Ohio State 77, Purdue 56 | Buckeyes roll in regular-season finale in women’s basketball
Ohio State will now wait and see if it did enough Saturday to earn the fifth seed in the Big Ten women's basketball tournament.
The Buckeyes certainly did enough to dispose of Purdue.
Dorka Juhasz and Aaliyah Patty each scored 16 points, and the Buckeyes cruised to a 77-56 win over the Boilermakers in West Lafayette, Indiana.
Ohio State (18-11, 11-7) can earn the fifth seed in the conference tournament, which begins Wednesday in Indianapolis, if Rutgers (20-8, 10-7) loses at home Sunday to No. 18 Iowa.
Juhasz also had 13 rebounds for her fourth double-double. Jacy Sheldon scored 12 points and Kierstan Bell 11, and the Buckeyes made 50.9% of their shots from the field.
The Buckeyes were in command during the second half, stretching their lead to 29 points on a basket by Patty with 6:27 left in the fourth quarter.
Karissa McLaughlin scored 18 points for the Boilermakers (17-13, 8-10), who shot 28.6% from the field.
The Buckeyes took control early, never trailing after the 6:42 mark of the first quarter. They started to pull away in the closing minutes, going on a 10-1 run to take a 21-9 lead at 9:44 of the second. Juhasz and Rebeka Mikulasikova made field goals and Crooms a three-pointer during the stretch.
Ohio State struggled to make shots for a stretch of the second period, going over three minutes between field goals. But Purdue struggled to score, too, only closing its deficit from nine points to seven. But a closing flurry sent Ohio State to the locker room ahead 41-26.