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Taylor Thierry faces twin sister in No. 11 Ohio State's win over Youngstown State
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- Taylor Thierry faces twin sister in No. 11 Ohio State's win over Youngstown State
The No. 11 Ohio State women's basketball team was without the Cambridge sisters for its matchup against Youngstown State on Saturday, but at the 3:16 mark in the second quarter another set of sisters entered the game, playing on opposing sides.
For the first time in her college career, Buckeyes senior Taylor Thierry sat beside her twin sister, Youngstown State's Haley Thierry, at the check-in table.
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"Growing up together and always being on the same team and doing everything together," Haley Thierry said, "it was a nice experience to finally be a part and build our own game and be able to go against each other in front of a crowd, in front of our family and friends. ... And I'm just happy to be here and be able to play against my best friend."
Taylor Thierry scored 9 points in the Ohio State's 87-39 victory. Haley Thierry had 2 points for the Penguins.
Ohio State's Taylor Thierry (left) in postgame press conference with her twin sister, Youngstown State's Haley Thierry on Saturday.
Cotie McMahon led the Buckeyes (10-0) with 29 points, including 19 in the first half. Graduate forward Ajae Petty had 19 points and 12 rebounds.
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This was the second consecutive game Ohio State played with a short bench due to Kennedy Cambridge being unavailable. The redshirt sophomore is day-to-day with a right lower-leg injury.
Ohio State's bench was cut to three players with the team's usual starting point guard, freshman Jaloni Cambridge, also out. Jaloni Cambridge suffered a right shoulder injury against Ball State on Tuesday and like her sister is considered day-to-day.
"We're all built for this," McMahon said. "We kind of just take whatever's thrown at us. We're good at adjusting. We've done that for as long as I've been here. So, like I said, whatever's thrown at us, we handle it pretty well."
McMahon started the Buckeyes' dominant win over Youngstown State with a layup in the first 17 seconds of play, part of a 12-0 run in the game's first four and a half minutes. OSU forced six turnovers before Malia Magestro got the Penguins on the board with a 3-pointer.
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In the first quarter, McMahon outscored the entire Youngstown State lineup by 2 points, recording 16 in the Buckeyes' 23-14 lead.
The Buckeyes' defense was key to growing that lead, holding Youngstown State to 4 points in the second quarter and 19 shots overall before halftime. Ohio State had taken 34 shots to build a 52-18 lead in the first half.
The Buckeyes were ahead by at least 36 points for the final 20 minutes of play.
While the Thierry sisters were never matched up against each other for an extended period of time, with Taylor Thierry standing at 6 feet 1 and Haley Thierry just 5-8, there was a series at the start of the fourth quarter when Taylor scored a layup over Haley and then ran the full court to block her twin's layup.
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"When we were on the court together, I would obviously try to say a couple things here and there," Haley Thierry said. "But I know something that we'll both remember is when she blocked me. And after that, she said, 'Thank you.' And I took it."
At noon Tuesday, the Buckeyes (10-0) face Grand Valley State at Value City Arena.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State women's basketball defeats Youngstown State Saturday
