No. 8 Ohio State women lose big lead to No. 20 Maryland, fall 76-75

On Sunday on a warm winter day in Columbus, the No. 8 Ohio State women’s basketball team returned to the court for the first time in a week. It was a top-20 matchup against the No. 20 Maryland Terrapins, a side that the Buckeyes defeated handedly on Jan. 11, 2026, in College Park, Maryland. This time around, the Buckeyes had a 15-point second quarter lead but could not hold it. Maryland erased the lead early in the fourth quarter and carried cold Ohio State shooting to a late 76-75 Terrapins victory.

First quarter

Before the game, Ohio State honored point guard Jaloni Cambridge for her 1,000th career point, scored against the Oregon Ducks one week ago. It took the guard 54 games to reach the milestone. Before Cambridge, guard Kelsey Mitchell hit the mark in 41 games, early in her sophomore season. Mitchell then hit 2,000 points at 79 games.

From the jump, Maryland showed it would try to speed the game up when point guard Oluchi Okananwa received the jump ball and made a beeline to the basket. It was a peculiar game plan because the Buckeyes are known for their speed, and it worked about as expected. Ohio State went up 13-3 quickly and hit its first four shots from beyond the arc.

Maryland battled back and went on a 10-point run, which cut the Buckeyes’ lead down to five points, but it did not last. Guard Chance Gray hit a three, her third of the quarter, to end the run, followed by five points from Jaloni Cambridge. The final came at the buzzer of the first quarter. Seeing that the clock would soon expire, Jaloni Cambridge hit a deep three-point basket to give the Buckeyes a 28-15 lead headed into the second quarter.

Second quarter

If the first quarter was a speed skating race, the second quarter was a curling match. After scoring runs took over the first 10 minutes, Maryland and Ohio State traded baskets in the second quarter, and part of the reason is the Terps, who decided to slow the game down.

Neither side hit more than three baskets in a row, and the 15-point lead at the end of the first quarter ended with another 15-point lead. Part of the reason for the Ohio State lead was a 12-6 rebounding margin in the first quarter. In the second, Maryland took its turn doubling up the other side on the boards with 14 to Ohio State’s seven.

However, those extra possessions did not end in extra points on the scoreboard. Maryland shot 5-for-18 in the second period and made one of its five attempted shots from beyond the arc. Ohio State shot 42.9% and hit half of its three-point attempts, which made the difference to maintain the double-digit lead.

Third quarter

Normally, after halftime, the Buckeyes identify an issue and work on correcting it in the second half. The rebounding issues of the second quarter were not remedied for Ohio State early in the third quarter, which gave the Terrapins a door to cut into the lead. After three minutes of the second half, Maryland had a 6-1 rebounding margin, and the 15-point lead for Ohio State was cut down to 10 points, which prompted a timeout for head coach Kevin McGuff.

Out of the timeout, guard Kennedy Cambridge went for a loose ball in front of the Maryland bench, and in the process, a Terrapin player stepped on the redshirt junior’s ankle. Cambridge needed to be carried off the court and into the locker room for additional medical attention.

Kennedy Cambridge returned within three game minutes, which were extended due to a lot happening on the court. Initially, it was a review of the out-of-bounds call that happened during Kennedy Cambridge’s injury. As the guard was carried off, she appeared to tell her teammates on the court to look at it. Then, Okananwa went to the basket, and her elbow hit Jaloni Cambridge in the face in the process. Referees looked at it for a potential upgrade, but it was deemed a common foul.

The guard’s return did not give the Buckeyes any real spark as the Terps scored 12 of the last 19 points of the quarter to cut the Ohio State lead to three points at the end of the quarter.

Fourth quarter

Maryland earned its first lead of the game since the first basket of the game with an eight-point run to start the quarter. That gave the Terrapins a five-point lead with 7:29 left on the clock in the game. Ohio State tried to establish an inside game on offense, but the Maryland interior defense was too much for center Elsa Lemmilä early in the period. The Finnish center missed her first two baskets of the quarter and had four points through three quarters up to that point.

It was not only missed baskets, but Maryland shots began to land. From the end of the third quarter through the start of the fourth, the Terrapins went 5-for-7 from the floor. At the same time, Ohio State went 2-for-8.

The Terrapins stretched the lead to nine points before the Buckeyes’ offense started to hit shots. Ohio State went three of five attempts from the floor, and the Terps stopped hitting deep shots. Up until that point, Maryland had seven shots from beyond the arc in the second half, compared to three total in the first 20 minutes.

Ohio State trimmed the lead down to four points with 2:51 remaining and looked like it was about to force a shot clock violation on Maryland. However, guard Saylor Poffenbarger hit a deep three-point shot with seven-tenths of a second left on the clock to make any attempted comeback more difficult.

McGuff’s side needed to stop the Terps and get a rebound, but Maryland did not allow that to happen for most of the last three quarters. Maryland out-rebounded the Buckeyes 45-29 and took 15 more shots off that advantage. With just over a minute left in the quarter, Chance Gray got a rare rebound for the Buckeyes but clashed with Okananwa in the process. Gray pushed the Maryland guard, and it required a review from the officials. Gray and Okananwa each received flagrant fouls after the Maryland guard used “unsporting language,” according to the official review.

That meant Okananwa fouled out of the game with it her fifth of the day. The Buckeyes had 1:01 remaining to try to make up a five-point deficit. Guard Ava Watson wiped three of those points away with a three-pointer at the top of the arc. On defense, the Buckeyes stopped the Terrapins from scoring, and Kennedy Cambridge got the rebound and a trip to the line to potentially tie the game. The guard missed bot,h and Maryland got the ball with 28.2 seconds remaining.

On the inbound pass, Maryland’s Poffenbarger held the ball too long thanks to defensive pressure from the Buckeyes and a loud arena. Ohio State had the final possession, missed two shots, and forward Kylee Kitts had the chance to tie the game from the free-throw line. Kitts made one of two, and the Buckeyes tried to rush a shot, but Maryland grabbed the rebound and missed two free throws on the subsequent foul. Jaloni Cambridge had a chance to win the game at the buzzer, but missed the midrange effort.

Number of the game: 19

That is the lead Ohio State built in the second quarter. The Buckeyes’ offense looked strong in the first half on Sunday, but slowed down in the second half. It is the biggest blown lead for Ohio State this season.

Key performers

Ohio State

Jaloni Cambridge: 29 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists

Maryland

Oluchi Okananwa: 17 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists
Saylor Poffenbarger: 13 points, 11 rebounds

Up Next

Ohio State is on the road this week. On Wednesday, the Buckeyes are in Minneapolis to face the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Although they are unranked, the Golden Gophers sit 10th in the NCAA’s NET rankings and entered this weekend on a seven-game winning streak.

Then the Buckeyes are back at home a week from Sunday when the USC Trojans are in Columbus for the 2:00 p.m. ET tip. It is the third season in a row that Ohio State will face the Trojans, and both ended in defeats for the Buckeyes.

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