The 15th-seeded University of Maine women’s basketball team got off to an impressive start in its NCAA Tournament opener on Friday afternoon, hitting its first five shots, including three 3-pointers by senior guard Olivia Rockwood, to take a 14-11 lead over second seed Ohio State at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio.
But the Buckeyes went on a 15-2 run to establish a firm foothold in the game, took a 43-24 lead into the intermission and cruised to an 80-57 victory.
The Big Ten regular season champion, now 26-5, will take on the winner of the Duke-Richmond game in a second round game in Columbus.
The America East regular season and tournament champion Black Bears finished up at 24-10 after having their six-game winning streak snapped.
UMaine is now 1-10 in the NCAA Tournament.
The scrappy Black Bears tried to claw their way back into the game in the third period, hitting seven consecutive shots, but couldn’t get any closer than 17 points.
The Buckeyes forced 13 first-half turnovers, leading to a 14-3 advantage in points off turnovers.
The Buckeyes, who have two All-Big Ten first team selections in Jacy Sheldon and Cotie McMahon and two second-team picks in Taylor Thierry and Celeste Taylor, had forced an average of 21.2 turnovers per game.
That was eighth-best in the country among 349 Division I schools.
UMaine had turned the ball over only 12.2 times per contest which was 12th lowest in the country.
But the Black Bears struggled mightily against Ohio State’s relentless full-court press and athleticism.
OSU put four players in double figures.
Sheldon led the way with 19 points, four rebounds and four assists. McMahon had 13 points, Taylor had 12 points, six rebounds, six steals and five assists and Thierry had 12 points and five rebounds.
UMaine graduate student guard Anne Simon poured in a game-high 25 points and the America East Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year moved into fifth place on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,982. Rockwood finished with 15 points and Adrianna Smith had 11 points, six rebounds and six assists.
Sheldon and Thierry had 10 points apiece in the first half for Ohio State and Thierry also had four rebounds. Taylor had seven points and four steals and McMahon scored six points.
Rockwood’s nine points, Simon’s eight and Smith’s seven points paced UMaine in the first 20 minutes.