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COLUMBUS, OHIO - MARCH 23: Hannah Hidalgo #3 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish shoots the ball over the defense of Jaloni Cambridge #22 of the Ohio State Buckeyes during the first quarter of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament Second Round game at Jerome Schottenstein Center on March 23, 2026 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images) | Getty Images
They say basketball is a game of runs, and that was especially true at the Schottenstein Center on Monday afternoon. The No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes and No. 6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish played an entertaining and thrilling game in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament’s Round of 32, which had stars shining on both ends. Both the Buckeyes and Irish went on double-digit runs at different times throughout the game; however, it was ND who had more moments, as the visiting Irish knocked off the Buckeyes, 83-73.
Both teams’ point guards came into the game as All-Americans, and both Jaloni Cambridge and Hannah Hidalgo showed why on Monday. The Buckeye sophomore finished the game with 41, while Hidalgo exited with 26 in a near-triple-double performance. The difference was that Hidalgo got help with four teammates hitting double-digits, while the younger Cambridge was the only one in scarlet and gray to score 10 or more.
Notre Dame’s victory moves them into the Sweet 16 for the fifth straight year, while the Buckeyes failed to advance to the second round of the tournament for the third straight season, losing at home to lower-seeded teams in all three tournaments.
Not only are the two squads traditional Midwest powers, but there are deep and personal ties between the coaching staffs. Ohio State’s Kevin McGuff — and his wife Letitia — coached Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey to a national championship as an Irish player. Letitia and Ivey have remained close ever since, talking nearly every day. In fact, Ivey is godmother to the McGuffs’ daughter Lily. So not only was a spot in the Sweet 16 on the line in this one, but there were complicated emotions at play as well.
Fast-paced first quarter
The first 10 minutes of action were played at a fevered pitch. Jaloni Cambridge and the Buckeyes were on fire to start the game, running out to a 9-0 lead less than two minutes into the first quarter. Cambridge had seven of those points, and Elsa Lemmilä had the other two to go along with a pair of early blocks.
After an ND timeout, Kennedy Cambridge drove to the lane to pick up her first basket to go along with a pair of early assists, extending the lead to 11-0. However, from there, the visitors started to get their feet underneath them.
It was the Irish’s Iyana Moore who kept the Irish in the game, hitting the team’s first two baskets, both from beyond the arc. Coupled with three steals in the first 5+ minutes from All-American Hannah Hidalgo, and the Buckeyes’ early 10-point lead was quickly cut to just 15-12 thanks to a 9-2 run. However, a block from Kennedy Cambridge on a Hidalgo jumper led to an uncontested Chance Gray layup to put OSU back up 19-12.
Following an Ava Watson corner-three that upped the score to 22-16, Jaloni Cambridge swatted a Gisela Sanchez bunny out of bounds to mercifully grant both teams a media timeout, giving them a chance to catch their breath. The Irish added one more bucket at the end of the period to bring the first quarter score to 22-20 in favor of Ohio State. The two teams combined to go 18-for-38 shots, with the Buckeyes connecting on 9-of-15 (60%).
Sloppy second quarter
Unfortunately for Scarlet and Gray fans, the second period began in similar fashion to how the first ended. While Jaloni Cambridge opened up the second quarter scoring with a mid-range jumper to give her a very quick 11 points on the afternoon, it was Notre Dame who seemed to have grabbed all of the game’s momentum.
Irish forward Malaya Cowels slipped in between defenders at the 8:24 mark to connect on an uncontested layup, tying the score at 24. On the next possession, Vanessa de Jesus picked off a pass from Jaloni Cambridge and took it the other way to give ND its first lead, 26-24. The visitors then extended their 8-0 run to a 28-24 lead before Jaloni Cambridge connected on a pull-up jumper to temporarily stop the bleeding.
In the middle of that run, Kennedy Cambridge took a nasty fall and hit her head on the hardwood. In an abundance of caution, the OSU training staff took the defensive stopper to the locker room. The elder Cambridge was out for a handful of minutes, but returned later in the quarter when Notre Dame was on a 17-4 run. The Buckeyes were clearly hoping that her defensive prowess would help turn the tide.
Sloppy play on both sides allowed OSU to cut the lead to 33-31 with just over 3:30 left before the intermission, but the Irish were able to keep the Buckeyes at bay in the final few minutes of the half. At the break, despite trailing 43-35, Ohio State was shooting 50% from the field (15-for-30), including 2-for-4 from beyond the arc. Notre Dame shot 16-of-36 (44%) in the first two quarters and was 2-for-7 (29%) from distance.
The major difference between the two teams was in taking care of the ball. In the first half, OSU turned it over 11 times, while ND only gave it up six times. The Irish turned those 11 takeaways into 12 points. The visiting team also had a significant first-half advantage at the charity stripe. The Irish were 9-for-9 from the line, while OSU was only 3-of-3, much to the dismay of McGuff and his blood pressure.
Third quarter comeback
The second half did not start well for the home team. Despite a pair of Jaloni Cambridge free throws, Notre Dame opened the scoring with a 7-2 run to get out to a 50-37 lead, capped by an impressive Hannah Hidalgo runner in the lane. Realizing that things could quickly get away from his team, McGuff called a timeout in hopes of putting a stop to the Irish’s momentum.
At a moment when it looked like ND could run away with things, Jaoni Cambridge connected on a straight-away triple to cut the lead to 50-42. On the next possession, she grabbed the rebound on a Hidalgo airball and raced to the other end. She barrelled toward the basket, but was fouled. The sophomore connected on both free throw opportunities, giving her 18 points on the night.
After a pair of empty possessions for each team, Jaloni Cambridge found Ava Watson camped out in the corner. A crisp pass gave the shooter plenty of room to square up and bury her second triple on three attempts, cutting the Notre Dame lead to a single basket, 50-47. Then, it was suddenly Ivey’s turn to call a timeout in an effort to stop a Buckeye 10-0 run.
Out of the timeout, the Irish put together a pair of buckets, but Jaloni Cambridge completed an old-fashioned three-point play, complete with a physical circus shot at the basket. Followed by a turnover thanks to OSU’s press, the Buckeyes were back within a bucket at 54-52. After a rebound, Jaloni Cambridge was fouled by Hidalgo. Not only did the Irish’s All-American point guard pick up her third foul, but the Buckeyes’ All-American point guard connected on the front half of her one-and-one, to take the score to 54-53 with 2:42 remaining in the third quarter.
At their best, the Irish had a 13-point lead over the Buckeyes, but Jaloni Cambridge’s heroic effort kept things within arm’s length. The Buckeye guard ended the third period with 25 points on 9-of-17 shooting (53%), including 12 in the quarter alone. While the younger Cambridge was the game’s leading scorer, Notre Dame was doing it in a more democratic fashion.
Through three quarters, Hidalgo had 16, while three of her teammates had 10 apiece — Prosper, de Jesus, and KK Bransford.
Frustrating fourth quarter
Much like they did coming out of the halftime break, the Irish opened the fourth quarter on a run. Moore and de Jesus sandwiched a pair of three-pointers around a Jaloni Cambridge jumper to extend the visitors’ lead to 64-56.
After a McGuff timeout, Hidalgo picked Jaloni Cambridge’s pocket to record her sixth steal of the game, and then on the other end hit the bucket to extend the lead back to 10, 66-56. Notre Dame began using the clock to its advantage, capped by Hidalgo draining a high-arching three-pointer with 4:34 remaining in the game, putting the Irish up 69-58.
From there, the scoring slowed down to a snail’s pace, but with just 2:30 remaining, it was ND up 73-59, OSU’s biggest deficit of the contest. From there, the Irish just kept the Buckeyes at a distance, never allowing them to close the gap to single digits.
The Buckeyes fell on Monday afternoon, despite an impressive performance from Jaloni Cambridge. The sophomore point guard finished the afternoon with 41 points on 13-of-25 shooting (47.8%). However, Lemmilä and Gray were the other top Buckeye scorers with nine points apiece.
Hildalgo ended the game with quite the impressive stat line. She had 26 points, 8 steals, and a career high 13 rebounds. Notre Dame had de Jesus end the game with 15, while Prosper and Moore both went for 13, and Bransford finished with 10.
For the Buckeyes, their season ends on a disappointing, yet familiar, note. The Buckeyes have earned the honor to host the first two rounds of the Big Dance by virtue of being a top-16 seed in each of the last three seasons. However, each of those tournaments has ended on their home court, falling to lower-seeded Duke, Tennessee, and Notre Dame in successive years.
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