In 1987, Tracey Hall showed why she is one of only two Buckeyes with her jersey hanging in the Schott’s rafters.
Look up in the rafters at the Schottenstein Center, and you will see two names and numbers retired for Ohio State women’s basketball. The most famous one is Katie Smith, the basketball player from Lancaster who took the Buckeyes to the brink of a national title in 1993, led the Columbus Quest to professional titles in the now-defunct ABL, won hardware at the WNBA level, and now sits on the bench as an assistant coach for head coach Kevin McGuff.
The name you might not know is Hall and No. 44. That is Tracey Hall. Before there was Kelsey Mitchell, Jessica Davenport, or even Katie Smith for that matter, there was Tracey Hall.
Joining Ohio State out of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Hall was not the type of freshman to join the team and let the world know that she was a phenom ready to push the program to new heights. No, Hall came to the team as a guard but had a singular focus in her 1984-85 freshman season.
“I came here to help Carla (Chapman) and Francine (Lewis) rebound,” said Hall. “Things just kind of fell into place for me.”
Before Hall joined Ohio State, the Buckeyes had two NCAA Tournament appearances and no wins to show for it. In the 85 season, Hall was a freshman starter who helped the Buckeyes make it to the Elite Eight. Despite being two inches shorter than forward Francine “The Machine” Lewis, Hall led the team with 8.3 rebounds in her freshman season and she only got better from there.
By the time the 1987 NCAA Tournament came around, Hall picked up her second consecutive Big Ten Player of the Year award. Hall did not care too much for the individual accolades, no. The Cleveland native wanted to push the program, and her team, in the postseason.
The year prior, the Buckeyes had a 14-point lead against the LSU Tigers in the first half of the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet Sixteen, only to fall 81-80 despite calling two timeouts in the last six seconds.
It looked like the 1987 regular season was going to go the way of that LSU loss in March Madness. In front of over 10,000 fans in Iowa’s Carver-Hawkeye Arena, a Buckeyes win locked up sole ownership of the Big Ten regular-season title, but Ohio State faltered in front of a loud away crowd. The Scarlet and Gray stumbled in the final four games of the season, but still won them all to earn a share of the regular season trophy with the Hawkeyes.
By the time Hall won her second consecutive award for best player in the conference, Hall was focused on the NCAA Tournament.
“Being tied with Iowa, it seemed like there was nothing else to go for. It was like someone pulled a rug from under our feet,” said Hall.
“In January, we felt like we could beat the world. I want to get that feeling back.”
In the 1987 edition of March Madness, the Buckeyes did that, and Hall led the way.
This time, “the world” meant playing on the West Coast for the first two games of the NCAA Tournament. Ohio State entered as a No. 2 seed, which would give Columbus opening games of the annual competition but the Ohio high school wrestling championships were at St. John Arena at the same time. Plus, it was 11 years before the Schottenstein Center even existed.
So, Ohio State had to travel to Southern California and they played not one but two Pac-10 teams, who 38 years later became Big Ten teams. It began with the Oregon Ducks and Pac-10 Player of the Year Lisa Landerholm. The Duck averaged 18.5 points per game entering the game and scored 17 points on 7-of-22 shooting thanks to stout defense by sophomore guard Lisa Cline.
Hall led the team with 18 points and 14 rebounds. A typical stat line for the junior guard who was not known for taking plays off or letting an opponent’s size dictate if she will go for a rebound or not. Up next though were the USC Trojans and 6-foot-6 starting center Monica Lamb and 6-foot-3 starting center Cherie Nelson.
Ohio State and Southern California had recent history in the regular season. In 1986, legendary Trojans’ forward Cheryl Miller, known in her day as the best basketball player in the world, came to Columbus and led USC over the Buckeyes in a record crowd of 10,148 at St. John Arena, 83-81.
Earlier in the 86-87 season, the two teams, minus Miller who graduated, met in the Orange Bowl Invitational in Miami, Florida. The Buckeyes bested USC 83-63 on Dec. 29, 1986, but that was early in the year as the Trojans adjusted to the absence of Miller, who averaged 25.4 points and 12.2 rebounds per game as a senior.
Since then, USC recovered and won the Pac-10 regular season title. Plus, they were playing on their home court. To make matters worse for the Buckeyes, Hall entered the game with a cold, on a day that Ohio State needed all the help they could get on the boards against the two USC bigs.
Even so, Ohio State started the game quickly and had a 10-2 lead, extending it to 10 points by halftime. USC answered back in the second half, implementing a full-court press to try and stifle Hall and the Buckeyes.
“Their press contained the tempo a good portion of the game,” said second-year head coach Nancy Darsch. “We were not able to throw the quick passes like we usually do.”
Darsch and the Buckeyes did not have a guard who could use ball handling to get out of those press situations, but they had Hall and the guard was not going to let something as little as a cold get her down.
Hall led the team with 15 points and 11 rebounds. It was not only the number of rebounds but when those rebounds happened.
“Every time we seemed to gain the momentum, Hall got a rebound that killed it,” said Southern Cal head coach Linda Sharp.
The two-time Big Ten Player of the Year grabbed as many rebounds as USC’s Lamb, despite standing six inches shorter. Hall and Ohio State held the Trojans’ leading rebounder Nelson to nine, nearly three under her season average. Buckeye’s 6-foot-4 center Teresa Dombkowski held Nelson to 5-of-18 shooting for 12 points, eight points below her average. Overall, Hall led the Buckeyes in a rout on the boards with a 41-33 margin.
With 5:49 remaining in the second half, the Trojans erased the deficit to lead 63-61 but did not score again because Ohio State slowed the game down, offensively. The Buckeyes scored 13 unanswered points down the stretch to defeat the 1986 National runners-up in their own gym 74-63.
That was the end of the NCAA Tournament road for Hall and the Buckeyes, who lost 102-82 in the Elite Eight to No. 1 seed Long Beach State. Their loss was not because of Hall who scored 24 points with 14 rebounds and 5 assists.
Hall earned her first All-American honor following the season and earned a spot on the All-Region Team for her three-game performance in March Madness, averaging 19.7 points and 13 rebounds. Hall was also the first Buckeye to grab 300 rebounds, with 305 in the 86-87 campaign. The Cleveland native is also the only guard to ever hit the 300 rebound mark in Ohio State history with only centers reaching the mark after Hall.
To this day, Hall still holds the program NCAA Tournament record with five double-doubles in her career, a mark Buckeye 6-foot-4 center Jantel Lavender matched in the late 2000s.
In the 87-88 season, Ohio State made it to the Sweet Sixteen again but lost to the Maryland Terrapins. That loss ended Hall’s NCAA career but when it ended Hall was the most decorated player in program history. In 1997, when women’s professional basketball hit the forefront following the Summer Olympics, leagues approached Hall to play, but the timing was not right for the Ohioan.
The “Tracey Hall 44” banner in the rafters is a constant reminder that the foundation of the Buckeyes’ program made the team what it is today. Now, making the NCAA tournament and competing for the league is expected. That standard began with Hall-led teams.
All quotes and game details from the Columbus Dispatch and Lantern historical databases. Statistics from College Basketball Reference and ESPN.
Catch up on all the March Madness memories as Land-Grant Holy Land gets you ready for Ohio State women’s basketball and the 2025 NCAA Tournament:
- Kelsey Mitchell’s 45-point game
- Francine ‘The Machine’ Lewis, Buckeyes’ first tournament wins
- Jessica Davenport’s perfect day
- Ohio State takes down UConn