Late-game heroics lift Buckeyes women's hoops team to Sweet 16
COLUMBUS — Ohio State guard Jacy Sheldon put her head down, drove from the right wing into the paint and put up a shot. Dagger.
Sheldon scored the final pair of her 16 points with a floating jump shot with just 1.8 seconds to play to lift the No. 3 seed Buckeyes to their second consecutive Sweet 16. The Buckeyes survived a scare from No. 6 seed North Carolina to advance to Seattle.
Now Ohio State will face the winner of No. 2 seed UConn and No. 7 seed Baylor, who face off Monday night at 9 p.m. for the right to play the Buckeyes next weekend.
Sheldon was one of four Ohio State starters in double digits scoring. She was joined by Taylor Mikesell, who had 17, Eboni Walker, who had 15, and Cotie McMahon, who helped the Buckeyes survive with 14 points.
The third-seeded Buckeyes were able to earn two wins on their home floor for the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament before heading West for a massive Sweet 16 showdown.
But they nearly didn’t get there for the second straight game.
The Buckeyes erased a 16-point first-half deficit to James Madison in the first round and wound up beating the Dukes, 80-66, on Saturday.
Ohio State had four players finish in double figures against JMU: Cotie McMahon (18 points), Jacy Sheldon (17 points), Taylor Thierry (15 points) and Taylor Mikesell (14 points). The Buckeyes had four in double figures yet again Monday evening.
The Tar Heels needed late-game heroics to reach the Round of 32 to face Ohio State. They bested 11th-seeded St. John’s, 61-59, in the first round of the tournament, in large part thanks to junior guard Deja Kelly, who led UNC with 18 points and is her team’s top scorer this season (16.3 points per game).
Kelly had 22 points for the Tar Heels, including a bucket with fewer than 10 seconds remaining to tie the game at 69.
Then Sheldon was able to get in the lane and score a bucket of her own to win it.
Back in 2015, UNC edged Ohio State, 86-84, in a second-round matchup in Chapel Hill. That year, the Buckeyes also beat JMU in the opening round to get within striking distance of the Sweet Sixteen.
They didn’t reach that Sweet 16 back in 2015, however. And then they flipped the script eight years later, edging out the Tar Heels and advancing to the Sweet 16 for the second straight year.
