Miami Hurricanes Women's Hoops Pull Road Upset at Ohio State

The Miami Hurricanes Women’s Basketball got a huge 94-89 win at Number eight/nine Ohio State in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge on Thursday Night.

The Hurricanes came into the game ranked 18th in the AP Poll and 16th in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll. Just as the Men’s team did a night earlier, the win Secured Miami’s third straight win in the challenge.

The Hurricanes dominated the Buckeyes 24-8 in the second quarter to take a 41-30 lead at Halftime. This came after Ohio State closed the opening frame with a 10-0 run to lead 22-17 after one.

Miami was able to take the 11 point advantage at the half by holding Ohio State to ten out of 31 from the floor and one for 13 on three-point attempts in the opening 20 minutes. The Buckeyes Kelsey Mitchell who was named the Big Ten Preseason player of the Year shot only two for ten in the opening 20 minutes.

Four Hurricanes finished in double figures. They were led by Keyona Hayes with 23 points and Jessica Thomas with 16. Erykah Davenport had a double-double with ten points and ten rebounds. Laura Cornelius was the other ‘Cane in double figures with 11.

Miami was able to overcome a game tying three-point shot by Ohio State’s Sierra Calhoun to send the game to overtime. Miami’s Adrienne Motley made two throws before Calhoun’s heroics, but she was only given credit for one.

Hurricanes coach Katie Meier kept her team calm before the overtime:

“The score was wrong. We didn’t lose,” Meier said of the scoreboard error showing Ohio State had won the game…It’s tough, but I said, ‘We didn’t lose, y’all.’ They said, ‘We didn’t?’ I said, ‘No, the score is wrong. We made two free throws.’ It wasn’t deflating at all . . . we knew the worst thing that was going to happen was that they would tie it and we would go to overtime.”

Ohio State’s Sierra Calhoun’s three point shot at the buzzer sent Miami and the Buckeyes to overtime in a game the Hurricanes won 94-89.

Neither team scored for the first two plus minutes of overtime. The Buckeyes broke the ice on an Alexa Hart layup with 2:03 remaining. Miami ran off ten of the next 13 to close the game out.

Ohio State got back in the game in the third quarter by outscoring the Hurricanes 29-19 in the third. The Buckeyes shot 75 percent from the floor and 60 percent from three in the second half. They struggled from the Free Throw line all game, making just 15-27. Miami was 25-32 from the line.

Mitchell finished with 29 points. She was 7-11 from the floor after halftime and made five of her 11 three-point attempts for the game. Ohio State also got 17 points and 11 rebounds from Shayla Cooper.

The Hurricanes are now 5-3 All-Time in the Big Ten-ACC Women’s Challenge, including wins in five of the last six years. They return home to host Old Dominion at the Watsco Center Sunday at 2 p.m.