COLUMBUS, Ohio — The latest edition of the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry on Wednesday night was an instant classic, a thrilling, messy, back-and-forth contest that ended in chaotic fashion over the final five and a half minutes of game action.

No. 8 Michigan surrendered a fourth-quarter lead, making a crucial mistake in the final second of regulation, then rallied to beat No. 13 Ohio State in overtime, 88-86.

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The Wolverines (23-5) led by three points with less than a second on the clock when Brooke Quarles Daniels fouled Ohio State star guard Jaloni Cambridge on a 3-point shot. The 81% free-throw shooter made all three of her attempts to send the game into overtime.

From there, Ohio State (23-6) kept the momentum — something it had struggled to do since taking a 14-point lead late in the first quarter — building an eight-point lead with 1 minute and 33 seconds left in overtime. But a turnover by Chance Gray gave Michigan life, and the Wolverines rallied back to tie the score with 18 seconds left.

Ohio State’s chance for another marquee win remained alive, but instead of working the clock for a last shot, the Buckeyes’ Bryn Martin launched a 3-point attempt. She missed, giving Michigan the ball with eight seconds left.

Michigan’s Olivia Olson, who led all scorers with 31 points, made a contested layup to send Michigan home with its second win over a ranked opponent in three games.

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Prospects for both teams moving forward

The shot from Olson not only saved a Michigan team that led by nine in the fourth quarter, but it also rinsed away the bad taste of last weekend’s loss at Iowa.

Before the Iowa loss, Michigan had an outside chance at earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. It would’ve needed help from some of the higher-ranked teams, but the opportunity was there. The loss to the Hawkeyes hurt those chances, but beating Ohio State, which is fighting to host the first two rounds of the tournament at home, is a step in the right direction. The Wolverines would still need to beat Maryland to end the season and make a run in the Big Ten tournament to earn a chance at a 1-seed. It’s more likely that Michigan ends up as a 2-seed, and if that’s the case, beating rival Ohio State will go a long way toward locking that in.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes are in desperation mode as they hope to host the first two rounds for the fourth straight postseason. Those chances, though, have slipped mightily since they were ranked as the No. 9 team when the initial top-16 seedings were revealed on Feb. 14. Since then, Ohio State has lost at Minnesota and at home to Maryland and Michigan.

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Ohio State will end the regular season at No. 15 Michigan State, and a win would boost the resume. But without a deep Big Ten tournament run, the Buckeyes will be nervous leading up to the announcement of the host sites on Saturday, March 14.

Wednesday’s thriller wasn’t the cleanest game of this rivalry, not with two double-digit leads blown, four players fouling out, and poorly timed fouls and turnovers, but it will go down in the record books as one of the most entertaining.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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