Box Score Box Score
COLU MBUS, OH—Winthrop's women were no match for No. 20 Ohio State Saturday afternoon as the Eagles fell 78-53 in the first meeting against the Big Ten school to begin a four-game road trip.
Winthrop will take a 1-1 record to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico next week where it will face Mississippi State on Tuesday in the first round of the Hardwood Tournament of Hope. Ohio State improves to 2-1 with its second straight victory.
Ohio State opened the game on a 14-2 run after connecting on its first four 3-point attempts and led by as many as 30 points in the second half en route to its 23rd straight homecourt victory.
After trailing 43-20 at intermission, the Eagles played Ohio State on nearly equal terms in the second half as they were outscored just 35-33 with Buckeye coach Jim Foster giving everyone on his bench a chance to see action.
Winthrop placed four players in double figures with junior guard
Dequesha McClanahan and senior forward
Diana Choibekova leading the way with 12 each. Freshman guard Aliyah Kipatrick scored 11 in her first collegiate start while sophomore guard
Samiya Wright finished with 10.
The Eagles fell behind 14-5 in the opening four minutes. All five of Winthrop's points came from Wright. All four Buckeye field goals came from 3-point distance with two by the Taylor Hill, who tied teammate Darryce Moore as the game's leading scorer with 16 points..
Winthrop kept it respectable in the first 12 minutes as it outscored OSU 11-9 and trailed by only seven at 23-16 with just over eight minutes left in the first half. Winthrop got layups by Choibekova, McClanahan and
Schaquilla Nunn and a 3-pointer by Choibekova during that run.
Over the last 7:37 of the half, OSU outscored the Eagles 20-4, including a 12-0 run to end the period. The Buckeyes shot 50 percent from the floor in the first half (14-28) while Winthrop connected on 30 percent (9-30).
After being held to just two points in the first half, on 1 of 7 shooting, McClanahan scored 10 of her team's 33 second half points as she connected on 4 of 8 FGs.
The Eagles finished the day shooting 36.7 percent (22-60) compared to 45.8 for OSU (27-59). The Buckeyes also won the battle of the boards 46-31. Wright led Winthrop with six rebounds while Moore grabbed nine for the winners.
Winthrop will depart Columbus on Sunday for Mexico. The Eagles will face Mississippi State at 4:30 on Tuesday.
