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Buckeyes Down Minnesota 83-71, Advance To B1G Semis – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 7, 2015
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HOFFMAN, ESTATES, Ill. – Kelsey Mitchell scored 29 points and Alexa Hart and Shayla Cooper each notched double-doubles as Ohio State downed Minnesota 83-71 Friday night to advance to the semifinals of the B1G Tournament.
The No. 3-seed Buckeyes will take on No. 2-seed Iowa Saturday night at approximately 9:30 p.m. ET. Top-seed Maryland will face No. 4-seed Northwestern in the other semifinal.
Mitchell knocked-down four three-pointers to finish with a game-high 29 points. Hart and Cooper both scored 17 points and pulled-down 11 rebounds.
Junior Ameryst Alston struggled from the floor but dished-out a team-high six assists to go along with 10 points.
Amanda Zahui B. had 25 points, 11 rebounds and a Big Ten-tournament record 11 blocks to lead the Gophers (23-9). Her triple-double was the first in the conference tournament since Minnesota’s Janel McCarville in 2004.
The Buckeyes got off to a bit of a slow start from the floor but thanks to good interior defense, they remained close. With the score tied 18-18, a Hart lay-in start a 10-0 OSU run that gave the Bucks some breathing room.
Ohio State made nine of its final 14 shots of the half and took a 40-28 lead at the break. Mitchell led everyone with 16 points in the first half while Hart has 11 points and seven rebounds.
The Buckeyes held that double-digit lead for the majority of the second half. The Gophers made a desperation run late in the game and cut the lead to eight with just under a minute to play but the Buckeyes salted away the game at the line.
Postgame Notes
The Buckeyes have now reached the B1G Tournament semifinals forthe 14th time.
Ohio State has an overall record in the B1G Tournament of32-15.
Head coach Kevin McGuff improves to 20-8 as a head coach in conferencetournaments.
McGuff has now guided his teams to the conference tournamentsemifinals for the eighth time in 13 seasons.
The only other time the Buckeyes were a No. 3-seed in the B1GTournament, they also defeated No. 6-seed Minnesota in thequarterfinals. OSU topped UM 58-50 in the 2004 tournament.
The Buckeyes have won 11 of their last 13 games.
Ohio State avenged an earlier loss this season to Minnesota.
Kelsey Mitchell scored 29 points and has moved into second onthe OSU single-season scoring list. She has 765 points this season,passing Katie Smith who scored 745 points as a senior in 1995-96.
This was Mitchell’s 22nd game this season with 20 or morepoints.
Alexa Hart finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds for herteam-leading 10th double-double of the year.
Shayla Cooper’s also notched a double-double with 17 points and11 rebounds. This was her fifth double-double of the year and thethird in the last four games.
Cooper’s fourth-straight game of 10 or more points.
The Buckeyes are 16-1 this season when winning the battle in thepaint. They edged the Gophers 36-32 inside.
Up Next…
The Buckeyes have advanced to the semifinals and will take onNo. 2-seed Iowa in the second game on Saturday evening.
The teams split the two regular season meetings this season witheach team winning on their home floor.
Tip-off will be approximately 9:30 p.m. ET.
