Women's Basketball
Cat-Quick Tigers Too Much for Buckeyes
By John Porentas

"This is the game that we've been waiting on. I wasn't going to miss this game for anything. This is the signature win that we've been trying to get." Auburn junior guard DeWanna Bonner.

The No. 24 Auburn Tigers (6-0) came to Columbus on a mission. When they left, they had accomplished the mission. The Tigers dispatched the No. 15 Buckeyes (5-1) by a final of 67-58 to get their signature win. Auburn never trailed in the game and led by as many as 16. The game was never in doubt. The Tigers simply took it to the Buckeyes from start to finish. It wasn't just a signature win, it was a convincing signature win.

At the offensive end Auburn was able to capitalize on the superior quickness of their perimeter players to get into the paint for easy baskets. Guards Tamela McCorvey, Sherell Hobbs, DeWanna Bonner and Whitney Boddie were able to come off screens created by Auburn's classic weave offense and routinely beat OSU defenders to the rim for close field goal attempts. The Tigers scored eight of the first 10 points in the game to take an early 8-2 lead and set the tone for the game. Hobbs had four of those opening eight points, Boddie the other four, and all of the points were a result of quickness, either in getting past defenders or in getting to the glass for offensive rebounds.

"I think their initial burst hurt us when they were in that little weave action and we weren't switching the way we could have and did in the second half," said OSU Head Coach Jim Foster.

"Our guards were out-quicked early on," said Foster.

Defensively, Auburn's strategy was simple; take away Marscilla Packer and dare the rest of the Buckeyes to beat them.

"We really feel like Marscilla is their catalyst," said Auburn Head Coach Nell Fortner.

"She's the one that makes that team go. She's got great experience and is an excellent shooter. We were just not going to let her have good looks at the basket today, so we had somebody pretty much on her all day long.

"We tried to limit her touches and when she did get the ball she didn't get a good look. We felt like we had to shut her down, affect her as much as we could to be successful," Hobbs said.

The person who was most responsible for staying with Packer was Hobbs.

"I just stayed in her face the whole game and made sure she got bad looks, not good looks at the basket. That was basically it. That's all I did the whole night, stare at her face," said Hobbs.

Packer made just three of fifteen from the field and was 0-for-7 from three point range. For the game, Hobbs outscored Packer 21-7 and was the leading scorer in the game. Packer was also guilty of three turnovers, Hobbs one.

"I think it was more on my part just sort of rushing, them being quick defenders and and playing more tight on me I thought I had to get my shot off more quickly," said Packer.

The rushed shooting led to poor shooting, and the rest of the Buckeyes could not pick up the scoring slack. Freshman center Jantel Lavender was the lone Buckeye to reach double figures, due in at least some part to the fact that the Tigers sold out to take Packer out of the game.

"As well as Jantel played a lot of that was because they were playing so tough on the perimeter that it allowed us to get opportunities inside. They weren't going to leave our shooters to trap, so they played one on one (on Lavender) for the most part," said Foster.

The win was exactly what the Tigers were hoping for.

"We broke into the top-25 and we needed a signature win," said Fortner.

"To play a team on the road, at Ohio State in a great environment and to get the win, we just had a tremendous effort," Fortner said.

It was a very different feeling for the Buckeyes.

"I don't like this feeling," said Packer.

"Nobody likes to lose but the best thing we can do is just learn from it.

"It's early so still we can bounce back from it and see the little things that we have to do to be a good team at the end of the season," Packer said.

The Buckeyes did close to within eight with just over three minutes to play, but could get no closer. A big part of the equation in OSU's rally was a spate of missed free throws by the Tigers that opened the door for the Buckeyes, but they couldn't take advantage.

"That's kind of been haunting us a little bit," said Fortner.

In the end, it was OSU's inability to cope with Auburn's quickness and athleticism that was the difference in the game.

"I did. I feel like we have an athletic advantage over a lot of teams," said Fortner.

"Our kids can handle the ball well, put it on the floor and score. I think that's a very difficult thing to guard. One on one basketball is hard. It's tough to stop what we do and when we play it well and the shots are dropping it's nice to watch."

Box Score

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