Ohio State falls to Virginia Tech, misses trip to NCAA women's Final Four
SEATTLE — Thirty years after its first, and so far only, trip to the Final Four, Ohio State won't be heading back.
With a win over Connecticut on Saturday, the Buckeyes advanced past the Sweet 16 for the first time since being the national championship runner-up in 1993. But in Monday's Elite Eight game against Virginia Tech at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Ohio State came up 10 points short as the Hokies won 84-74.
"(Virginia Tech was) outstanding tonight," Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff said. "They played a great game. I have a lot of respect for (coach) Kenny (Brooks) and his staff and their program. They were good. They were a little bit better than we were tonight and they made some huge plays.
"Disappointed for our kids, obviously. We wanted to advance and play in the next game, but we ran into a really good team today and we'll learn some lessons from this and we'll be back."
The first half was played at a blistering pace. Ohio State applied its full-court press on the first three possessions, but Virginia Tech guard Georgia Amoore easily dribbled through it, and the Hokies' offense worked effectively in transition. They started the game with three straight 3-pointers, and the two teams combined for eight straight made baskets to open the first quarter.
After taking the press off, the Buckeyes found more success defending Virginia Tech in the half court, rather than allowing the Hokies to strike quickly on the run. But the pace didn't slow by much from there. By the end of the first quarter, Ohio State led 25-22 — the first time Virginia Tech had trailed in the NCAA Tournament.
The Buckeyes' lead didn't last long. The Hokies got the lead back by midway through the second quarter on a transition 3-pointer by Amoore, and the two teams swapped the lead back and forth from there.
"(Amoore) is quick, she's really skilled, she sees the floor really well," senior guard Jacy Sheldon said. "That gave us trouble. When we started picking up earlier, it helped us a little bit. But we did that a little bit too late. She's a really good player."
Senior guard Taylor Mikesell, who scored just 9 points on Saturday and was visibly not fully healthy, made her first five attempts from beyond the arc and missed just one shot in the first half. Mikesell scored 19 points in the first half, but finished with 25 as she struggled to score in the second half.
The offensive pace slowed down in the second half, but the Hokies were able to maintain their lead. Virginia Tech stretched the lead to five points by the 1:49 mark of the third quarter, and Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff called a timeout as the Hokies' momentum started to mount.
An offensive foul on sophomore forward Taylor Thierry gave Virginia Tech the ball back out of the timeout, but McGuff put the press back on for the first time since the first quarter and Ohio State immediately forced a 10-second violation.
Despite forcing the turnover, though, the Buckeyes weren't able to capitalize and score. They turned the ball over right back, and after two chaotic possessions, two free throws from Virginia Tech forward D'asia Gregg and a deep 3-pointer from Amoore just before the buzzer gave the Hokies an eight-point lead, 63-55.
"We picked our defense up there in the second half, and they did too," Sheldon said. "We got the stops we wanted. We didn't make the most of them on offense. We didn't execute the way we wanted to."
McGuff called another timeout early in the fourth quarter after Virginia Tech center Elizabeth Kitley scored in transition to put the Hokies up by 10. The 6-foot-6 Kitley fueled the Hokies to pull away in the fourth quarter, scoring 10 of her 25 total points in the final 10 minutes of the game.
After a layup and a free throw by Sheldon to get the Buckeyes within seven, Kitley converted an and-one and then drew a foul on senior forward Rebeka Mikulasikova on back-to-back possessions.
With just under five minutes left, Amoore made another 3-pointer — her fourth of the game — to put Virginia Tech up by 13 points, and the shot was the dagger in the Buckeyes' hopes at a comeback.
Mikesell made her first basket since 2:38 of the second quarter with 3:38 left to play, but it was too late to salvage the game for Ohio State. Kitley went right back down the floor and scored on a feed from Amoore, and the Hokies didn't need to do much to secure the win after that.
The Buckeyes made just eight shots on 29 attempts in the second half, and only two of 11 from beyond the arc.
"In the first half, both teams were playing at a really high level and making tough shots and executing to get good shots," McGuff said. "I think as the game went on, they just did a little more of that than we did in the second half and took advantage of the opportunities they got.
"We scored well from the perimeter, but not so well around the basket. I think that was a big problem for us, that the balance that they got out of scoring on the perimeter and Kitley running the basket. We couldn't replicate that and that just gave them better opportunities."
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State falls to Virginia Tech, misses out on NCAA Final Four
