Women's Basketball
Buckeyes Drub Nittany Lions to Take Sole Possession of First Place in Big Ten
By John Porentas

Penn State Head Coach Coquese Washington's press conference lasted just over one minute after watching her team get pummeled by Ohio State (16-4, 7-2 Big Ten) by a score of 89-53. That's also about how long her team was in the game against the Buckeyes.

Washington didn't have a whole lot to say after her team's performance against the the Bucks. OSU took the lead for good just 1:05 into the game, going up 4-2 on a jumper by Ashlee Trebilcock. From that point on it wasn't really a contest.

The Buckeyes didn't win with a huge run that turned the complexion of the game. They more or less just continually bludgeoned Penn State (13-8, 4-5 Big Ten) with a series of mini-runs that never seemed to end. The Buckeyes led by double-digits for the first time at 21-10 with 12:50 remaining in the first half, led by 17 at 32-15 with 7:32 remaining, and led by 23 at 47-24 when the half ended. Their biggest run in establishing that lead was just six points. It wasn't a matter of of running the Nittany Lions in the ground with a killer spurt. It was more a matter of OSU administering a continuous hammering into submission to a team that came into the game with a very good resume, but left with a thorough thrashing and a reticent coach.

The Buckeyes did almost everything right. They shot the ball extremely well, hitting .582 from the field and .545 from three point range. They rebounded well, grabbing 39 boards to Penn State's 30, turned the ball over just 13 times and had 20 assists on 32 baskets, but what they did best of all was play defense, and that brought a smile to the face of OSU Head Coach Jim Foster.

"I just think our defense was aggressive," said Foster.

"It hasn't been aggressive in the last two games," Foster said.

OSU struggled defensively in their recent loss to Minnesota, giving up 79 points to the Gophers. Foster made defense the priority this week following that loss, and it paid off.

"The thing about this team is we don't overdo it with film, but when we show things that need to be shown, I think they get it," said Foster.

The Buckeyes held Penn State to .333 from the floor and just .125 from three point range while coming up with seven steals and forcing 17 turnovers.

OSU's defense was stifling, but their offense wasn't exactly chump change either. The Buckeyes showed great ball movement and ball reversal throughout the game and that led to open shots for Marscilla Packer and Ashlee Trebilcock on the perimeter. It also allowed the Buckeyes to get the ball down low to Jantel Lavender. Packer and Trebilcock both finished in double digits in scoring with 12 and 11 points respectively. Packer also added a game-high seven assists to her line. Lavender was able to put up a game-high 22 points despite every attempt by the Lions to double team her and stop her in the paint.

"Their post players were letting me get deep in the lane and once a post player gets that deep in the lane it's kind of hard to guard anybody when they get that position," said Lavender.

"They're a very good team and they played very well in all phases in the game tonight," said Washington.

"I think that starting off the game Marscilla Packer his a couple of jumpers and that kind of loosened them up to do inside and we didn't really have an answer for Jantel Lavender. She's an outstanding player and played like it tonight," said Washington completing her comments on the game.

As efficient as the Buckeyes were offensively, it was their defense that really keyed the victory.

"I wanted our defense to step up a little bit better (after the Minnesota loss) and I think we did," said Packer. "That's what we really focused on in the beginning. We weren't really worried about our offense. We wanted to set a tempo with our defense first and let our offense come with that," Packer said.

OSU has now played half their Big Ten schedule and despite two losses finds itself alone in first place in the league with a one-game lead over Minnesota, Iowa and Purdue, all of whom are 6-3 in the league. Indiana stands at 5-3 in league play, Michigan 5-4.

"This is my sixth year in the league," said Foster.

"Coming here from the SEC when I did, the SEC was so strong from top to bottom that you had to play so well, and that's why our team at Vanderbilt did so well in the NCAA tournament, because they had to play hard every game. I think this is the first year I've been in the Big Ten where I think that same environment exists, that you have to play hard in every game to win it," commented Foster.

Box Score

Photo Coverage

Return to the-Ozone Columns and Features

Return to the-OZone Front Page