The Ohio State women’s basketball team had a fantastic start to the season but hit a bit of a rough patch down the stretch of the regular season, finishing in a tie for third place and earning the No. 3 seed in this year’s Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament.
The Buckeyes began its run in the Big Ten Tournament on Friday night when it took on No. 11 seed Iowa, and boy was it a classic, with the Scarlet and Gray squeaking out a 60-59 victory. OSU ran out to an early 14-5 lead with its pressure defense leading the way as usual. But the Hawkeyes have been a much-improved team towards the end of the year and didn’t go away easy. They reeled things back in and it was a nip-and-tuck affair from there, even after Ohio State hit a shot at the end of the first half to head into the break up 29-28.
It continued to be a bit of a defensive struggle in the second half, with Ohio State again gaining some breathing room before Iowa eventually took the lead late with the two teams trading blows during the last two minutes of the game. Things looked to be in peril when Iowa hit a three-pointer to take a 59-58 lead with just 1:18 left in the game. Neither team could make another bucket the rest of the way, but Cotie McMahon drew a foul with just over six seconds left and calmly stepped up to hit both to give the Buckeyes a 60-59 lead.
Iowa would get a couple of opportunities after calling a timeout to advance the ball to half-court, but missed a running layup and then a quick pop shot after inbounding the ball after it deflected out of bounds with .07 seconds left. The game was freakishly even almost across the board, but Ohio State just made one extra play to pull it out and advance.
With the win, Ohio State advances to the semifinals of the tournament and will matchup with No. 2 seed UCLA on Saturday. Game time is set to tip off at 5:30 p.m. ET on the Big Ten Network.
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This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: Ohio State women outlasts Iowa in Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal
