Taylor's Scoring Not Enough as Ohio State WBB Fallas to Michigan

The Ohio State Buckeyes couldn't hold the Michigan Wolverines' dominant backcourt Saturday.

It's been an up-and-down year for the No. 17 Buckeyes.

Despite strong performances from graduate guard Celeste Taylor and junior forward Taylor Thierry, Ohio State women's basketball (10-3, 1-1 Big Ten) lost 69-60 to the Michigan Wolverines (11-3, 2-0 Big Ten) Saturday in a back-and-forth battle all game.

This was nothing short of what to expect in a rivalry game — there were 11 lead changes and the Wolverines didn't pull away until late in the game.

Michigan got off to a strong start, holding five and eight-point leads at different points in the first quarter. But Thierry had seven straight points for the Buckeyes to end the quarter down one.

Beyond that, Ohio State kept it close until the fourth, but poor shooting propelled Michigan to a late win. The Buckeyes shot 2-10 on 3-pointers in the fourth and an overall 20.8 percent from beyond the arc for the game.

Taylor alone shot 2-9 from 3 and didn't sit a single minute the whole game. However, Taylor has been a bright spot for the Buckeyes on offense recently, averaging 11 points per game in December after a slow start in scoring to the season.

As good as Ohio State's defense has been this season, they had no answer for the Wolverines' backcourt duo of junior Laila Phelia and graduate Lauren Hansen. Phelia posted 26 points on 45-50 shooting while Hansen added another 17 and four steals to go along with a dominant offensive performance.

In the end, it was the duo who pulled away for the Wolverines win, as they combined for 18 of the team's 27 fourth-quarter points. Graduate guard Elissa Brett also had seven of her 10 in the fourth to add to the backcourt's great day.

Phelia and Hansen have suffocated opposing defenses all season, combining for 25.5 points per game, so this was nothing new for them.

The Buckeyes may search for answers in the New Year, but they will end the 2023 calendar year on a loss. With only three ranked teams ahead on the schedule in 2024, head coach Kevin McGuff may make it a resolution to beat the top player in the country in Caitlin Clark at least once.

Ohio State tips off next in Evanston, Illinois, against Northwestern Friday at 5 p.m. from Welsh-Ryan Arena.