Dec. 22, 2014

Final Stats

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COLUMBUS, Ohio – Freshman Kelsey Mitchell scored a freshman-record 39 points to lead Ohio State to its largest victory over a ranked team in a 96-54 win over No. 18 West Virginia on Monday.

The Buckeyes have now four-straight and finish non-conference action at 8-4.

Ohio State raced-out to a 20-point lead in the first half and after West Virginia (9-2) cut the lead to eight points early in the second half, the Buckeyes closed the game on a 29-4 run over the final 10 minutes.

Mitchell did most of her damage from beyond the arc, hitting a school-record tying eight three-pointers on 10 attempts. She was 12-of-18 from the floor overall and 7-of-11 from the free throw stripe. Mitchell finished just three points shy of the single-game school-record and was hampered by foul trouble as she played just 27 minutes.

Junior Ameryst Alston continued her better play as of late, finishing with 26 points, six assists and five assists. Fellow junior Cait Craft struggled from the floor but grabbed a career-high eight rebounds, dished-out a career-high seven assists and totaled a season-high four steals.

Sophomore transfer Shayla Cooper, playing in her first game as a Buckeye, scored 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting and grabbed six rebounds. She also had one assist and one steal.

Freshman Alexa Hart was the fourth Buckeye in double-figures with 11 points. Hart, the B1G’s leader in blocked shots, added five more on Monday to go along with seven rebounds.

Bria Holmes, the Big 12’s leading scorer, finished with a team-high 17 points but also committed a team-high seven turnovers.

West Virginia ran out to an early 7-1 lead but when the Buckeye offense took off, it really got going. OSU made six of its next seven shots in a 16-3 run to take a 17-10 lead. The Mountaineers were a little out of sorts in committing 16 first half turnovers which the Buckeyes converted into 12 points.

As a result of the turnovers, the Buckeye lead grew to as many as 22 at 43-21 after Mitchell’s fifth three-pointer of the half. But the Buckeyes were held scoreless over the final 5:04 and WVU capitalized by scoring the final six points of the half to head to the locker room down 43-29. Coming out of the break, West Virginia scored eight-straight points to seize some momentum and sliced the lead to just eight points at 47-39. But the Buckeyes answered with a 7-0 run and retook control of the game.

The Mountaineers never got on track after that point and the Buckeyes were able to enjoy themselves the final 10 minutes.

Key Run

In a game that featured a number of lop-sided runs by theBuckeyes, the biggest was a 7-0 run early in the second half.

West Virginia scored 8-straight points to claim some momentum andtrim the OSU lead to 47-39 with 17:44 to play.

Mitchell then answered with a jumper to start a 7-0 run for theBuckeyes to swing the momentum back to Ohio State for good.

Cait Craft followed Mitchell’s jumper with her onlythree-pointer of the game and Alston capped the run with a pair offree throws.

Mitchell Setting Records Again

Freshman Kelsey Mitchell has had a tremendous start to her career andhad another record-setting day against West Virginia.

Mitchell finished with a freshman school-record 39 points, breakingJantel Lavender’s previous mark of 36 points at Penn State onFeb. 28, 2009.

Mitchell also tied a school-record with eight three-point fieldgoals. Marscilla Packer and Caity Matter (twice) each previously madeeight three-pointers in a game.

Mitchell played just 27 minutes as she was hampered by foul troublemost of the game.

Just What We Needed

Sophomore transfer Shayla Cooper was eligible to play for the first time on Mondayand she certainly made her presence felt.

Cooper hit her first shot attempt and finished the game with 13points on 6-of-8 shooting.

The Norcross, Ga., native played 24 minutes and also pulled-downsix rebounds.

First Half Turnovers

The Buckeyes were able to take advantage of some sloppy play bythe Mountaineers in the first half to build a lead.

West Virginia committed 16 turnovers in the first half which led to12 points for the Buckeyes.

The Mountaineers finished the game with a season-high 26 turnovers.

Scoring on the Mountaineers

West Virginia has given up 90 points in a game just twice inthe last five years and both have been in Columbus.

In addition to Monday’s 96 points, the Buckeyes also scored 92points in a 92-69 victory in the preseason WNIT on Nov. 19,2009.

Kelsey Mitchell’s eight three-point field goals was an opponentrecord for the Mountaineers.

Up Next…

Ohio State has finished non-conference play at 8-4 and willdive into Big Ten action next Monday when it heads to College Park,Md., to take on newcomer Maryland.

Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. from the Comcast Center.

The game will be shown live on the Big Ten Network.