Indiana to Play Ohio State in Big Ten Women's Tournament Semifinals, Star Buckeye Returns

The top seeded Indiana women's basketball team will face Ohio State in the Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament semifinals on Saturday. Buckeyes star point guard Jacy Sheldon is back on the floor after missing 23 games with a foot injury.

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Saturday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. ET on Big Ten Network, Indiana women's basketball will face No. 4 seed Ohio State in the Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament semifinals.

In the quarterfinals, the Hoosiers beat No. 9 Michigan State 94-85 after overcoming a halftime deficit while the Buckeyes shut down No. 5 Michigan 81-79 in the following game.

The Hoosiers handled the Buckeyes twice in the regular season beating them 78-65 at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in late January and then 83-59 in their second showing in Columbus just over two weeks ago.

"Honestly, they have great guards that can shoot, and they also have a solid post," Buckeyes sophomore guard Taylor Thierry said. "Mackenzie Holmes is really good. She's very physical and athletic. We just have to play our game and trust the process and trust each other and get stops and make it as hard as possible for them to score."

Holmes is averaging 22.7 points per game for the Hoosiers as the team's leading scorer. Versus the Spartans in the quarterfinals, Holmes led with 27 points despite fouling out in the fourth quarter. 

Ohio State has a solid offense of its own as it's one spot behind Indiana in the conference averaging 81.1 points per game, just 0.2 points away from the Hoosiers.

Six Buckeyes average double-figure scoring led by senior guard Taylor Mikesell's 17.2 points per game while Thierry crashes the boards with 6.6 rebounds per contest. 

Back in the lineup to present a new challenge to the Hoosiers is senior guard Jacy Sheldon, who appeared in the quarterfinals game versus Michigan after nearly a month off nursing a foot injury. She never saw the floor when her team played the Hoosiers this season and has only appeared in seven games overall.

"We play a little faster with her in the game," Buckeyes head coach Kevin McGuff said. "Just the overall pace is better. When we press, we're significantly better with her in there. Also just adds another scoring guard. She can really score the ball. Lastly, she makes everybody around her better."

Sheldon is averaging 12.9 points per game and scored five in her 12 minutes versus Michigan on Friday. McGuff said she's kind of, sort of on a minutes restriction.

"We don't have a specific number, but we're trying to just like limit the long stretches that she plays, but it's not really a specific number," he said.

McGuff added if it were up to Sheldon, she'd be playing the whole 40 minutes.

"Tomorrow you might see us fighting over there on the sidelines, so you might see her trying to put herself in," he said.

Another showstopper for Ohio State is Big Ten Freshman of the Year forward Cotie McMahon. She's averaging 14 points per game and had a game-high 28 points over the Wolverines in the quarterfinals. She's never beaten the Hoosiers in her college career.

"I feel like it's kind of personal," she said. "We're going to have to focus on the little things, guarding the ball way better than we did [Friday], kind of just things like that."

Related stories on Indiana women's basketball

• KIANDRA BROWNE INJURY UPDATE Following the Indiana, Michigan State game, Hoosier head coach Teri Moren gives a brief update on the injury status of junior forward Kiandra Browne. CLICK HERE
• WHAT TERI MOREN SAID AFTER VICTORY OVER SPARTANS Here's what Indiana women's basketball head coach Teri Moren had to say following the Hoosiers' 94-85 comeback win over the No. 9-seed Spartans in the Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament quarterfinals. CLICK HERE
• HOOSIERS TAKE DOWN SPARTANS IN BIG TEN TOURNEY QUARTERFINALS Top seed Indiana women's basketball overcame a halftime deficit to defeat Michigan State in the Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament quarterfinals on Friday. Minnesota native Sara Scalia and forward Mackenzie Holmes led the Hoosiers with a combined 47 points. CLICK HERE