Women's Basketball
Packer and Buckeye Post Players Key Win over Hoosiers
By John Porentas

It was a case of the young and old combining to make their presence felt.

Ohio State (12-3, 3-1 Big Ten) got strong performances from a senior baseline player and a freshman baseline player to defeat visiting Indiana (9-7, 2-2) at Value City Arena in front of a crowd of 3,370.

Freshman center Jantel Lavender notched a double-double, her seventh of the season, with 23 points and 17 rebounds and senior power forward/center Tam Riley added 16 points and seven rebounds to key the OSU win. Riley was a perfect seven for seven from the field.

With the suspension of junior forward Star Allen to allow her to concentrate on academics Riley has assumed a starting role for the first time in her Buckeye career. The 6-2 senior from Detroit responded well in helping to pace the Buckeye win.

"Seniors have a sense of urgency," said OSU Head Coach Jim Foster.

"They realize it's their last time through. Tam's has been a great role player for us and her role has changed.

"She's prepared mentally to step up and take that role because she stayed focused and never stopped working hard."

The game itself was closely contested throughout the entire first half and much of the second half as well. While Riley and Lavender were doing damage for the Buckeyes down low, Indiana guard Jamie Braun was doing everything possible to help keep her team in the game. Braun showed an uncanny knack for getting free off the dribble and knocked down 10 of 16 shots from the field to score a game-high 25 points in a losing cause for the Hoosiers.

"She hesitated and we would stand up on defense and she'd keep going," said OSU senior guard Marscilla Packer who at times drew the assignment of guarding Braun.

"You'd think you had her stopped and kind of relax for a second and she goes under and hits a jumper. She has a lot of different moves on her. She's a good player."

Packer contributed to the defense of Braun and also contributed to OSU's offensive output. Packer notched 17 points to be OSU's third double-figure scorer and also added a game-high five assists.

The Buckeyes went to the half time locker room leading 30-27, but the Hoosiers battled back early in the second half to take the lead and eventually go up by as many as seven at 39-32 with 16:45 remaining in the game. Their lead was short-lived, however, as OSU went o n a 7-0 run to tie the game at 39. The Buckeyes took the lead for good at the 11:42 mark when Riley made a layup to put OSU up 43-41. OSU then slowly extended the lead over the remainder of the half.

I thought our kids were resilient in their effort, gave everything they had," said Indiana Head Coach Felisha Legette-Jack.

"I thought a good team beat us today. We didn't just fall down."

The Hoosiers were competitive with the Buckeyes on the perimeter but the combination of Riley and Lavender on the baseline was too much for the visitors.

"Lavender is going to be a force for four years," said Legette-Jack. " I thought Riley really stepped up. Riley has been really peaking out."

Indiana's Whitney Thomas was the only other double figure scorer in the game with 12 points.

OSU shot a season-high 59.2 percent from the field.

Box Score

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