Women's Basketball
Buckeye Depth and Team Play Too Much for IUPUI
By John PorentasNo. 3 Ohio State (7-0) could not go deep enough on the bench to save IUPUI (0-5) some embarrassment.
Don't take that wrong. It's not so much that IUPUI is totally inept, it's just that the Buckeyes are so incredibly deep this year, and nothing illustrates that better than the box score in OSU's 88-33 win over the Jaguars in the first round of the Buckeye Classic. OSU star Jantel Lavender had one of the worst shooting days of her Buckeye career, making just five of 15 from the field, and you would think that with that kind of shooting from their star, a team might struggle a little.
Not this team. What they lacked in production from Lavender was more that offset by a parade of talent off the bench that simple overwhelmed IUPUI. With five minutes left to play the Jaguar players were gasping for air, trying just to minimize the carnage. The Buckeyes? They were bringing in wave after wave of talented athletes. IUPUI had less chance than a bunch of Michigan fans matching wits with Tony Gerdeman. It was that one-sided.
And that revealing box score? Every Buckeye who played scored. No Buckeye scored over 12 points, but three reached double figures. Lavender and Samantha Prahalis each had 12 and senior guard Shavelle Little, who is knows more for her defense and has been named the Big Ten defensive players of the year twice, scored 10. Two more Buckeyes, guards Taylor Hill and Brittany Johnson, scored nine and forward Sarah Schultze eight in the consummate team effort. Foster saw a silver lining in his team's performance on a night when Lavender was not her usual self.
"We (now) know we can play well when Jantel is not playing as well as she is capable. That's good to know," said Foster.
Foster was also pleased that his team did not lose focus or intensity even when the score got out of hand and he substituted freely.
"I was encouraged by our defensive intensity," he said. "We played defense the entire 40 minutes."
As much as anything else, however, Foster also liked his team's scoring balance, team play and efficiency no matter what the lineup.
"It speaks for the unselfishness of this group," he said. "Kids aren't coming in trying to get theirs."
Game Notes:
* Sophomore sensation point guard Samantha Prahalis registered a double-double with CC points and XX assists.
* The Buckeyes scored 18 points off 15 turnovers by the Jaguars. IUPUI scored no points of OSU turnovers.
* The Buckeyes registered 23 assists in scoring 33 baskets and had just six turnovers. IUPUO had three assists and and 29 turnovers.
* The Buckeyes will meet Cal in the tournament final tomorrow at St. John Arena. Cal defeated Southern University to advance to the tournament title game.
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