COLUMBUS – No. 5 Ohio State enters the 2016 Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament as the No. 2 seed after coming up short in two overtime heartbreakers in their final games of the regular season.
No. 20 Michigan State nipped the Buckeyes (23-6, 15-3 Big Ten) 107-105 in triple overtime Saturday, denying the Buckeyes a chance to celebrate a Big Ten title and the tournament’s top seed. OSU also lost in overtime to Minnesota earlier in the week.
Maryland (27-3, 16-2) secured its second consecutive outright Big Ten Championship and the No. 1 seed in the tournament with a 110-77 victory over the Golden Gophers.
The Buckeyes open tournament play on Friday at 6:30 p.m. against the winner of the Rutgers/Nebraska game.
The 2016 Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament is March 2-6, Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis. BTN will carry the first 12 games of the tournament and Sunday’s championship game will be televised by ESPN.
Kelsey Mitchell scored a career-high 48 points for Ohio State but Jasmine Hines scored a career-high 36 points in her final home game for the Spartans and Tori Jankoska made three free throws in the final 39 seconds of the third overtime to lift Michigan State (22-7, 13-5) to the victory and the tournament’s No. 3 seed.
Indiana (20-10, 12-6) locked in the No. 4 seed