Women's Basketball
Packer Leads Buckeyes Past Badgers
By John Porentas

The Wisconsin basketball team will be rooting for the Packers later on today when the Green Bay Packers take on the Washington Redskin in the NFL playoffs at frigid Lambeau field. The one Packer they will not be too happy with no matter the outcome of that game is the one that plays for the Ohio State Buckeyes.

OSU senior guard Marscilla Packer was anything but frigid against the Badgers. Packer poured in 32 points on 10 of 15 shooting from the field that included six of eight shooting from three point range to lead OSU to a 79-74 win.

"It was Packer's day, no pun intended," said Wisconsin Head Coach Lisa Stone.

"Marscilla is just a great player and she made some tough shots."

Packer's 32 points tied her career-high as a Buckeye, but wasn't the only aspect of her game that stood out. Packer also drew the task of guarding Wisconsin's Jolene Anderson who entered the game as the Big Ten's leading scorer averaging over 20 points per game. Anderson was able to manage just 11 against Packer and the Buckeyes.

"I thought her defense against Jolene, particularly in the first half, was very effective," said Stone.

The Buckeyes were in control most the way, but the Badgers were able to rally from a seven point half time deficit at 36-29 to tie the game at 46 and again at 55, but could not wrest the lead from the Buckeyes. Wisconsin's second-half rally was fueled by the play of freshman center Lin Zistrow who came off the bench to score 13 of her 15 points in the second half.

Each time the Badgers made a run at OSU the Buckeyes had an answer, either in the form of a shot from Packer or scoring down low by freshman center Jantel Lavender. Lavender recorded her 10th double-double of the season with 21 points and 11 rebounds. It was her 10th double-double of the season. Shavelle Little added 11 for OSU.

Ohio State is now 15-3 overall and 6-1 in the Big Ten while Wisconsin falls to 8-9 and 1-6 in league play.

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