Gabby Hutcherson scores career-high in Ohio State women's basketball blowout win over Mount St. Mary's
Above all else, the No. 20 Ohio State women’s basketball wanted some consistency.
After bouncing back from their first loss of the season at Syracuse with a 17-point win at Purdue, the Buckeyes had a get-well card ahead of an important early-season Big Ten game against No. 10 Indiana on Sunday at home — the first ranked opponent of the season.
Against a heavily overmatched team in Mount St. Mary’s (1-7), Ohio State did what it was supposed to do. The Buckeyes (7-1, 1-0 Big Ten) took command of the game early and remained efficient from the floor in 94-50 win on Tuesday at Value City Arena. They shot 56.3% from the floor and were 10 of 20 on 3-pointers.
“We've had games where we’ve been the more talented team in the past couple of weeks where we got away from what we tried to get better at,” coach Kevin McGuff said. “But I thought tonight we were pretty sound defensively for the most part. We had a little stretch in the second half where we turned it over, but for the most part took care of the ball, executed and got quality shots.”
Jacy Sheldon led all scorers with 19 points on 9-of-12 shooting, followed by Taylor Mikesell’s 15 points and Rebeka Mikulasikova and Tanaya Beachem with 13 each. Sophomore Gabby Hutcherson scored a career-high 13 points and was perfect on her three 3-point attempts.
Toward the end of the third quarter, McGuff rested his starters with Ohio State holding a 71-35 lead. Hutcherson played a career-high 22 minutes. Freshman Taylor Thierry played 19 minutes after seeing the floor for just three minutes at Syracuse and not playing at Purdue.
“I think I just have to take advantage of the minutes that I get to show them what I can do,” Hutcherson said. “I have to stay ready at all times, no matter what the opponent is.”
Ohio State closed the first quarter on a 21-3 run, led by a pair of triples from Hutcherson and Mikesell. After a somewhat slow start to the second half of just three points in about 3 ½ minutes, Sheldon hit her first 3-pointer of the game, then grabbed the rebound on the other end and pushed the floor to assist Mikesell for another triple to expand the lead to 34-12 with 5:58 to go in the first half.
The Buckeyes’ press flustered Mount St. Mary’s into 15 first-half turnovers and 23 for the game. Ohio State had 11 turnovers, down from its 22 at Purdue.
The loss to Syracuse and the win to Purdue last week couldn’t have been more opposite.
The defense struggled to slow down anyone on the Orange, while the Boilermakers were held to less than 30% shooting. The nation’s top scoring team — though coming against a weak schedule — scored just 24 points in the first half against Purdue after putting up more than 90 points at Syracuse. On Tuesday, the Buckeyes scored 25 in the first quarter against the Mountaineers and dominated from start to finish.
Sheldon said the Buckeyes have improved since the loss to Syracuse, which will be needed Sunday against the Buckeyes’ greatest test yet this season.
“We definitely learned from that (loss),” Sheldon said. “We’re focusing on what we need to get better (at).”
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Hutcherson, Sheldon lead No. 20 Ohio State women's basketball past Mt. St. Mary's
