The No. 15 Ohio State women’s basketball team emerged victorious in the Baha Mar Pink Flamingo Championship with a 79-55 win over East Carolina. Jacy Sheldon led the way for Ohio State, scoring a game-high 20 points and pulling ahead of East Carolina by double digits in the second half. Taylor Thierry also played a significant role in the Buckeyes’ success, contributing 14 points and eight rebounds.
Ohio State got off to a strong start, scoring the first ten points and maintaining an impressive 21-11 lead at the end of the first quarter. However, East Carolina’s Synia Johnson led a comeback in the second quarter, scoring eight of her 14 points to bring ECU within three points of Ohio State at halftime. Despite this close call, Ohio State was able to regain its momentum and take control of the game in the second half, scoring 11 of the first 13 points to lead ECU by double digits once again.
Rebeka Mikulasikova added another 12 points to Ohio State’s total, while Cotie McMahon and Rikki Harris each had 11 for a combined total of 36 points from beyond the arc. East Carolina’s Johnson and Amiya Joyner scored a respective 14 and 12 points for their team.
Throughout the game, several technical fouls were issued, including an ejection for ECU’s Jade Tillman after a hard foul in the third quarter. However, these incidents did little to dampen Ohio State’s strong performance on court, which ultimately secured them a convincing victory in this tournament.