Ohio State climbed out of a 20-point hole and trailed by just one late in the second half but the Buckeyes just couldn’t get over the hump as No. 16 Iowa held on down the stretch for a 73-65 victory.
The loss snaps the Buckeyes’ four-game winning streak and drops OSU to 15-8 on the year and 7-4 in the conference.
The story of the night for the Buckeyes was turnovers. OSU came into the game averaging just 14 turnovers per contest and committed 21 on the night. That hampered the team’s effort in completing the comeback in the late stretches of the game.
Offensively, four Buckeyes finished in double figures led by Kelsey Mitchell’s 15 points. She was just 4-of-12 from the floor but did have four assists.
Freshman Alexa Hart and sophomore Shayla Cooper each recorded double-doubles in the game. Hart had 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds. She also blocked four shots. Cooper finished the game with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Junior Ameryst Alston battled foul trouble most of the night and finished with 11 points and two assists.
Iowa (18-4, 9-2) also had four players finish in double figures. Ally Disterhoft had 21 points while Bethany Doolittle added 19 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
The game could not have started any worse for the Buckeyes. Iowa jumped all over the Buckeyes sloppy play and raced out to a 32-12 lead. OSU settled down a bit and went on a 12-2 run and after an Alston three-pointer from the corner, the Buckeyes had cut the lead to eight at 37-29 with three minutes left in the half.
Despite making just one field goal over the final four minutes, Iowa was able to extend the lead to 41-29 at halftime. The Buckeyes had 14 turnovers in the first half and shot just 37 percent.
In the second half, the Buckeyes slowly worked their way back into it. Lisa Blair finished-off a nice pass by Mitchell to trim the Iowa lead to 55-54 with 8:55 to play. The lead stayed around three for the next four minutes but the Buckeyes made just one field goal over the final five minutes of the game allowing Iowa to pull away late.
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