Ohio State ends LSU women's dream season with a 79-64 win

Stunningly, it wasn't No. 3 seed LSU as the Tigers saw their Cinderella first season under head coach Kim Mulkey end by getting thoroughly outplayed until the final minutes by Big Ten co-champion Ohio State.

The sixth-seeded Buckeyes extremely efficient offense deadly and unapologetically physical defense provided Ohio State with a 79-64 victory over LSU in a second-round sub-regional game earning a ticket to Friday’s Spokane Regional semifinals vs. Texas.

Despite a heroic performance from grad student guard Khayla Pointer who scored 32 points in her final college game, the Tigers (26-6) were no match for an array of Ohio State weapons led by All-Big Ten first team guard Jacy Sheldon and Big Ten 3-point shooting leader Taylor Mikesell.

Sheldon scored 20 points and dealt 8 assists. Mikesell added 18 points, the bulk from 4 of 7 3-point shooting as the Buckeyes lit up LSU’s defense hitting 10 of 22 from long-distance.

Also, Ohio State center Rebeka Mikulasikova outscored the Tigers’ entire starting frontline by herself with 12 points.

For LSU, Pointer’s only scoring help was grad student guard Jalin Cherry, who had 12 points.

"There's a reason they're moving on, they're good," Mulkey said of Ohio State. "I thought they were well-balanced. They have a poise about them. And we missed a lot of point blank shots."

While the Buckeyes shot almost 50 percent from them field -- 28 of 58 for 48.3 percent -- LSU made just 25 of 68 from the field (36.8 percent) including missing 18 of 32 layups.

Ohio State (25-6) led by as many as 24 points with 1:34 left in the third quarter and by 17 points with 5:26 remaining in the game. LSU defensively pressed full-court most of the second half and tried to turn the game into a free-for-all.

LSU cut the Buckeyes’ lead to 11 points at 74-63 with 2:39 left, but got no closer.

"I told them (Ohio State's team) if we were going to win the game we were going to have to fight like hell on every possession when the shot went up to get the ball back.," OSU coach Kevin McGuff said. "And we did. We didn't get it back every single time, but we fought on every possession."

The Tigers couldn’t have had a worse start as Ohio State scored 10 of its points off 7 LSU turnovers for a 15-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.

LSU kept trying take to take its offense inside to center Faustine Aifuwa, who missed all three of her shots within two feet of the basket and committed two turnovers. LSU made just 3 of 15 field goals in the opening period.

After opening the second quarter missing its first three shots as LSU guards tried to attack the basket on every possession hoping for buckets or drawing OSU fouls, the Buckeyes eased out to a 21-12 lead.

Finally, the Tigers found some offense hitting four straight shots in an 8-2 burst that got LSU back within striking distance at 23-20 with 5:30 left. But just as quickly, Ohio State began separating itself again.

The Buckeyes made 4 of their last 9 field goals to end the quarter while LSU hit 3 of its last 9. But the problem was three of Ohio State’s baskets were 3-pointers, something LSU couldn’t match and the Buckeyes led at halftime 34-26.

"You can't have scoring droughts, especially at this point in the season," Pointer said. "It puts more pressure on your defense when you can't score."

The battle between the backcourts was basically a standoff. But Ohio State’s front line had a huge advantage because Buckeyes' starting center Mikulasikova had the ability to swish 3-pointers – she both long-distance attempts – while the Tigers’ bigs like Aifuwa simply invited her to shoot.

It was clear unless Aifuwa and Autumn Newby didn’t start producing anything inside, the only way LSU was going get any kind of offense was from its guards, whether it was Pointer driving the ball into the teeth of the defense or Cherry freeing herself for stop and pop jumpers.

LSU missed its first 5 shots in the third quarter including three layups by Pointer in too much traffic. Even when Mulkey called a timeout with 8:09 left and the Tigers trailing 38-26, LSU had a shot clock violation when reserve center Hannah Gusters passed the ball back outside crosscourt instead of taking a shot from the post.

By the time the TV timeout rolled around with 4:29 left, it was clear LSU had no answers as the Buckeyes had built a 19-point lead including a 30-foot 3-pointer from Mikesell.

"Our biggest goal was trying to withstand their runs," Mikesell said of LSU. "We knew they were going to have runs. We've have been these environments before, but this was probably the loudest one we've been in all year. I think that every single one of my teammates from the bench to the court did a great job staying composed even when they were going on runs."

LSU finally started pressing full-court defensively hoping to rattle Ohio State. The Buckeyes committed 6 turnovers in the quarter, but the Tigers were able to score just 7 points off them.

Ohio State’s offense systematically took apart LSU’s defense, outscoring the Tigers 23-11 in period to carry a 57-37 lead into the fourth. Sheldon destroyed LSU’s guards, hitting a pair of 3s and drove past Cherry for another bucket.