, recording 15 points and three 3-pointers.
Ohio State's Cotie McMahon shoots over Stanford's Nunu Agara during the Buckeyes' 84-59 win Friday.
Greene was one of six Buckeyes to score in double digits. Cotie McMahon led the way with 16.
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"I was just taking what I was given," Greene said. "I think my team did a great job at getting me open, like (Ajae) Petty and Elsa (Lemmila) sending me screens. And just us moving the ball as a whole, I think really helped."
Junior Chance Gray had 14 points against her former Pac-12 foe. Stanford is no longer in the Pac-12 – it's in the ACC – but Gray matched up against Stanford multiple times during her two seasons with Oregon , which is now in the Big Ten.
Rounding out the Buckeyes' leading scorers were Ajae Petty with 14 points, Taylor Thierry with 12 and Ava Watson with 11.
The Buckeyes won the tipoff and struck first when McMahon was fouled on a put-back after missing her first shot of the game. McMahon went 1 of 2 on her free-throw attempts, highlighting a common struggle for Ohio State this season.
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Across its first 11 games of the season, Ohio State shot 67.4% from the free-throw line. It went 8 of 13 against Stanford.
It was a slow start for both teams, as they missed a combined six field goals across the first three minutes. Stanford's Tess Heal scored a layup to get the Cardinal on the board at the 7:15 mark.
Madison Greene scored 15 points in Ohio State's win over Stanford on Friday.
Going into the first timeout with 4:57 left in the first quarter, the Buckeyes recorded just one field goal, a basket from Greene off a turnover, to take a 3-2 lead.
"Our goal and our thing is just really focus on defense," Gray said. "As long as we're focused on that, and intensity, and as long as we're playing as hard as we can, everything else will take care of itself."
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Stanford committed 19 turnovers in the game, and the Buckeyes capitalized with 17 points off those miscues. In comparison, Ohio State committed only six turnovers.
Ohio State found its flow coming out of the timeout, building a 13-4 run through the end of the quarter. Greene was crucial in growing the Buckeyes' advantage, scoring five points in the first.
The Buckeyes remained in control during the second quarter.
Gray was a catalyst in the Buckeyes catching fire, despite going 0 of 2 from beyond the 3-point line. Gray is the Buckeyes' top 3-point shooter, at 44.9% ahead of the Stanford matchup, but recorded all of eight points in the first half from inside the arc.
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Stanford was the second-best 3-point shooting team in the country at 41.9% in its first 11 games.
The Cardinal's 3-point game was shut down by the Buckeyes as they went 2 of 16 on Friday. Hitting 1 of its 9 3-point attempts in the first half contributed to Stanford's 33-19 deficit by halftime.
"Our emphasis was just to run them off the line," Gray said. "They're one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the country, so that's what we worked on in practice. They know people are going to run on them, so (also) watching the backdoor cuts."
The Cardinal were more aggressive coming out of halftime, but the Buckeyes had already hit their stride and the two teams began to trade baskets.
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Compared to the first half, when Ohio State shot 43.8% from the field, the Buckeyes improved their shooting to 55.3%.
Ohio State's Ava Watson passes around Stanford defenders. Watson scored 11 points in the Buckeyes' win.
McMahon hit a majority of her baskets in the second half, and the Buckeyes were also helped by nine points from Watson to build a 25-point lead.
The Buckeyes' Big Ten schedule kicks into high gear Dec. 29 with a 2 p.m. matchup at Rutgers.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: No. 11 Ohio State defeats Stanford in Bay Area Women's Classic
