Constantly battered driving to the basket by a West Virginia team determined to slow her down, Mitchell also made was 18 of 22 shots from the foul line as the Ohio State moved to the Sweet 16 round for the eighth time.
“She’s obviously very difficult to guard,” Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff said. “She handles the ball and has got speed and quickness like nobody else in college basketball. West Virginia’s a great team. They’re a really good defensive team, but think we were able to play in transition and just play with enough spacing to give her opportunities to drive the ball.”
As the game wound down, the only one who could stop Mitchell was Mitchell herself, as she managed to miss 11 consecutive shots. She was just 5-for-20 from the field in the second half, including missing 10 of 11 in the fourth quarter.
“Just a little fatigue settled in,” said Mitchell, a Princeton High School graduate. “(I) lost a little focus as far as keeping my eye on the glass and finishing the easy baskets. I think my teammates did a good job of picking me up, though.”
Forward Shayla Cooper added 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Buckeyes, who will play either Arizona State or Tennessee on Friday in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Despite Mitchell’s explosion, the determined — and larger — Mountaineers kept it from getting out of hand, out-rebounding the Buckeyes 46-37 and scoring 36 points in the paint. Bria Holmes led West Virginia with 21 points, Tynice Martin had 16 points and 10 rebounds while Teana Mudrow added 15 points.
The Buckeyes’ defense forced 27 West Virginia turnovers, leading to 40 of their points. Ohio State turned the ball over just nine times.
“I feel like we were just rushing some things, and we should have slowed down,” Holmes said. “The momentum of the game was up.”
The game was knotted at 39 at the end of the first half, with Mitchell picking up 20 points. The Buckeyes led by five heading into the fourth quarter. With Mitchell in a scoring drought, the Mountaineers were only three points behind with 27 seconds left in the game, but they were forced to foul, and Ohio State pulled away to finish it.
Ohio State’s Makayla Waterman, a Fairmont grad, scored two points, grabbed five rebounds and had two steals.
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