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Women's Basketball
Lavender Carries Buckeyes to Tournament Championship in Thriller vs. Iowa
By Tony GerdemanFor the third time in as many nights during the Big Ten Tournament, the #10 Ohio State Buckeyes (30-4, 15-3 Big Ten) had to hold off an upstart opponent. This time it was the Iowa Hawkeyes (19-13, 10-8 Big Ten) they finally subdued by a score 66-64 to claim their second-straight Big Ten Tournament Championship.
Buckeye center Jantel Lavender--voted the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player--finished with 35 points and ten rebounds in the win.
This victory, however, was a little bit harder to come by than any of others this weekend.
Saddled with foul trouble, both Lavender and point guard Samantha Prahalis had to sit for extended periods in the first half. Both players were out for the last 4:19 of the first half, and when Lavender left the floor, the Hawkeyes led it 32-28.
Iowa immediately went on a 9-2 run until freshman guard Tayler Hill hit a three-pointer with 32 seconds remaining to cut Iowa’s lead to 41-33 at the intermission.
Both coaches were surprised that Iowa wasn’t able to do more with both Prahalis and Lavender watching from the bench.
“That was to our advantage”, Iowa Head Coach Lisa Bluder admitted. “But I don’t think we built enough of a lead at halftime, quite honestly. I think we should have had a bigger lead with their two guns on the bench.”
Ohio State Head Coach Jim Foster agreed.
“I was surprised that it was eight points”, he said. “I thought it would be a little more significant than that. We could not have played more poorly than we did.”
And if the Buckeyes planned to make some changes at halftime and come out with a new attack in the second half, nobody bothered mentioning that to Iowa. The Hawkeyes immediately opened the half by going on an 8-0 run in the first 1:35 thanks to two quick three-pointers and a couple of free throws.
With Iowa leading 49-33, Jantel Lavender stared at the scoreboard in disbelief.
“Unbelievable. Unbelievable”, she repeated. “I was looking at the scoreboard, ‘This is unbelievable. Something has to change. We have to get tough defensively. We have to get tough offensively. And just start playing.’”
If there was one player on the court who had the will and ability to bring about those changes, it was Lavender. Held to 12 points in the first half, she would score 23 in the second half--which happened to be the same number of points that the Hawkeyes scored in the half.
The Buckeyes began chopping into the Hawkeye lead on the back of Lavender’s domination down low, but it was a long way home for Ohio State, and they wouldn’t regain the lead until two free throws by Lavender with 3:51 to play.
Iowa then regained the lead 64-62 before Lavender tied it again with a layup with 1:20 remaining. The Hawkeyes would turn it over on their final possession, giving the Buckeyes the ball with 26 seconds to play.
It was obvious where the Buckeyes were going to go with the ball, according to Jim Foster.
“It was going to Lavender”, he said. “I didn’t have the stat sheet at the time, but I had a pretty good idea that her numbers were significant. And they were struggling to guard her. So yeah, if you’ve got a First Team All-American, you throw them the ball…if you’re lucid.”
And the Buckeyes were definitely lucid, because the ball went into Lavender in the final moments of the game. Her shot didn’t fall, but she was fouled while shooting with 1.9 seconds remaining on the clock. While the rest of her team began celebrating--including an exuberant Samantha Prahalis, who leapt into Lavender’s arms--the three-time Big Ten Player of the Year calmed her team down, stepped up to the free throw line and sank both free throws, giving the Buckeyes the 66-64 lead.
Iowa inbounded the ball and was able to get a decent look at the basket, but the shot never found its mark.
As the horn sounded and the Buckeyes celebrated, explosions of confetti rained down on the 2010 Big Ten Tournament Champions.
Afterwards, Jim Foster was more than forthcoming with praise for Jantel Lavender.
“I think it was Chuck Daly, ‘If the 2-play works, keep calling it.’ And we’re going to the well. And when she’s playing like that, you know, it’s a big ladle that keeps coming out of the well. You get rewarded for it.”
The reward this time around was yet another Big Ten Tournament Championship for the Buckeyes.
Game Notes
- The Buckeyes won their third Big Ten Tournament title and second in a row.
- All three of Ohio State’s championship game victories have been by three points or less (63-60 vs Purdue in 2006; 67-66 vs Purdue in 2009; 66-64 vs Iowa in 2010.)
- Junior center Jantel Lavender led Ohio State with 35 points. Lavender broke the Big Ten Tournament record for points scored in a championship game. The previous record was 31, set by former Purdue player Stephanie White-McCarty during the 1999 tournament.
- Lavender tied the single-game scoring record, which she shares with former Badger Barb Franke, who scored 35 points against Michigan State during the 1995 tournament.
- Lavender made the game-winning free throw with 1.9 seconds remaining. Last year, she also made what proved to be the game-winning free throw to beat Purdue in the title game.
- Sophomore point guard Samantha Prahalis recorded seven assists in the contest. Prahalis now has 38 total assists in Big Ten Tournament games, which ranks ninth on the all-time list.
- The Buckeyes finished the tournament shooting 57-63 from the free throw line. Their .904 percentage is third all-time.
- The Buckeyes tied a school record with their 30th win of the season. They also won 30 games during the 2004-05 season.
Photo Coverage
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