Caitlin Clark scores 45 points, but No. 18 Ohio State tops No. 2 Iowa in overtime
It was a sea of scarlet at Value City Arena on Sunday as the biggest crowd in Ohio State women's basketball history witnessed the 18th-ranked Buckeyes engage in an overtime classic against the nation's top player, Caitlin Clark, and No. 2 Iowa.
In a matchup in which Iowa held the lead for most of regulation, the Buckeyes never stopped fighting, and behind sophomore Cotie McMahon's 33 points, they defeated the Hawkeyes 100-92. Clark, the nation's leading scorer, had 45 points.
Using the power that would be needed from Ohio State to pull off the upset, McMahon was the first to put points on the board 25 seconds into the game. In her sophomore year, McMahon hasn't been able to get things going early in matchups this season but came out strong when her team needed her most, with 11 points in the first quarter.
"I've been struggling the past couple of game, but I kind of knew this game, my team needed me no matter what," McMahon said. "I knew I had to do everything that I could just as far as rebounding, being a good teammate and making sure I got the good looks."
After Rebeka Mikulasikova blocked Clark's first shot attempt of the game, the Ohio State defense looked solid, but it didn't take long for the visitors to heat up. Buckeyes coach Kevin McGuff was forced to bench arguably his top defender, Celeste Taylor, for a majority of the first quarter after she picked up two quick fouls.
After subbing in for Taylor, redshirt senior Rikki Harris stepped up in the role, hitting a 3-pointer to give Ohio State an 8-7 lead a little less than halfway through the first quarter. With Clark in the lineup, it didn't take long for Iowa to answer with a 3 of their own when No. 22 hit her first bucket of the game with a step-back jumper from beyond the arc.
In what quickly became a back-and-forth first quarter, 3-point shooting became a huge factor, as Clark went 3 for 4 on 3s. The Buckeyes matched that total behind the efforts of Harris and Mikulasikova, going 3 for 6. This came after Ohio State had one of its worse 3-point shooting games against Maryland on Wednesday, when the Buckeyes went 4 for 26.
"I thought the more we got the ball around the basket, the more it opened up the outside to get better looks at the 3," McGuff said. "I think that had a lot to do with shooting a better percentage today."
By the end of the quarter, the leading scorers for both teams, Clark and McMahon, had hit double-digits and Iowa led 26-24.
Ohio State ended the first half outrebounding the Big Ten's top rebounding team 17-16. The Buckeyes' six offensive boards led to six second-chance points. OSU continued to crash the boards the rest of the game, finishing with 41 rebounds compared to Iowa's 37, a stat led by McMahon whose 12 earned her a double-double.
"That was a big part of the game and we talked about that because they're one of the best rebounding teams in the league," McGuff said. "So, I was really happy with our effort in particular, I thought Cotie was great on the boards."
Iowa started to build momentum at the beginning of the second quarter, increasing its lead to six with 5:43 left in the half.
Coming out of an OSU timeout, the Buckeyes' top scorer, Jacy Sheldon, came alive after a quiet first quarter. All 8 of her first-half points came in the final five minutes of the half, and the Buckeyes went into the locker room still down by two, 45-43.
Clark opened up the second half with a 3-pointer to add to the 20 points she scored before halftime. Ohio State fought back, as Taylor responded to Clark's 3-pointer with one of her own. Throughout the third quarter, the Buckeyes saw strong offensive runs from players such as Sheldon and sophomore Emma Shumate, who hit two quick 3-pointers.
"She stepped up big time," Sheldon said of Shumate. "I told her she was going to have to come in and make a difference and she did. So, I'm proud of her and she was ready for that moment."
The Buckeyes made stops and capitalized in the fourth quarter. After being down by as many as 12, Sheldon and McMahon started to will the Buckeyes back into the game with a combined 15 points to put Ohio State back within one, 73-72, with 5:24 left.
With 3:42 remaining, Ohio State took the lead for the first time since the first quarter with a Taylor layup following a defensive rebound from Mikulasikova. Ohio State led 77-76 before Clark flipped things back in favor of the Hawkeyes.
Both teams missed out on key opportunities to put away the game, but with 0:16 left of regulation, Taylor put the Buckeyes back on top 83-82.
With time running out, a foul from Mikulasikova gave Iowa one more trip the free throw line. Hannah Stuelke hit one of two shots to send the game to overtime.
"I felt confident because the way we had come back and the way we were playing when regulation ended," McGuff said in reference to going into overtime. "The message was 'hey, we got five minutes... We're playing to win, and we're going to lay it all out there on the floor.'"
McMahon scored the Buckeyes' first six points of overtime to give Ohio State an 89-85 and the momentum they'd ride until the end. With 30 seconds left in the game, Sheldon's two made free throws followed by an unusual Clark airball to seal the victory.
Along with McMahon, all four of the other Ohio State starters ended in double-digit scoring, with Sheldon recording 24, Taylor Thierry contributing 11, Mikulasikova putting up 10 and Taylor matching that amount despite playing less than half the game.
"I'm really proud," Sheldon said after the victory. "Everybody played great today, every single person made a difference today. So, I'm proud of everybody, but Big Ten is no joke."
With a matchup on the road against Illinois on Thursday night being Ohio State's next concern, this is not the last the team will see of Clark and the Hawkeyes. The Buckeyes finish the regular season with a game against Iowa in Iowa City on March 3.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Caitlin Clark scores 45, but No. 18 Ohio State tops No. 2 Iowa
