By IlliniGuys Staff

December 8, 2024

Freshman Berry Wallace returned from injury to score a career-high eight points in 20 minutes of action against Ohio State Sunday afternoon. (Photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

COLUMBUS, Oh. - For 33 minutes and 47 seconds of their Big Ten opening tilt at 12th ranked Ohio State, #21 Illinois was the better team, outscoring their hosts who came in having won the last 12 meetings.

But that other 6 minutes and 13 seconds was the difference.

The Buckeyes stymied Illinois with a full-court press in the second quarter to turn a 25-25 tie into a 40-26 halftime advantage that they carried to a 83-74 victory in the conference opener for both programs.

Illinois was trying to open their road slate with back-to-back victories after winning at coach Shauna Green's alma mater Canisius on Monday, but couldn't recover from that relentless pressure in which they committed five turnovers and didn't make a single field goal that would have slowed a 15-1 spurt by Ohio State going into halftime.

In all, the Buckeyes scored 30 points off 18 Illinois turnovers in the first Top 25 matchup between the two programs since February, 1987.

Genesis Bryant scored 10 of her team-high 22 points in the fourth quarter when the Illini tried to rally, but also committed six turnovers. Kendall Bostic recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Brynn Shoup-Hill grabbed 11 boards before fouling out.

Jasmine Brown-Hagger provided a spark off the bench with 14 points and Ohio native Berry Wallace scored eight in a reserve role. The five-star prospect out of Springfield, Ohio hadn't played since a three-minute stretch in the season-opening win over Florida State on November 7th, but saw 20 minutes of action in her return from injury.

Aside from the turnovers, misfiring from point-blank range hurt the Illini, as they missed 19 of 32 layup attempts. Ohio State, conversely, converted on 18 of 23 from inside.

Cotie McMahon led Ohio State (8-0, 1-0 in Big Ten conference) with 25 points.

Illinois (7-2, 0-1 in Big Ten) now returns home for the rest of December, hosting Bradley Thursday night (8pm, BTN+).