UMaine women focus on handling Ohio State’s pressure defense in NCAA matchup

Turnovers often lead to points in basketball, particularly when one team steals the ball from the other.

Steals can lead to uncontested layups.

The 15th-seeded and 24-9 University of Maine’s women’s basketball team knows it will have to protect the basketball in Friday’s noon NCAA Tournament game against second seed and seventh-ranked Ohio State if it is going to stand any chance of shocking the heavily-favored Buckeyes at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio.

The 25-5 Big Ten regular season champions will press full-court, which has been one of the keys to their success. They have forced 21.2 turnovers per game, which is eighth best in the country among 349 Division I schools.

And they have averaged 24.2 points per game off turnovers compared to their opponents’ 17.2 points. They had 10 games with at least 30 points off turnovers.

The Buckeyes are 24-1 in games in which they have outscored their opponents off turnovers and 1-4 in games in which they have been outscored off turnovers.

Their turnover margin of plus-7.7 is fourth-best in the country and their 10.6 steals per game is 28th.

Those stats may seem scary but UMaine has turned the ball over only 12.2 times per game which is 12th lowest in Division I.

“We have to handle their press and not give them live ball turnovers (i.e steals) that lead to easy baskets for them,” said UMaine head coach Amy Vachon. “That’s going to be real important.”

“You don’t see pressure a lot in America East,” said UMaine graduate student guard Anne Simon. “There isn’t a team like Ohio State that pressures you for 40 minutes, full-court.

“So it’s definitely going to be a different level. But the coaches have been doing a good job this week preparing us and getting us ready for that,” said Simon.

“Their press will be in the back of our heads, for sure,” said senior guard Olivia Rockwood. “We have to make sure we’re smart with the ball. And we can’t rush our shots. We need to take open shots and not force anything.”

Simon concurred.

“Because of their press, sometimes it can happen that you take the first shot you get,” said Simon. “But we have to make sure we’re smart about that. We can’t just take any shot we have. We need to limit their possessions so they don’t go out and score on us in transition in a couple of seconds.”

“We have to make good decisions on offense, be strong and not let their defense dictate what we do, offensively,” said sophomore guard Sarah Talon.

Rockwood said it will be important for them to “lock in” on defense.

Simon said Ohio State is a great team and they are “probably going to go on some runs.

“But we have to stick together and believe in each other,” she said.

The players are embracing the challenge.

“It’s still kind of surreal. I’ve been waiting so long to finally win that (America East) championship game (over Vermont). To have this opportunity is amazing,” said Rockwood.

“I’m really excited. I’m really looking forward to it,” said Simon.

“This is the biggest stage in women’s basketball at the college level. We’re going to enjoy every moment but we’re out there to win,” said Talon.

America East Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year Simon and fellow All-America East first team selection Adrianna Smith have led the Black Bears all season. Simon is averaging 18.8 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.25 assists and 2.5 steals per game while Smith has had 22 double-doubles and is averaging 16.6 points, 10.9 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game.

Simon leads America East in scoring while Smith is tops in rebounds and assists.

Caroline Bornemann (7.5 points, 5.5 rebounds), Talon (6.6 points, 2.2 rebounds) and Rockwood (6 points per game) have complemented Simon and Smith.

All-Big Ten first teamers Lacy Sheldon (18.2 ppg, 3.8 apg, 3.2 rpg, 2.1 spg) and Cotie McMahon (14.1 ppg, 6.5 rpg) have been OSU’s catalysts along with all-league second team selections Taylor Thierry (11.4 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 1.7 spg) and Celeste Taylor (10.2 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 2.3 spg).

Taylor, the league’s defensive player of the year, and Sheldon led the Big Ten in steals.

Six-foot-four Rebeka Mikulasikova has averaged 9.5 ppg and 3.1 rpg for Ohio State, which boasts a 15-1 home record.

The game will feature the coaches of the year in their respective conferences in OSU’s Kevin McGuff and Vachon.

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