Women's Basketball: WVU Falls at Ohio State
November 19, 2009 09:03 PM | General
November 19, 2009
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| Liz Repella |
COLUMBUS, OHIO - Jantel Lavender scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead third-ranked Ohio State to a 92-69 victory over West Virginia Thursday night in a preseason NIT semifinal game at Value City Arena in Columbus.
Samantha Prahalis and Tayler Hill added 14 points each for the Buckeyes, now 4-0 on the season.
Ohio State scored the first 17 points of the game and led by 19 twice early before West Virginia finally found its shooting touch.
A 3 from the wing by Repella, a bucket inside by Campbell, another 3 from the wing by Repella and an Ali leaner in the paint cut the Buckeyes’ lead to 13, 27-14.
West Virginia got the deficit down to 10, 27-17, on Repella’s third 3 of the first half, but Ohio State scored the next 13 points to push its lead back out to 19, 38-19.
The Buckeyes led at halftime 44-24.
"It was definitely not the start we wanted," said West Virginia coach Mike Carey. "Ohio State was more aggressive and they just outplayed us. That's why they are #3 in the country. We want to be more aggressive as we go forward. It was definitely something to build on and it was a game we wanted to play."
The Mountaineers had another productive stretch midway through the second half, whittling Ohio State’s lead from 29 down to 14 that included consecutive baskets by Repella, Ali, Miles and Bussie.
The Buckeye lead was 15 at the 10:00 minute mark before a 24-8 run put the Mountaineers away.
Liz Repella led all scorers with 23 points for the Mountaineers. The junior was 7 of 15 shooting, including 5 of 7 from 3-point range. Repella came into the game just 3 of 18 from behind the arc in West Virginia’s two victories this year against Towson and Marist.
Vanessa House contributed 12 points and six assists off the bench, while Sarah Miles finished with 10.
Ohio State shot 60.3 percent from the floor (35 of 58) and made 16 of 21 from the line.
It was Ohio State’s 96th victory in its last 97 regular season games against unranked teams at home. The Buckeyes have now won all 10 meetings against the Mountaineers.
Ohio State will face Oklahoma State in the preseason NIT championship game.
West Virginia (2-1) returns to action next Tuesday night at Duquense.
