Ohio State women’s basketball team falls at Michigan State
Nia Clouden scored Michigan State's final five points Thursday night to help the Spartans edge Ohio State 68-65 in a Big Ten women's basketball game in East Lansing, Michigan.
After falling behind by as many as seven points in the second half, the Buckeyes took a 65-63 lead on a pair of Madison Greene free throws with 23 seconds to play. But the Spartans kept feeding the ball to Clouden. She was fouled by Dorka Juhasz while making a jumper with 13 seconds left for a three-point play, and then she made two more free throws with six seconds left.
Clouden finished with 20 points.
Ohio State attempted to close the gap, but Greene lost possession while driving the lane with nine seconds remaining, and the Buckeyes (10-7, 3-3) couldn't get off a three-point attempt to try to tie the score as time expired.
The loss snapped a two-game winning streak for the Buckeyes, with their next game Sunday against Illinois (10-7, 3-3) at Value City Arena.
Aaliyah Patty led a balanced effort by Ohio State's offense with 12 points, followed by Jacy Sheldon (11 points), Rebeka Mikulasikova (11 points) and Greene (10 points). Juhasz scored seven and grabbed 10 rebounds.
“We really lost the game because Michigan State, they played through contact and made layups. We missed about 10 layups,” coach Kevin McGuff said. “You're not going to win on the road doing that.”
The Buckeyes rallied in the fourth quarter after struggling to make shots in the third, going over seven minutes between field goals. For the game, they made 40% of their shots from the field, 38.9% of their three-point attempts and 66.7% of their free throws.
Kierstan Bell, a two-time Big Ten freshman of the week, was limited to five points on 2-of-7 shooting from the field. She also had five rebounds and six assists.
The Spartans (10-7, 3-3) picked up their second straight win in conference play after defeating Wisconsin on Sunday.