No. 14 Ohio State beats young Boston College Eagles side 82-64

The Ohio State Buckeyes spent the week talking about their marquee win against the No. 5 Tennessee Volunteers, but Sunday was another game with an opponent who came to play. Boston College is a young team that’s struggled in their 1-1 start to the season but saw a visit from the Buckeyes as a day to step up. Even so, the Scarlet & Gray withstood the pressure and hit another gear, beating the Eagles 82-64.

From the tip, both the Buckeyes and Eagles were determined to rattle each other. In a fast-paced start, the teams negated each other in a game of chaos vs. chaos. The Buckeyes created turnovers, four in the first 1:55 of the game but Ohio State’s slow start from Tuesday transferred to Sunday, missing their first three from deep to start the game.

Head coach Kevin McGuff’s side, featuring the same starting five including both forwards Taylor Thierry and Cotie McMahon, struggled in the first quarter to grab rebounds. In the first quarter, Boston College outrebounded the Scarlet & Gray 15-8, with six for the Eagles on the offensive boards.

Ohio State’s shooting was worse than the home side, but the Buckeyes continued the pressure on defense. Leading that effort was again guard Jacy Sheldon. The guard had four steals in the first quarter alone, with her best effort in the final minute of the quarter.

Sheldon anticipated an Eagles inbound pass, threw the ball behind herself as she was diving out of bounds, and Ohio State capitalized, ending the first quarter up 17-16. The Buckeyes forced 10 turnovers on Boston College.

At the beginning of the second, defense again was the focus for Ohio State, with substitute guard Emma Shumate pressuring a miss and blocking a shot in the paint. The Buckeyes increased their lead to five, but McGuff called a timeout after the Eagles cut the lead to one point off of poor Ohio State passing.

From that timeout, the Buckeyes settled down... and then some. Coming out of the 30 seconds, the Scarlet and Gray went on a 21-3 run to end the quarter. Part of that run was Sheldon who hit nine first-half steals, breaking her career record of eight steals that she hit Tuesday against Tennessee.

Offensively, the shots started to fall too. Guard Taylor Mikesell hit a three and substitute guard Rikki Harris found space to make creative runs to add more to the scoreboard.

The first one saw Harris abandon the paint and as Sheldon attacked inside, she sent the pass back to Harris for three. Soon after, it was forward Rebeka Mikulášiková who found Harris charging into the paint, running through three Boston defenders, to hit a lay-up.

After a rough first quarter, adjustments allowed Ohio State to go up 42-25, holding Boston College to nine points on 30.8% shooting in the second quarter.

Although Ohio State built a big lead, the Eagles came out swinging to start the second half. Guard JoJo Lacey capitalized off two early Buckeyes turnovers, hitting a quick five points in the first 51 seconds. Halfway through the third, BC already hit their second quarter overall points total of nine.

For every Boston swing though was Buckeye forward Mikulášiková keeping the lead in double-digits. Mikulášiková scored 12 of the Buckeyes' 22 points in the quarter. Ohio State led 19 going into the final quarter.

Mikulášiková continued her career-high scoring night into the fourth, scoring another four in a 23-point, 10-rebound double-double night.

Up over 20, McGuff wasn’t satisfied, keeping starters like Mikulášiková, Sheldon, and Mikesell in the game into the second half of the fourth. Ohio State locked up their first away win of the season, defeating Boston College 82-64.

40-Minute Game

In the lead-up to the Buckeyes' Tuesday win against the Vols, McGuff told the team that they’d be the better team after 40 minutes. It took the Scarlet & Gray almost three quarters to show it against Tennessee, but locked it in earlier Sunday.

Mikulášiková Neutralizes Gakdeng

For the second game in a row, Ohio State faced a towering player in the paint. Sophomore Maria Gakdeng entered Sunday averaging 14.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Mikulášiková not only continued her scoring stroke from Tuesday, scoring a career-high 23 points, but held Gakdeng to lower than average points and rebounds, with 13 and five.

Unfortunately for Ohio State, others made the Buckeyes pay on the boards, with junior Dontavia Waggoner grabbing 13 rebounds.

Buckeye History

On Dec. 30, 1988, Buckeyes guard Lisa Cline created a program record 11 steals. Almost 34 years later, Sheldon put her name next to Cline’s in the record book.

After a nine-steal first quarter, it felt inevitable that the record was headed for a shattering but Sheldon took her time in the second half. With 4:34 remaining in the third quarter, Sheldon tied the record.

There wasn’t a record-breaking 12th, but it was a dominant Sheldon night with 14 points and 11 steals.

What’s Next

Ohio State has a chance to avenge its last loss to an in-state university this week. On Thursday, the Buckeyes will travel southeast to Athens, for a game against the Ohio University Bobcats.

On Nov. 17, 2019, the Athens’ green beat Columbus’ scarlet 74-68 on the Buckeyes' home court.