U Weekly. Serving The Ohio State University in Columbus Ohio

Women's basketball struggles on the road

By Eric Burch

The Ohio State Buckeyes women's basketball team has officially begun to find out how difficult it can be on the road in the Big Ten, regardless of how good your team might be.

After Ohio State's devastating loss last Monday in West Lafayette against the Boilermakers, the Buckeyes came back to the comfort of Columbus to square off against Minnesota here at Value City Arena. Ohio State did not make the visit pleasant for the Golden Gophers, dominating for the entirety of the contest, en route to an 81-58 victory.

Sophomore point guard Samantha Prahalis led the Bucks with 23 points, 10 assists, six rebounds and most impressively, zero turnovers in the victory. Jantel Lavender also added 20 points and 11 rebounds.

Minnesota hit shots early to keep it close, but the Buckeyes' breakaways controlled the rest of the first half, leading to a 55-26 score at halftime. With 5:30 left in the game, Ohio State led by 35 points before the Golden Gophers pulled it to the closer final score against Ohio State's reserves.

Unfortunately, the Bucks had to travel to Bloomington on Sunday to play an upset-minded Indiana Hoosiers team, which had already pulled an upset this year against Michigan State. The Buckeyes played well in the first half, but Indiana's defense pulled through in the second half to lead the Hoosiers to a 67-62 victory.

Ohio State spread out the scoring against Indiana, with Lavender scoring 20 points, though just three were scored in the second half, and grabbing 15 rebounds. Andrea Walker played great off the points, scoring 15 points and getting seven boards. Prahalis had 14 points and eight assists, and Brittany Johnson scored 11.

Jori Davis scored 19 points for Indiana and Danilsa Andujar grabbed a career high 12 rebounds and played great defense on Lavender in the second half, holding Ohio State to just 20 points and boosting the Hoosiers to victory.

"[Andujar] made a great difference," Indiana coach Felisha Legette-Jack said. "She was really focused on the defense. To hold down somebody as fantastic as this kid, Jantel Lavender, you've got to do it as a committee, and we decided to gang up on her and it worked."

Ohio State had a chance late, but Brittany Johnson's long three pointer went astray and Hope Elam hit two free throws to give the game its final score.

Luckily, Ohio State still holds a comfortable two-game lead in the Big Ten standings because the team just behind them, Penn State, has dropped their last two games this week. But the way Ohio State is playing on the road, it might not matter how far anyone is behind them.

Ohio State is in for a similar week as the last. The Buckeyes will be given a chance to rebound at home on Thursday against an Iowa team that is 4-6 in Big Ten play. Then, the Buckeyes will travel to Penn State next Sunday to take on the Nittany Lions, who are eyeing the top spot in the Big Ten.

Originally Published: February 3, 2010

↑ Back to the top