Women's Basketball
No. 8 Buckeyes Stay Hot, Bury Wright State 84-47
By Brandon CastelCOLUMBUS, Ohio – For the second straight game Ohio State (11-1) had to play without star forward Jantel Lavender during a key stretch of action, and the for the second straight game her teammates stepped up with hot shooting in a 84-47 win over Wright State (4-4).
Trailing by 10 points with three minutes to play Sunday at Ole Miss, OSU Head Coach Jim Foster elected to leave Lavender, the two-time Big Ten Player of the Year, on the bench after she committed her 10th turnover.
Brittany Johnson drives for two of her 14 points.
Photo by Jim DavidsonHis team responded by scoring the final 12 points of the game for an astonishing 79-77 comeback win over the Rebels, and the eighth-ranked Buckeyes carried over that hot shooting into Tuesday night’s game at Value City Arena.
“We’re moving the ball better, and when you’re hot and got a good feel and you’re moving the ball (good things are going to happen),” Foster after all 12 of his players scored in a game where the Buckeyes went 34-of-54 from the field.
“When we are shooting 63 percent with as many players in the game, it’s a very good sign of execution for us. I thought the starting players played very well.”
After scoring Ohio State’s first six points, all in the paint, Lavender quickly found herself on the bench for the remainder of the first half after getting hit with her second personal foul at the 12:03 mark.
“The first call was pretty questionable,” Foster said after the game.
“We don’t like our players to play anymore in the first half when they pick up two fouls, and I thought the referees made an adjustment at halftime.”
Despite scoring eight of OSU’s first 15 points, the Buckeyes held a lead of just three-point when Lavender went to the bench after scoring her fourth basket at the 11:37 mark of the first half.
It took her teammates over two minutes to score their first basket without her, but once they did, it was like the floodgates opened on the Raiders. The Buckeyes went on a 10-0 run, keyed by Shavelle Little’s steal and layup, to take a 23-12 lead with 7:44 to play in the half. They extended their run to 15-3 on a shot by junior Brittany Johnson, who led the Buckeyes with 14 points in the half, including 10 of the 15 on that run.
“We are moving the ball better and we get quality shots when we do that. She had a few wide open shots at the top of the key because we were setting good screens. She also scored on a drive into the lane and it’s good to see her diversify the way she scores and understand how she can do that,” Foster said of Johnson.
The Buckeyes ran their lead to 44-22 at the half thanks 17 points off 14 Wright State turnovers in the first half. The Bucks shot 68 percent from the floor and went 4-of-5 from behind the arc in the half, and all of that with Lavender playing only nine minutes.
“That’s something we know we can do, something we’ve gotten better at,” Foster said of having to play without Lavender.
“It’s just something we’d like not to have to do.”
They didn’t have to worry about it in the second half, as Lavender returned to her typically dominant self in the paint. She grabbed five of her seven rebounds and scored 10 of her game-high 18 points (9-of-14 shooting) in the second half, and all without picking up a single foul.
“I just wanted to take my time and make sure to check when the double teams were coming. I wanted to basically relax more and make better passes,” Lavender said.
Meanwhile, Molly Fox, the player responsible for guarding Lavender, fouled out of the game after scoring four points in just 12 minutes of action.
The Buckeyes (0-for-2) didn’t make a single three-pointer in the second half, but neither did Wright State (0-for-5), as the Buckeyes held them to 33 percent (18-of-54) from the floor and 17 percent (2-of-12) from behind the arc.
With Lavender and freshman Tayler Hill (12 points) leading the way, the Buckeyes outscored the Raiders 56-20 in the paint and 28-5 off turnovers as they improved to 11-1 on the season with an 84-47 win.
Foster and the Buckeyes have two non-conference games remaining before they open Big Ten play against Illinois on Dec. 28. They host Alabama A&M this coming Saturday (8 p.m. ET, BigTenNetwork.com) before closing out their non-conference schedule at home against Western Illinois next Tuesday (4 p.m. ET, BigTenNetwork.com).
Games Notes:
- For the second game this season, all 12 Buckeyes scored at least a field goal. They last did it Nov. 28, 2009 vs. IUPUI at the Buckeye Classic in St. John Arena.
- Jantel Lavender passed Courtney Coleman for 10th place on Ohio State’s all-time scoring list when she scored her 14th point on a layup at 15:03 in the second half. Lavender now has 1,545 points in her 3-plus year career as a Buckeye. She finished the evening with 18 points and 7 rebounds in 23 minutes. She entered the game leading the Big Ten and ranked ninth nationally with 22.9 ppg.
- Lavender has scored in double figures in all 78 career games – the longest active streak in Division I.
- For the 10th time this season, Samantha Prahalis recorded at least eight assists in a game. She entered the game leading the Big Ten and ranked second nationally with 9.1 assists per game this season. Prahalis also has four games with 10 or more helpers.
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