Ohio State womens basketball team easily takes down Maine

The Ohio State women’s basketball team had to take on 15-seeded Maine in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. It was the first game the Buckeyes had played in two weeks since getting bounced in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament by Maryland. A two-game losing streak did not sit well with the Buckeyes.

They got rid of it by destroying Maine 8-57 at the Schott. The only time the game was close was in the first quarter when the Black Bears got a brief lead. As soon as that quarter ended, the Buckeyes turned up the heat on defense and went on to force a ton of turnovers. They used those turnovers to get easy transition buckets and run Maine out of the gym.

The Ohio State women’s basketball team played with confidence in win vs. Maine

Confidence was what the Buckeyes were lacking against Maryland. That and preparation. The team clearly thought they could just walk out to the gym and take down Maryland based on talent alone. That was obviously not the case. Kevin McGuff made sure his team didn’t have the same issue on Friday afternoon.

Celeste Taylor had six steals to lead the way for the Ohio State women’s basketball team defensively. She was all over the guards in the backcourt and flustered them into making bad decisions. It’s one of the reasons why she was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. Getting six steals in one game will help you earn honors like that.

Ohio State will now play the winner of Duke and Richmond. That is the 7/10 matchup on that side of the bracket. Whoever wins that game will be underdogs to the Buckeyes. As long as Ohio State can still play with this kind of confidence on defense, they are going to be a tough out in March Madness.