Jacy Sheldon scored 25 points, Cotie McMahon had 20 points and seven rebounds and No. 8 Ohio State used a second-half surge to upend No. 10 Indiana 74-69 on Sunday for its ninth consecutive win.
The Buckeyes (19-3, 10-1) took off in the third quarter, going on a 16-5 run to finish the frame up by eight points. They led by as many as 14 with 7:32 left in the game.
But a three-minute scoring drought by Ohio State allowed Indiana (18-3, 9-2) to cut the deficit to eight until a 3-pointer from Taylor Thierry at the 3:03 mark put the Buckeyes back on top by 11.
The Hoosiers stayed right in it. Two late 3-pointers by Yarden Garzon kept them in the game, her second one cutting Ohio State’s lead to 70-66 with 28 seconds remaining.
Indiana had to start fouling, and free throws by Sheldon and Thierry sealed the win.
Sheldon said there was never any panic by the Buckeyes.
“We’ve been in that position a lot,” the fifth-year guard said. “We’ve been down in a lot of games. We’ve been up and had to keep the lead. So experience is huge. We have a lot of older girls, but we have a lot of younger girls who haven’t been there before, and that’s something we just emphasize a lot — keeping our cool both physically and mentally.”