Despite an 18-1 run during a 6:15 stretch in the second half to take a 48-47 lead with 3:33 remaining, the No. 15 Ohio State women’s basketball team (4-2) was edged by No. 22 North Carolina (7-0), 57-54, Wednesday night at Carmichael Arena in Chapel Hill, N.C. Buckeye Tayler Hill led all scorers with 24 points to reach 1,500 points for her career. Hill is the 14th Buckeye to score at least 1,500 career points.
Ohio State trailed the Tar Heels by as many as 16 points in the second half, after only a four-point halftime deficit (29-25), largely because the Buckeyes were held scoreless in the second half until Hill’s jumper at the 14:52 mark.
Scoring 14 of her 24 points in the second half, Hill began the Buckeye run with 9:48 left when she hit a 3-pointer to cut North Carolina’s lead to 46-33. Key defensive plays by Amber Stokes, including one of her two steals, during the next flurry of plays led to a Hill jumper and 3-pointer that pulled the Buckeyes to within eight.
Following a timeout by the Tar Heels, Ohio State continued to chip away at North Carolina’s lead that culminated with Ameryst Alston’s 3-pointer with 3:33 left to give the Buckeyes a 48-47 advantage. Thirty-seven seconds later, a jumper by Darryce Moore locked the score at 50-50. Ashley Adams, who recorded five blocks, pushed the Buckeyes back out front, 52-51, with a 1:58 left. Hill scored again after grabbing her fifth and final defensive rebound of the game to lift Ohio State to a 54-51 lead with a 1:26 remaining in the game.
However, Xylina McDaniel’s jumper cut the Buckeyes’ lead to one and back-to-back steals by Tierra Ruffin-Pratt that resulted in a pair of layups led to the eventual final.
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