The Ohio State women's basketball team lives and dies by its press, and the No. 8 Buckeyes saw that strategy put to the test Sunday against No. 10 Indiana.

The Buckeyes faced their third top-10 opponent and proved they are a defense-first team, taking down the Hoosiers 74-69 at Value City Arena.

Credited as a "very, very good third-quarter team" by Indiana coach Teri Moren, the Buckeyes' press and the half-court defense kept them in the game during the first two quarters and became the momentum builders in the third. Holding Indiana to 10 points in the quarter while scoring 23 and forcing 11 turnovers, the Buckeyes were able to find most of their offensive success during this time frame.

"Our defense leads to offense," Ohio State guard Jacy Sheldon said. "I think we kind of got going there for a while and our offense came from that. ... Everyone was flying around, and when we're doing that it works really well."

The Buckeyes used a defense-focused lineup the entire game, and arguably the biggest contribution came from post player Rebeka Mikulasikova. Matched up against Indiana All-American Mackenzie Holmes, the Buckeyes' 6-foot-4 forward helped contain the Hoosiers' leading scorer to 4 points and three rebounds in the second half. Holmes, who averages 20.5 points per game, finished with 14 points and nine rebounds.

"She's really hard to match up with," Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff said. "She's a great player, one of the best in the country. We've certainly seen a lot of her over the years and she's been very effective against us. Overall, we did a good job. Rebeka did a great job just really making her work."

Early in the game, the Hoosiers were effective only when they got the ball in the hands of Holmes. By the time the first media timeout was called, the Buckeyes were shooting 18% from the field, going 2 for 11, and Holmes had single-handily given the Hoosiers a 7-6 lead.

Coming out of the timeout, Ohio State started to find the hot hand, getting leading scorers Sheldon and Cotie McMahon on the board. Sheldon finished the game with 25 points while McMahon had 20 points and seven rebounds.

"Sometimes you miss shots in this game, it happens a lot. So, we knew they were eventually going to start to fall," Sheldon said. "We just decided to control things we could control, which were getting stops and moving the ball and taking open shots."

Both teams' play in the first half was riddled with fouls and mistakes, with a combined 17 turnovers and 17 fouls. The game remained tight with 12 lead changes within the first 20 minutes.

The Hoosiers led 37-32 at half and had a 23-14 rebounding edge and scored 7 second-chance points.

Former ACC Defensive Player of the Year Celeste Taylor left the court in pain during the second quarter but returned in the third to provide a spark for Ohio State. Grabbing three steals in that quarter alone, Taylor's efforts in the press helped lead to some of the biggest moments in the game.

"It's not an easy system to really grasp in one year, so I think each week she gets a little more comfortable," McGuff said of Taylor.

He also that the Ohio State transfer was fine despite being limited in the second quarter.

The Hoosiers scored 9 points in the final minute of play, but the hole they dug in the opening 10 minutes of the half proved to be too much to overcome. Indiana finished the game with a season-high 23 turnovers.

"You can't do that against a team like Ohio State," Moren said. "Because they make you pay."

Ohio State, 19-3 overall, is second in the Big Ten standings below No. 3 Iowa (21-2). Both teams are 10-1 in conference play. The battle for the Big Ten regular-season title could take place in Iowa City on March 3 in the final game of the season.

bmackay@dispatch.com

@brimackay15

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State women hold off Indiana in a tightly contested battle