Jaloni Cambridge (22) shoots the ball while Nyla McFadden (8) blocks. Credit: Cassandra D’Angelo | Freelance Photographer.
After a first half with protracted gridlock, the Buckeyes leaned on their not-so-secret weapon to take over the game.
Jaloni Cambridge.
After another slow start left Ohio State up only 29-28 at halftime, the sophomore guard erupted for 21 points in the second half, totaling a team-high 29 on 12-23 shooting. The standout performance from Cambridge powered the No. 11 Ohio State Buckeyes past the Wisconsin Badgers 81-58 victory on Thursday night at the Schottenstein Center, improving to 19-3 on the season.
In the second half, the Buckeyes’ field-goal percentage ballooned to 61%, paving the way for a massive run that left the Badgers in the dust.
Here are three takeaways from the game:
Cambridge dazzles once again
Opposing teams can only slow down Cambridge for so long.
For the 11th time this season, Cambridge scored more than 20 points, including a 14-point third quarter to build a 56-45 cushion heading into the final quarter.
“I just saw the rim, and I’m not going to stop,” Cambridge said. “Until someone stops me, I’m going to keep going.”
After another standout performance on offense, Jaloni Cambridge’s 22.2 points per game this season rank second in the Big Ten, behind only Indiana’s Shay Ciezki with 23.1.
Her scoring ability has been as effective as anyone’s in the country, but one of the biggest leaps she has taken has been a growth in confidence.
“She’s still a young player, but she’s matured quite a bit,” head coach Kevin McGuff said. “She felt very confident in herself heading into the second half, and her ability to kind of lead us to a win like this.”
Strong defensive play sparked offense
It took some time for Ohio State to adapt to Wisconsin’s 3-point shooters, but once they did, the Badgers’ strong 60% 3-point percentage at halftime dwindled to 46% by the end of the game.
“Today, specifically, it was our sense of urgency at the 3-point line that really put us in a hole,” McGuff said. “It leaves us a little bit more vulnerable than I would like.”
Once the defense started to force turnovers, however, it sparked offensive momentum.
The Buckeyes’ full-court press played a main factor in the 25 turnovers forced as a team and resulted in 22 points off Badger giveaways.
The defense was so effective that Wisconsin finished with more turnovers than shots made, with 22.
“When we’re not shooting well, the one thing that we can do is turn people over and get easy baskets in transition,” McGuff said.
With a conference-high 12.9 steals per game and a plus-9.62 turnover margin that ranks eighth nationally, Ohio State continues to disrupt opposing offenses.
Lemmilä steps up in the absence of Kitts
For the third straight game, forward Kylie Kitts sat out due to a shoulder injury.
Given that on a night when every player on the roster is healthy, only eight players step onto the court for the Buckeyes, losing a paint threat who ranks top 10 in offensive rebounds per game in the conference can be devastating.
Center Elsa Lemmilä not only picked up the pieces in the absence of her teammate.
Lemmilä tied her career high in rebounds, hauling in 14 boards while adding four blocks in Ohio State’s victory.
“Each week Elsa gets a little bit more comfortable, and now she’s starting to get into a situation where we kind of expect these types of things from her,” McGuff said.
Most of her damage came in the first half, scoring nine points while grabbing 10 rebounds. She added multiple layups to keep pace with Wisconsin heading into halftime before Jaloni Cambridge took over.
For Kitts, small steps in improvement have brought her closer to returning to action.
“I’d say she’s probably still questionable for Sunday, but we’re much closer than we were a week ago,” McGuff said.
