Indiana's resume and regular-season title in arguably the best league in women's college basketball this season could lead to a top seed in the NCAA tournament. But the second-ranked Hoosiers won't be playing in the Big Ten tournament title game.
Fourth-seeded Ohio State outscored top-seeded Indiana by 25 points in the second half and forced 18 turnovers in a 79-75 upset victory Saturday at Target Center.
"This is a team that's won 27 games," Indiana coach Teri Moren said. "We have three hiccups. They've had a great year."
Trailing by 24 points in the second quarter, though, the 14th-ranked Buckeyes (25-6) turned things around. According to the Big Ten, that tied a conference record for biggest comeback victory in a women's basketball game.
"That was pretty wild," Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff said. "[The Hoosiers are] well-coached, they're very organized and they have mature, older players who don't get rattled. And so, to be able to come back against such a great team is really something special."
The Hoosiers (27-3) were cruising with a 49-26 lead when they were outscored 25-6 in the third quarter. Ohio State's full-court press forced 14 turnovers in the second half that led to 19 points. Taylor Thierry led five Buckeyes players with 19 points.
"It's going to sting for a couple days," said Grace Berger, who led Indiana with 20 points. "But once we get practicing back this week, I think we'll use it as motivation for sure."
Stillwater's Sara Scalia had 15 points for Indiana. Rochester native Lilly Meister, who had six points, scored on a put-back to make it 68-58 Hoosiers in the fourth quarter. But Ohio State used a 14-3 run to take its first lead since the first quarter at 72-71 on Taylor Mikesell's three-point play off a spinning layup at the 3:12 mark.
