Nov. 24, 2017

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LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Kelsey Mitchell scored a season-high 34 points and became the NCAA’s DI all-time three-point leader as the Buckeyes rolled to a 104-62 victory over Florida Gulf Coast on Friday night in the semifinals of the Play4Kay Showcase.

Mitchell was an impressive 7-of-11 from long range and also had six rebounds and three assists. She passed UConn’s Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis who made 398 career three-pointers. Mitchell now has 402 in her career.

The win sends the Buckeyes (6-1) to Saturday’s championship game where they face the winner of Stanford and Belmont who played late Friday night in the second semifinal. The loss was the first of the season for FGCU which falls to 6-1.

Linnae Harper also had a solid shooting night, going 8-of-12 from the floor and finishing with 17 points. Stephanie Mavunga followed her career night with a 14-point, 5-rebound and 3-assist game.

Senior Asia Doss was the fourth Buckeye in double-figures with 10 points and a career-high eight assists with zero turnovers.

As a team, the Buckeyes shot a season-best 58 percent from the floor and were 14-of-24 from long range for 58.3 percent. They also dished-out 20 assists for the first time this season.

Like it did on Thursday against Memphis, Ohio State took control of the game from the very start with a 24-0 run in the first quarter. That broke an early 6-6 tie and OSU would lead 32-9 at the end of the first. Mitchell made three three-pointers in that run to tie the record and the Buckeyes made five threes in the quarter.

Mitchell then became the all-time leader on her own with three more triples in the second quarter as the Buckeyes built a lead of 51-14. The Eagles would make seven of their final nine shots in the quarter, including 5-of-7 from deep to cut the lead to 58-34 at halftime.

At the start of the third quarter, the Eagles looked to continue their hot three-point shooting as they made two of their first three from deep but wouldn’t make another the rest of the quarter as the Buckeye defense stepped up. Mitchell had eight more points in the third and OSU pushed the advantage to 85-49.

This was the third all-time meeting between Ohio State and Florida gulf Coast and all three have come in the last four years in Thanksgiving weekend tournaments. The Buckeyes won at the Paradise Jam in 2014 and then again last year at the Gulf Coast Showcase.

The championship game is set for an 11 p.m. ET tip on Saturday evening.