The Howard University women’s basketball team is no stranger to big-name opponents.
That will serve them well in Saturday’s NCAA Division I tournament first round game when they face Big Ten runner-up Ohio State.
The game tips off at 11:30 a.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN2.
The MEAC champion Bison (26-7) are led by conference player of the Year Zennia Thomas, who averages 15.2 points and eight rebounds per game.
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The 14th-seeded Bison also get contributions from senior forward Nile Miller (7.8 points, 6.2 rebounds per game, team-high 83 steals) and the guard duo of Zoe Stewart (11.7 points per game) and Ariella Henigan (9 points per game, team-high 60 assists.)
The guards will have their hands full with Buckeye sister duo Jaloni and Kennedy Cambridge.
Jaloni Cambridge, a sophomore, leads Ohio State (also 26-7) in scoring (22.8 points per game) and assists (152), while redshirt junior Kennedy averages 9 points per game and has collected a whopping 128 steals this season.
Oregon transfer Chance Gray is OSU’s long-range threat, connecting on 82 of 202 three-point attempts (40.6 percent) so far this season.
Howard’s defense has surrendered an average of 60 points per game this season while the Buckeyes are averaging close to 82 points per game; safe to say the Bison will have to slow this game down to keep No. 3 seed Ohio State from running away with it.
If Howard can do that, they have a good chance of winning their first NCAA tournament game since 2022.
