COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Minnesota State was defeated 6-3 by the nation's second best team, #2 Ohio State, in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association contest played Friday night at the OSU Ice Rink.

The Mavericks have now dropped seven straight and stand 5-8 overall with a 1-8 mark in WCHA action. The Buckeyes remain on top of the WCHA standings with an 11-2-0 mark in overall and conference play.

Junior forward Kennedy Bobyck opened the scoring for the Mavericks in the first period with the first goal of the game at the 12:18 mark. The Buckeyes answered in the waning minutes of the opening period with two goals and just under three minutes left to play. At 17:45, Clair DeGeorge scored to tie the game before Levis Paetyn gave the Buckeyes a 2-1 lead at 19:24. The Buckeyes rode a 2-1 lead over the Mavericks into the first intermission. Shots on goal were 16-4 in favor of OSU after one period.

The Buckeyes used the second period to score a pair of insurance markers. At 13:41, Paetyn scored her second goal of the evening before Sophie Jaques beat the buzzer on the power play at 19:59.9 to make it a 4-1 game. With that, the Buckeyes found themselves carrying a three-goal lead into the second intermission with a 38-9 advantage in shots on goal.

In the final period, the Mavericks began to mount a comeback with senior forward Brittyn Fleming scoring 41 seconds into the third period to cut the deficit to 4-2. Then, off the stick of Lauren Bernard, OSU halted any thought of that with a goal at 5:05 to make it a three-goal game again, 5-2. MSU scored one more goal on the power play with freshman forward Alexis Paddington making it 5-3 before Liz Schepers provided the Buckeyes' dagger and iced the game by making it 6-3 at with under four minutes remaining at the 16:44 mark, where it ultimately concluded.

In goal for the Buckeyes, Andrea Braendli improved her record to 6-2 while making 11 saves on 14 shots. On the other end, in her first night dressing for the Maverick women's hockey team, freshman Avery Stilwell made her Maverick hockey debut as the starting goaltender and stopped 45 of 51 shots in the loss to the Buckeyes.

The Buckeyes outshot the Mavericks 51-14 in game one of the series. OSU was 2-for-5 with the man advantage while MSU wrapped up game one of the series with one goal on two power-play chances.

The Mavericks and Buckeyes rematch on Saturday back at the OSU Ice Rink with a 12:01 p.m. face-off slated for the series finale.

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