U Weekly. Serving The Ohio State University in Columbus Ohio

Buckeyes falter in Big Ten

By Eric Burch

After dominating play for the last month and a half, the Ohio State Buckeyes women's basketball team finally fell apart in the last week, struggling against Michigan and falling for the first time in conference play at Purdue.\

Ohio State faced Michigan in Ann Arbor last Thursday. After winning by a slim 59-56 margin in Columbus earlier this season, the Bucks knew that they were in for a fight on the road. They just didn't know how much of a struggle they were in for.

Michigan led 17-12 to start the game and had a 19-2 run in the second half, giving them a lead a big as seven points with 11:29 remaining. But the Buckeyes fought back and fended off two offensive chances in the last 15 seconds to hold off the Wolverines 58-56. Ohio State team has not lost to Michigan since 1999, a streak of 14 straight wins.

Jantel Lavender led the Buckeyes in scoring with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Samantha Prahalis had 13 points and nine assists. Andrea Walker came off the bench to contribute four points and nine rebounds.

That win made Ohio State the first team in the country with 20 wins at 20-1. The win also made Coach Jim Foster 11-0 in his career coaching against Michigan.

Carmen Reynolds led Michigan with 20 points.

Next up for Ohio State was one of their toughest tests of the season: going up against Purdue at Mackey Arena on primetime television. The test proved to be tougher than the Buckeyes could handle, as they fell 63-61.

Ohio State opened up the game on a 16-0 run, but Purdue fought back to just a 32-29 deficit at halftime. Purdue took a lead early in the second half and held onto it for most of the half. Every time the Buckeyes fought back, the Boilermakers had an answer. However, Ohio State did give themselves a chance near the end.

The Bucks trailed 63-58 with 13 seconds remaining, but after a Prahalis three pointer and a missed three throw from Brittany Rayburn, Ohio State had an opportunity. Down just two, Prahalis cut down the right wing, got around her defender and had a wide open lane to the bucket. With just a second left, Prahalis put up a wide open layup too strong off the backboard and watched it miss the rim entirely, handing the Buckeyes their first defeat in Big Ten play.

Purdue freshmen K.K. Houser and Sam Ostarello came off the bench to score 18 and 14 points respectively, leading the Boilermakers.

Lavender led Ohio State with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Brittany Johnson scored 16 points, including going 4-5 from three-point range. Prahalis contributed 11 points and six assists.

Ohio State now sits at 8-1 in Big Ten play, just one game ahead of Penn State. The Buckeyes look to recover at home on Thursday against Minnesota, and then on the road Sunday at Indiana.

Originally Published: January 27, 2010

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