Hart, McCoy deliver with Mavunga out

Ohio State appeared to be stepping into a sinkhole with no ladder to escape when leading rebounder and shot blocker Stephanie Mavunga suffered an injured right foot during the stretch run of the Big Ten regular season.

Logical alternatives were to give Tori McCoy and Alexa Hart more minutes, but the catches were the former was a freshman finding her way and the latter had been playing fewer minutes.

The Buckeyes didn’t have so much as a stutter-step in winning their last four games with those players, including 98-87 over then second-ranked Maryland, to get a share of the regular-season championship and the top seed in the conference tournament.

Ohio State (25-5) again will be without Mavunga when it begins the conference tournament against Iowa or Northwestern at noon Friday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Coach Kevin McGuff has been impressed with Hart, a 6-foot-3 junior from Africentric. Before Mavunga went out, she did not play against Wisconsin, played one minute against Penn State and 17 minutes against Nebraska.

“Alexa could have sat around and pouted all year because she wasn’t starting or playing that much, but she didn’t,” McGuff said. “She got better and was prepared. Guess what? When her number was called she was ready. That says a lot about her.”

As a freshman, Hart started 32 games and was voted first-team Big Ten tournament. Last season, she started 34 games and was voted first-team all-conference on defense.

“That was a big thing for me at first,” she said of not starting. “I once thought, ‘Why am I not starting? I have done all these things.’ Then I put my feelings aside for the team and decided to stick to my role, which is coming off the bench. I had to be selfless.”

In the victory over Maryland, which elevated Ohio State to as high as a fourth seed on some NCAA mock bracket sheets, Hart was special in scoring 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting and getting four rebounds in 26 minutes.

“We have to keep up the intensity that (Mavunga) had going,” Hart said. “That game was an opportunity to show the best team that we could be. My mindset has been to play hard — work my butt off — and get into position for my teammates.”

The 6-foot-4 McCoy has played 17, 22, 13 and 21 minutes the last four games. She totaled eight points and seven rebounds against Iowa and 12 points and seven rebounds against Nebraska.

“The Big Ten is hard, especially going against taller players,” she said. “I was the tallest in high school.”

McCoy admitted she got flustered when Mavunga went out. Mavunga had been averaging 11.8 points and 11.3 rebounds, and had blocked 48 shots.

“I didn’t know what to think, and it was hard early on,” McCoy said. “I was thrown out there (by necessity). It did give me a chance to show what I could do. I try to listen, learn and pay attention to details. Whatever the coaches ask, I do.”