COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio women's basketball team (2-4, 0-0 MAC) lost to No. 12 Ohio State (7-1, 0-0 MAC) 85-45 in Value City Arena on Tuesday night after a hard-fought game. 

The Bobcats started close to the Buckeyes after Sophomore guard Jaya McClure (Louisville, Ky.) tied the game with a 3-pointer in the first quarter. However, the Buckeyes gained traction and broke out to a 10-point lead in the early part of the quarter. The Bobcats were unable to finish their shots, which lead to a 13-0 run for the Buckeyes in the later half. Junior guard Kate Dennis (Rockford, Ill.) broke the run with a 3-pointer with less than a minute to go in the quarter. 

Ohio stayed on top of Ohio State and caused it to commit 10 turnovers by halftime. Ohio worked its way into the paint and tried to thwart Ohio State's plans the best it could. However, Ohio found itself trailing at the half. 

"When we are organized, we run a pretty good offense, which was a concern with their ball pressure," head coach Bob Bolden said. 

The Buckeyes retained their lead throughout the remainder of the game despite the Bobcats' best efforts. 

McClure ended the night with nine points as Ohio's scoring leader. Junior guard Kennedi Watkins (Ballwin, Mo.) followed her with five. Senior guard Bengisu Alper (Istanbul, Turkey)  led the Bobcats at the board with six rebounds. 

Six of Ohio's eight bench players scored, including senior guard Peyton Guice (Westerville, Ohio), who played in her first game since the 2021-22 season. Guice ended the game with two points and two assists in eight minutes of play. 

"I was happy. It's hard for those kids to stay ready, especially when most of them were starters for most of their career," Boldon said. "I was really impressed with the way they handled themselves. We played a lot of them in the fourth quarter and they did a nice job just staying ready. Some of those kids haven't played a lot this year. But I thought they did a nice job of taking advantage of the opportunity and I think that only makes us better down the road."

The Bobcats finished the game 15-for-53 from the field and 6-for-6 from the line. They also snagged 30 rebounds, 25 of which were defensive.

Ohio will return home on Saturday, Dec. 9 to take on Syracuse. Tip off is set for 1 p.m.

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