Jaloni Cambridge goes up in traffic and gets two of her game-high 22 points on opening night at the ‘Schott. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Brian Bayless)
Led by Jaloni Cambridge with 22 points, four players scored in double figures, including true freshman post player Sydney Mobley.
Columbus, OH — The Ohio State women’s basketball team did not play any exhibition games, but sometimes that is a matter of semantics.
Sure, the men’s team gave fans a couple of sneak previews via “games” against Cincinnati and Butler, but those don’t count in the standings.
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The 18th-ranked Buckeyes’ win 81-34 over UIC on Monday night does go down as the program’s 1,155th win officially, but the story of the 61st season of Ohio State women’s basketball will be told in much bigger games to come.
No. 2 Connecticut comes to town next week, Ole Miss visits the week after that, and there is a neutral site game scheduled against Texas to open Thanksgiving week.
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December will bring the first Big Ten games and a “neutral site” game in California against Stanford.
After the annual crucible that is now Big Ten play since the addition of UCLA and USC (not to mention Maryland before that), the postseason is really what will get the most attention, scrutiny and reaction.
The big questions about this team — most teams, but this one especially after three straight early exits from the NCAA Tournament — won’t be answered in games against Missouri Valley Conference foes, but it never hurts to start studying.
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Finland native Elsa Lemmilä goes for the reverse layup, dropping in two of her 15 points on the night.
“We’ve got to show up every day,” Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff said. “Last year’s team had a mindset of getting better, and they did that, so we have to do a good job as coaches who put them in position to do it and really push them and challenge them just to get better because I think we did some good things tonight, but we’re certainly a long way from where we could be.”
The Flames finished 14-18 last season and were picked to finish sixth in the MVC.
They were clearly overmatched Monday night, but the game still offered a chance for the 3,820 in the stands at the Schottenstein Center to see what some of the new pieces of Kevin McGuff’s team look like.
There was Ava Watson, the new starter on the wing, while freshmen post players Adriana Diaz and Sydney Mobley made their debuts in potentially important roles off the bench.
While Watson, who averaged 7.2 points per game last season, had a tough night shooting (2 for 12, including 2 for 10 from 3-point range), both young forwards had their moments.
Diaz was the first off the bench and quickly showed she has an interesting game. A Spanish native, she is a heady passer whose instincts for the game are immediately noticeable.
Mobley made a more tangible impact with 14 points and 7-for-11 shooting. A 6-2 freshman who should be a senior at Big Walnut High School, looked nimble and aggressive around the basket.
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Diaz and Mobley could be major assets for a team that lacked along the front line after starters Elsa Lemmilä and Kylee Kitts last season.
Freshman Sydney Mobley clears out Flames defender Julia Coleman, demonstrating a strong presence in the post while scoring 14 points off the bench in her collegiate debut.
“AD really knows how to play,” McGuff said. “I think she she makes the people around her better with her IQ and her passing and her grasp of the offense. And she’s gonna make 3s. She just seems a little a little nervous, but you can see her shot is good so when she makes those shots, she’ll also help us space the floor. And in the Sydney, she’s got great instincts with the ball in her hands and especially around the rim. She finds a way to get in the basket.
“Hopefully we can be a little deeper in that area with the 4 and the 5 than we have been in the past. That’s been a little bit of an Achilles’ heel for us, you know, just from rebounding and defensive standpoint around the rim so so hopefully they can they can help us with that and then and then also score the ball a little bit.”
As for the mainstays from last year’s squad that finished 27-8 and tied for fourth in the Big Ten standings, Jaloni Cambridge looked like Jaloni Cambridge.
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The Big Ten’s leading scorer last season finished with 22 points and dished out three assists. She also had nine rebounds despite standing just 5-7.
Kylee Kitts puts up a floater over Flames’ defender Tutu Clayton.
Older sister Kennedy Cambridge played her usual strong floor game with six rebounds, three steals and a block, but she also looked more aggressive on the offensive end and finished with 10 points.
The 6-6 Lemmilä scored 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. She missed only one of her five shots from the floor and blocked three shots.
Kitts, like just about everyone else who saw the floor, had some struggles finishing around the rim, but she still managed seven points and nine rebounds.
They are both obvious talents, but two good bigs aren’t as good as three or four, especially in the Big Ten, something Lemmilä is well aware of by now.
“We were lacking a lot of height (last year), so having much more of that this year — we also have bigger guards, guards who can move from the 4 to the 3 to the 2 positions instead of having everybody playing all around — it’s going to be good for us this year,” Lemmilä said.
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“They can help us a lot because last year, obviously, we had three posts, and this year we have five. It adds a lot more to our under-the-basket playing and having a more full rotation and having size playing against bigger opponents. So it’ll be a great addition.”
When it’s all said and done, no one remembers what happened on Nov. 2, but you can’t get to March without going through those first four months of the season.
Monday night was a first step.
“Because we didn’t play any exhibitions, we needed to get on this court in front of a crowd with the lights on, and so it was good to do that for sure, just to kind of get this one under our belt,” said McGuff, who entered his 14th season at the helm of the Buckeyes with a 251-121 record.
“And last thing I’ll say is I told them I think last year where we started and where we ended, we made significant progress throughout the year. That’s going to be the key this year.”
Kennedy Cambridge gets a clean block to add to her six rebounds, three steals and ten points on opening night.