Under five seconds remained in the third quarter.
Buckeye guard T’yana Todd knocked down a contested 3-pointer just as the shot clock struck zero.
And after failing to block Todd’s shot, senior guard Kiki Rice got her revenge when she banked a 3-point attempt from well past half-court – the ball leaving her fingertips just as the game clock ran out.
The back-to-back buzzer beaters exemplified the energy that electrified No. 4 UCLA women’s basketball’s (12-2, 2-0 Big Ten) 82-75 victory over No. 19 Ohio State (11-2, 1-1) Sunday afternoon in Columbus, Ohio. The Bruin win was made possible by 19 offensive boards, earning coach Cori Close’s squad 25 more second-chance points than their opponent.
Ohio State nearly managed to pull off an upset in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter, as numerous turnovers from UCLA gave the vocal home crowd at Value City Arena a glimmer of hope.
After pulling within six points of their opponent at the 2:05 minute marker and then again at 1:28, multiple missed shots left the Buckeye scoreboard stagnant as the Bruins finalized a seven point victory.
A 7-0 run to open the game offered an early glimpse of what could have been a dominant showing from a UCLA team coming off two 100-point plus outings in consecutive wins. But Ohio State shut down that narrative by leveling the game by the fourth minute.
Turnovers plagued the Bruins’ offense throughout the game.
Despite out-rebounding the Buckeyes 15-9 in the first quarter and going 3-for-6 from beyond the arc to their opponent’s 0-for-5 across the same frame, mistimed passes and lax ball-handling cost the Bruins a decisive early lead.
Buckeye guard Jaloni Cambridge lit up the court with 16 points in the first half – barely shy of the team-high 19.3 she averages per game. But Ohio State’s inefficiency from the perimeter proved the weakest point of its game across the opening two quarters. The sole 3-pointer made off 13 attempts came from center Elsa Lemmilä, her first of the entire season.
On the other hand, the Bruins entered the game with the nation’s most efficient 3-point shooter in senior guard Gabriela Jaquez, who possessed a 54% clip from beyond the arc prior to the matchup. While she finished the game below that average, going 2-for-5 from the 3-point line, Jaquez still logged 12 points and eight rebounds en route to her team’s victory.
Graduate student forward Angela Dugalić downed all nine of her first half points in the second quarter to help keep UCLA leading 39-33 entering the break. Dugalić finished the game with a team-high field goal accuracy off a 78% clip, logging 15 points and five rebounds.
Two 3-pointers to open the second half from Jaloni Cambridge, and her older sister fellow guard Kennedy Cambridge, pulled the Buckeyes within two – but Ohio State was unable to find a margin as close through the remainder of the game despite its fourth quarter run.
The Bruin’s own sister duo senior center Lauren Betts and freshman forward Sienna Betts showed a taste of the same on-court chemistry. The pair was fueled to 17 and 14 points, respectively, in the game prior when the younger Betts scored off an offensive board created by her sister.
[Related: UCLA women’s basketball submerges Long Beach State with 2nd triple-digit outing]
And while Sienna Betts’ five points did not match her production last week, Lauren Betts’ 18 points and 16 rebounds were good for her third double-double across the last four games.
Inefficient free throw shooting once again slowed the Bruins. Their 69.2% clip from the charity stripe was the only offensive statistic that trailed the Buckeyes.
The holiday break did deter the Ohio State faithful from filling the seats at Value City Arena, and an attendance of 8,455 fans gave the Bruins a taste of a crowd they had not seen since last spring’s tournament play.
And the Bruins’ ranked win sets an early tone for the conference slate as they start on the road to the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis in March.
