To end its three home-game stand, Illinois fell to No. 18 Ohio State 86-67. The Illini were led by sophomore guard Aaliyah Nye earning the top scorer of the night with 25 points, which is her second 20-point game in a row and another career high. 

The Illini also led in rebounds as always with sophomore forward Kendall Bostic notching 16 and adding 12 points getting her fifth double-double of the season. 

Illinois started off the first quarter quickly with Nye getting five points within the first 51 seconds of the game.

At the 4:35 mark Tanaya Beacham took the lead for the Buckeyes, but on the next possession, Nye tied it up. 

However, from then on, Illinois struggled to gain back the early lead it had. A 16-4 run from Ohio State ended the first quarter with Rikki Harris banking a three to end the quarter 27-15. 

Second quarter saw the Buckeyes and Illini equal in scoring with 15 apiece. By the timeout at 4:35, Illinois had outscored Ohio State 8-4, however, they were still down eight points. 

Ohio State turned things around in the last four minutes of the quarter and gained back the points in order to keep its double digit lead. 

After the break, Illinois played an ugly third quarter. The Illini turned the ball over nine times, giving the Buckeyes 15 points off turnovers alone. 

“We talked about that (turnovers) being a point of emphasis is not turning the ball over,” Bostic said about the plan prior to the game.  

Nye mentioned how the first half was unforced turnovers, and they did it to themselves.

“In the second half, we weren’t taking care of the ball in the press and not helping our teammates out,” Nye said. 

Ohio State went on a 21-0 run for nearly the first five minutes of the quarter. Jacy Sheldon was unstoppable racking up eight points in the run. The Buckeyes also sailed two triples to add to the lead. 

As for the Illini, they didn’t score a lot but turned the ball over an insane amount of times. Within nearly the first 40 seconds of the quarter, Illinois turned the ball over twice leading head coach Nancy Fahey to call a timeout to regroup her team. 

However, the turnovers didn’t stop as Ohio State’s full court press put them into difficult situations. 

The Buckeyes ended the quarter outscoring the Illini 33-13, sitting with a comfortable 75-43 lead. 

Fourth quarter, Ohio State backed off a little, giving Illinois the chance to rack up points even though the win was out of reach. 

Junior guard Jada Peebles and Nye hit a combined four triples to add to Illinois’ 24-11 scoring quarter to make the final score 86-67 Ohio State. 

Illinois has four more games left before heading into the postseason for the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis. 

@AngelleCortes

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