With the door open for the Ohio State women's basketball team to take full control of the Big Ten with less than a month left in the regular season, the No. 5 Buckeyes stepped up.

Following No. 2 Iowa's loss to Nebraska earlier Sunday afternoon, the Buckeyes won 86-71 at Michigan State, putting them at the top of the conference with a 12-1 Big Ten record.

"That game got over before we started, so we were aware," OSU coach Kevin McGuff said. "But, our big point of emphasis today was we've been coming out of halftime and playing really well, but we hadn't been playing great in the first half. So, we wanted to get closer to 40 minutes."

Ohio State is known for its full-court press, but Michigan State also defended the entire court coming out of the gate, forcing the Buckeyes to increase the speed of their already fast-paced offense. Finding some success the last time they faced the Buckeyes on Jan. 14, a 70-65 OSU win, the Spartans failed to produce the same results on their home court.

Celeste Taylor, coming off a strong fourth-quarter performance in Ohio State's victory against Minnesota on Thursday, continued riding that momentum. The guard scored 10 of her 20 points in the first 10 minutes, helping put the Buckeyes ahead 26-19 in the first quarter.

"My teammates were just putting me in open spots and my coaches where calling plays for me," Taylor said. "My pull up was there, so I just took it."

With sophomore Cotie McMahon on the bench for a majority of the first half with foul trouble, the Buckeyes needed their other starters' full contributions.

With 1:19 left in the first quarter, McMahon was charged with an offensive foul followed by a technical for her third personal foul of the game. She left the game for the rest of the half having scored no points, but she had already grabbed five rebounds.

"We have great leadership and I think Celeste ... Jacy (Sheldon), those guys were stepping up during those moments when we had a little bit of foul trouble," McGuff said. "Just making sure everybody kind of stuck to the plan and we continued to execute, we didn't get out of our rhythm."

Ohio State made up for the absence of the team's leading rebounder by shooting 75% from the field in the second quarter. Led by Taylor, Sheldon and Rebeka Mikulasikova with 6 points each, the Buckeyes outscored Michigan State by 15 to go into the half up 53-31.

Both Mikulasikova and Sheldon joined Taylor in double-digit scoring in the first half, finishing the game with 19 and 18 points, respectively. Sheldon also joined McMahon with three early fouls, picking up her third in the second quarter.

"It was a little frustrating during the game," Mikulasikova said of some of the 23 fouls charged against OSU. "But I feel like, we just talked to each other, we were in the huddle like, 'we can't affect that, we can't change the calls.' So, I think that helped us to calm down."

Also, limited due to fouls was Taylor Thierry, who had four by the end of the game, but still managed to put up 12 points. The team as a whole was effective on the defensive end despite the referees' whistles, forcing 16 turnovers and finishing the game outrebounding the Spartans 31-27.

Only five games remain on Ohio State's regular season schedule, including a rematch in Iowa City against the Iowa Hawkeyes to close the season. If the Buckeyes go undefeated up until that game on March 3, they will secure the Big Ten regular season title, as even a loss will mean they share the championship with Iowa.

bmackay@dispatch.com

@brimackay15

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: No. 5 Ohio State defeats Michigan State, takes control of Big Ten