Women's Basketball
Buckeyes Sew Up Fourth-Straight Big Ten Title with Win Over Northwestern
By John Porentas

Ohio State (22-7, 13-5 Big Ten) made it four regular-season Big Ten championships is a row with a 74-50 win over Northwestern (5-25, 1-17 Big Ten) at Value City Arena.

The win gave OSU Seniors Tam Riley, Marscilla Packer and Alice Jamen got their fourth set to championship tee-shirts and hats, a collection Packer cherishes.

"I just keep them," said Packer.

"The only time I wear the hat is today and then I put it in the closet. It never loses its meaning, any of them. They're all special for different reasons."

Both Packer and Riley played key roles in the win over Northwestern and Jamen, who has been plagued by knee problems, also played. Packer scored a game-high 21 points on nine of 18 shooting to go with four steals and four assists. Riley added 11 points and six rebounds.

The Wildcats hung with the Buckeyes in the early going, mostly due to some very cold shooting by OSU. The Buckeyes had seven-straight possession that ended in a missed shot, three of them by Packer, before they finally broke out of the mini shooting slump.

"I think we were too excited," said Packer of her early shooting problems.

"They started to fall eventually. They weren't off too much."

With about 10 minutes gone in the first half Northwestern held the lead at 12-10 when the Buckeyes finally started making a few shots. OSU eventually went on to establish a 35-22 half time lead.

"They turned up their game a notch and we didn't have an answer for that," said Northwestern Head Coach Beth Combs.

"I thought we played pretty good defense in the first half when they made their run, we had some hands in their faces, but they just made big shots. That momentum kind of carried into the second half and we weren't able to maintain."

The Buckeyes outscored the Wildcats 39-28 in the second half and led by as many as 22 at 51-29. When the game ended with the Buckeyes comfortably ahead they were Big Ten champs and the celebration began just as it had the past three seasons. What was different this time around was that the Buckeyes didn't dominate the league as they had in previous seasons. They suffered five losses in league play but still came out on top when the season was over.

"I think this (championship) was the most difficult because I think the league was very competitive, deeper than maybe ever," said OSU Head Coach Jim Foster who recounted the difficulties the Buckeyes overcame this year.

"When your ninth place team is over .500 (that says something).

"Ashley (Trebilcock) missed preseason, Andrea (Walker) wasn't ready until late in December coming off her off-season surgery, Shavelle (Little) and Ashley (Trebilcock) have been banged up and missed some games, we thought we were going to have Star (Allen) and we didn't have Star.

"We figured out how to do a lot of things with the parts that were available and didn't spend a lot of times dwelling on the parts that weren't available. That's really good stuff," said Foster.

"I have a tremendous amount of respect for Jim Foster and what he's done with the Ohio State Buckeyes," said Northwestern Head Coach Beth Combs.

"If you're going to come on somebody's home court and get beat the way we did I guess I'm glad it's him. I think his players play hard, I think they play through adversity and I've got to congratulate him for his fourth-straight. It's not an easy feat no matter how easy Ohio State makes it look.

"They had some tough games, they had some losses that they weren't used to and they rebounded back and won some big games. Four straight is not easy. "

OSU was able to overcome those obstacles to claim the title despite the loss of three outstanding players from last year's squad including Jessica Davenport, Brandy Hoskins and Stephanie Blanton. With the loss of that talent, Foster looked to the youth on his team this season, and his youth delivered.

"In the first half I looked out there and we had three freshmen and two sophomores on the floor playing pretty well," said Foster.

"I think our freshmen and sophomores are kind of like our secret weapons," agreed Packer.

"You don't really expect those kind of things as freshmen. They come in and hit some big shots for us, they have all season. I think that's what makes us so good."

Freshman center Jantel Lavender is one of those freshmen and Lavender recorded a double-double against Northwestern with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

The win over Northwestern also got the Buckeyes the number-one seed in the Big Ten tournament. OSU has fared well in league play under Foster but not in tournament play. Recent injuries to starting guards Trebilcock and Little may hinder them yet again, but the Buckeyes would like to make a good showing this season, particularly since they did not win the regular-season championship outright but rather shared it with Iowa.

"We don't want it to stop here. We want to make a big run in the tournament," said Packer.

"Some teams knocked us off in the regular season and we really want to get back at them if we match up with them. We're enjoying this regular-season (championship) but I think that with sharing it with Iowa we want to win the Big Ten tournament."

Ohio State will meet the winner of the Wisconsin vs. Illinois game in their first game of the Big Ten tournament. The tournament is played at Conseco Field House in Indianapolis.

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