Nothing came easy for Ohio State on Saturday as it fell on the road to Illinois 66-55 at the State Farm Center.
The loss drops the Buckeyes to 17-9 on the year and 9-5 in the conference while Illinois evens its record at 13-13 and 4-10 in the B1G.
Ameryst Alston led the Buckeyes with 20 points while Kelsey Mitchell chipped-in with 19 points. Alexa Hart grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds and scored eight points.
For Illinois, four players scored in double-figures led by Ivory Crawford’s 18 points. Chatrice White finished with a double-double down low of 13 points and 12 rebounds.
The Buckeyes shot just 36 percent from the floor and committed 19 turnovers which led to 23 UI points. The other glaring stat was the Illini led 40-31 on the boards and converted 12 offensive rebounds into 12 points. OSU had just two second chance points.
The first half was a push and pull battle. Both teams went on 7-0 runs and led by as many as five points at one point. The Buckeyes would have the last run and led 30-29 at the break. Alston was the only Buckeye who enjoyed her opening 20 minutes as she was 6-of-10 from the floor for 14 points.
The second half started-out good for the Bucks as Mitchell scored five-straight points to put OSU in front 35-29. Illinois then turned the tables with a 16-4 run over the next four minutes to take a 45-39 lead with 14:49 to play and the Illini wouldn’t give up the lead the rest of the way.
The Buckeyes did get as close as one point at 54-53 on a Mitchell jumper with 6:03 to play but that would be the Buckeyes’ last field goal of the contest. Illinois scored the final 12 points to walk away down the stretch.
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