Tag: Ohio State Women’s Basketball

Ohio State men’s and women’s basketball both surging to start season

The Ohio State men’s and women’s basketball teams are both off to hot starts as each is officially a top-25 team in the country.

Let’s start with the Ohio State men’s basketball team. There wasn’t as much expected from this group, starting the season unranked.

However, they took down a then-No. 19 Texas Longhorns side 80-72 to open the season and followed that up with an 81-47 victory over the Youngstown State Penguins Monday.

This team has grit, size, and a young, fired-up head coach. The Buckeyes star-studded backcourt of Bruce Thornton and Meechie Johnson Jr. helps as well. Due to their 2-0 start, the Buckeyes sit No. 22 in the USA Today Sports Coaches Poll, up from unranked the week prior.

Ohio State women’s basketball hasn’t changed much in the rankings, but it has taken care of business.

Early in the season, sometimes a few dominant wins is all one can ask for.

The Buckeyes kicked their season off with a 104-69 win over Cleveland State and then throttled Charlotte 94-53 Tuesday, and they were treated to a near record-breaking performance from Chance Gray.

The women’s team ranks No. 12 in the country and is the third-highest Big Ten team, behind USC at NO. 3 and UCLA at No. 6.

Ohio State freshman goes off in Women’s basketball opener

Impressive debut #GoBucks

The Ohio State Women’s basketball team opened up the season on Tuesday night with a dominating performance. The Buckeyes played host to Cleveland State and won by a score of 104-69.

However, it wasn’t the final score that opened some eyes, but the play of freshman guard Jaloni Cambridge. In her OSU debut, Cambridge poured in 31 points on 12-14 shooting. She also added six rebounds, six assists, five steals, and two blocked shots.

According to 247Sports, Cambridge was the country’s No. 3 overall player and the No. 1 rated point guard. She hails from Nashville, Tennessee, but finished her high school ball at Monteverde Academy in Florida, where she was the Florida Gatorade Girl’s Basketball Player of the Year. Before that, she was the Tennessee Gatorade Girl’s Basketball Player of the Year in her junior year.

The Ohio State Women’s team has been rolling in the right direction for the past several years under head coach Kevin McGuff and Cambridge is only going to help propel the team forward. The Buckeyes will next take on the Charlotte 49ers on Tuesday, Nov. 12 at the Schott.

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Ohio State women’s basketball surprisingly high in first rendition of AP Poll

Ohio State women’s basketball might not be expected to win the Big Ten, but it is a top-15 team in the country, the AP Poll reveals.

The Ohio State women’s basketball program could be one of the best in the country this upcoming season.

Behind Cotie McMahon, a junior, who led the team in rebounding and started all 32 games a season ago, the Buckeyes will have a contending roster. They finished 16th in the final AP poll last season and were 26-6 overall, 16-2 in the Big Ten.

Without USC in the Big Ten at that time, they ranked atop the Power 5 conference. USC is the highest-ranked Big Ten team heading into the season, but the Buckeyes sit second, ranked No. 14 in the AP Poll.

Ohio State lost a few key pieces from last season’s team, but it has many key contributors back.

The No. 14 Buckeyes will kick off their season with Belmont on Nov. 17 with a specific time yet to be determined. They will have their first conference game against Illinois on Dec. 8.

Expect big things from this group as the season commences in just a few short weeks.

Former Ohio State guard Kelsey Mitchell shines in WNBA All-Star Game

Mitchell made the most of the opportunity #GoBucks

If you’re a diehard Ohio State women’s basketball fan, you undoubtedly know the name Kelsey Mitchell. Mitchell was at one time second on the all-time NCAA scoring list with former Washington guard Kelsey Plum in her sights. Ultimately, Mitchell came up just 125 points shy of passing Plum for immortality.

But it is Mitchell who got the last laugh… at least on this night when the WNBA All-Stars played Team USA who is preparing for the Olympics that will begin in just a few short days. The All-Stars got the win over those headed to Paris by a score of 117 to 109. And Kelsey Mitchell was a big reason why.

Mitchell played just 14 minutes in the game, but she made the most of her opportunity. On 6-8 shooting from the field, Mitchell poured in 13 points and added one assist and two steals to help the All-Star team get the win.

Mitchell is having another fine season for the Indiana Fever. Although she is somewhat overshadowed by rookie sensation Caitlin Clark, Mitchell is second on the team in scoring averaging just over 16 points per contest.

Indiana is currently positioned as the No. 7 seed if the WNBA Playoffs were to start today. The Fever will resume play in mid-August after the conclusion of the Olympics and will have 14 games left to continue their run toward a championship.

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Former Ohio State guard Jacy Sheldon signs to play overseas

Sheldon is headed to The Land Down Under #GoBucks

Former Ohio State guard Jacy Sheldon is adapting to the WNBA game nicely. She was drafted No. 5 overall by the Dallas Wings and worked her way into the starting lineup midway through the season. Now she’ll continue to adjust to the professional level, this time in the WNBA offseason.

Sheldon signed a contract with the Townsville Fire of the Women’s National Basketball League. Townsville is located in Queensland, Australia, where the Fire won the league championship in 2023.

Head coach, Shannon Seebohm is excited to be getting a player of Sheldon’s caliber.

“Jacy is a very exciting player who has the ability to turn a game with her elite speed and shooting ability. She’s an extremely tough defender and competes every second she is on the floor. Additionally, she’s a great person and someone who ticked all the boxes for us during the recruiting process. We are really excited to have her join our team as soon as she completes her rookie WNBA season,” said Coach Seebohm.

Many WNBA players go overseas to play in the offseason and many times they make three to four times as much as they do playing in the States. The WNBA will be on a short three-and-a-half-week break as some players will be competing in the Summer Olympics. Play will resume mid-August where Sheldon and the Wings will have 15 games left in the regular season. She’ll join the Fire shortly after the completion of her rookie season.

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Ohio State women’s basketball in running for No. 1 player in the country

This would be a massive addition #GoBucks

The Ohio State women’s basketball team may be on a bit of a rebuild this season, but Coach Kevin McGuff is working on filling some missing pieces. One of those may come with the No. 1 player in the 2025 recruiting class, Aaliyah Chavez.

The Buckeyes lost Jacy Sheldon and Celeste Taylor to the WNBA and had several others enter the transfer portal including Ricki Harris, Emma Shumate, and Diana Collins. But McGuff brought in a highly rated crop of new freshmen this year to go alongside returning junior Cotie McMahon.

Now it seems OSU is in a good spot to land the No. 1 player in the country. Chavez recently trimmed her list of schools to ten which included the Buckeyes. Joining Ohio State were Arizona, LSU, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Texas Tech, UCLA, and USC.

Ohio State got in on Chavez early as the coaching staff has been recruiting her since her junior high days as an eighth grader. Chavez says she talks to the Buckeye staff all the time saying “They are high energy every time I talk to them.”

The Lubbock, Texas native attends Monterey High School and averaged an eye-popping 37.8 points per game. She was named the Gatorade Player of the Year this past season.

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Former Ohio State women’s basketball star named to WNBA All-Star team

Congrats to Mitchell! #GoBucks

For the second time, former Ohio State women’s basketball star Kelsey Mitchell has been named an All-Star. The news was announced by her current team, the Indiana Fever on Tuesday.

Mitchell was drafted by the Fever in the first round of the 2018 WNBA draft after starring for the Buckeyes from 2014 to 2018. With OSU, she became the program’s all-time leading scorer with 3,402 points and was an All-American four times, and Big Ten Player of the Year three times en route to one of the most decorated careers in Ohio State history.

So far this season with the Fever, Mitchell has averaged 16.6 points, 1.8 assists, and two rebounds per game, all while shooting a blistering 40.5% from beyond the arc. Mitchell also was named an All-Star last season.

Congrats to one of the all-time greats to ever don the Scarlet and Gray.

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Taylor Mikesell heads to Germany to continue basketball career

Good luck Taylor! #GoBucks

Things didn’t pan out too well for former Ohio State women’s basketball guard Taylor Mikesell in the NBA, but now she’s getting a chance to further her basketball career overseas.

According to a release on social media by Gernika Bizkaia out of Munich, Germany, Mikesell will play for the club this summer after signing a one-year deal.

Mikesell averaged 14.3 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game over her career that began with the Oregon Ducks for one year, then to the Maryland Terrapins for two years, and finally, Ohio State for three where she earned All-Big Ten honors.

Mikesell did get drafted in the second round in the 2023 NBA draft by the Indiana Fever, but was released. She then signed with the Atlanta Dream and appeared in a few games to end the season. She was invited to camp by the Los Angeles Sparks but did not make the team for this season.

All we can say is good luck to Taylor. We hope you show everyone what you are made of and eventually make it back to the WNBA. In the meantime, make the most of a great opportunity across the pond.

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WNBA team waives former Ohio State player

Hopefully, she’ll land on her feet with another opportunity. #GoBucks

Getting drafted isn’t quite the same in the WNBA as the NBA. Generally speaking, being a high draft pick in the NBA almost guarantees a roster spot, but with limited spots available in the WNBA, that’s not a done deal.

Former Ohio State guard, Celeste Taylor, found that out on Tuesday when the Indiana Fever announced there move to waive the 5-foot, 11-inch playmaker.

Of the 18 games played this season, Taylor appeared in just five of them and played just a total of 16 minutes, collecting three points, one rebound, one assist, and one block.

Taylor was selected in the second round of the WNBA draft by the Fever after playing two seasons at Texas, two at Duke, then transferring and finishing her career with the Buckeyes last season. She was a stout defender, winning the Big Ten’s Defensive Player of the Year last season while averaging 10.1 points, 3.4 assists, 4.1 rebounds, and 2.5 steals per game. She also won the ACC’s Defensive Player of the Year.

She will now be looking for a way to further her career, but you have to think there’s a place somewhere in the basketball universe for such a well-rounded player.

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Former Ohio State guard Jacy Sheldon gets the start for Dallas

It was only a matter of time #GoBucks

When players move on to the next level it always takes some time to adjust to the new speed of the game. Whether it’s high school JV to varsity, varsity to college, or college to the pros, there’s a learning curve that takes place.

Former Ohio State guard Jacy Sheldon has had to deal with that same adjustment, but it seems like she’s starting to figure it out. Sheldon got her first career start in the WNBA after being selected No. 5 overall by the Dallas Wings.

After 14 games into the season and seeing her playing time increase the past several weeks, the former Buckeye got the nod to start in game 15. Sheldon logged the second-most minutes of any player for the Wings on the night. She scored nine points while adding six rebounds, three assists, two steals, and zero turnovers.

Unfortunately, the Wings lost the game to the Chicago Sky by a score of 83-72. Dallas has lost nine games in a row and will look to get back in the win column when it faces the Washington Mystics on Saturday. Maybe more Jacy Sheldon will help the Wings turn things around.

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