Buckeyes Storm Back to Beat Florida 46-41
12/16/2018 4:38:01 PM | Women's Basketball
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State held Florida scoreless over the final 5:10 and made just enough plays down the stretch to come away with a hard-fought 46-41 victory Sunday afternoon at St. John Arena.
Graduate Makayla Waterman led the Buckeyes with a season-high tying 11 points to go along with seven rebounds and a career-high three blocks. Freshman Aaliyah Patty scored four of her eight points at the onset of the fourth quarter to help spring the Buckeyes comeback. Carly Santoro also had two big buckets late as she finished with six points and a season-high 10 rebounds.
The fourth quarter was the difference in the game and that’s when the Buckeye defense shined. OSU held Florida to just four points on 1-of-14 shooting in the final quarter which included the five-minute dry spell. Conversely, the Buckeyes had their best shooting quarter of the game (46 percent).
For the game, both teams shot under 30 percent so there were plenty of rebounds to be had and the Buckeyes collected most of them. OSU held a 51-39 edge on the boards which was another key stat in the contest.
Florida, which came in as one of the top three-point shooting teams in the country, hit its first two from long range and took as much as a seven-point lead early on. The Buckeyes clawed back and took its first lead of the day midway through the second quarter on a pair of free throws and then a lay-in by Dorka Juhász. Florida continued the back-and-forth half as it answered with a 10-0 run over the next four and a half minutes and eventually led 25-18 at the half.
The third quarter wasn’t pretty either way as the teams combined for just seven made field goals as Florida held its five-point edge through three at 37-32. Patty scored twice inside at the start of the fourth to pull the Buckeyes within one. The Gators again pushed the lead to four and held a 41-38 advantage after two free throws with 5:10 to play. Those were the final points Florida would score as the Buckeyes scored the game’s final eight points.
Najah Queenland rebounded her own miss and put it back to give the Buckeyes a 42-41 lead with 3:02 left and Santoro scored on a drive just over a minute later to make it 44-41. After a Florida miss and an offensive foul, the Buckeyes had the ball in front of its own bench with 20 seconds left. Head coach Kevin McGuff drew up a nice in-bounds play that found Juhász wide open under the rim. Her ensuing lay-up would ultimately seal the victory.
Up next
Ohio State will head to south to face Butler and Virginia Tech this week at the West Palm Beach Invitational in West Palm Beach, Fla. This game on Thursday, Dec. 20 vs. Butler will be just the second meeting all-time between the two teams. The game on Friday vs. Virginia Tech will be the first between the two schools.
