Women's Basketball
Buckeyes Take Over First Place in Big Ten with Win over Iowa
By John Porentas

The Buckeyes took a major step toward their fourth-straight regular-season Big Ten championship with a 69-56 win over Iowa (18-9, 11-5 Big Ten) at Value City Arena. The OSU win left them the only team in the Big Ten with four losses. Iowa now has five and the rest of the league six or more.

Iowa had won nine of their last 10, but were never really in the game against OSU. Ohio State (20-6, 11-4 Big Ten) took a 16-5 lead just under seven minutes into the game. The Hawkeyes would not come any closer than five the rest of the way. OSU led by as many as 17 in the second half an no less than nine after the intermission.

"We dug ourselves such a big hole in the first half," said Iowa Head Coach Lisa Bluder.

"You can't dig yourself that big of a hole on the road against an excellent team. You might be able to get away with that against a poor team or if you're playing on your home court but it takes so much energy to make up that deficit that I think it's pretty difficult. It got away from us in the first half," Bluder said.

Ohio State forced 13 first-half turnovers and converted those turnovers into 16 points. They also corralled nine offensive boards that they turned into 16 points as well to account for 32 of their 39 first half points.

"They beat us on the boards, the forced a lot of turnovers in the first half," said Bluder.

OSU senior forward Tam Riley had four of those first half rebounds and six total boards at the intermission. Freshman center Jantel Lavender chipped nine points despite somewhat disappointing four of 11 shooting from the floor.

"We were very emotional and I had a lot of adrenaline flowing," said Lavender. "I think that contributed to some of my shots being in and out."

Lavender finished the game with 18 points as did OSU guard Ashlee Trebilcock to share game-high honors. Senior guard Marscilla Packer added 12. Riley finished with nine rebounds and a team-high five assists.

"Jantel Lavender is a great player," said Bluder.

"I think she deserves to be first team All-Big Ten. Hands down she's the best player in the conference as far as a freshman. She should be freshman of the year in the conference without a doubt."

The Buckeyes have three games remaining on their regular-season schedule and now have the inside track on capturing the Big Ten regular-season championship. OSU is currently riding a streak of three-consecutive Big ten regular-season championships.

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