BC women run out of steam in overtime
The Ohio State women's basketball team came to Boston College with something to prove. The Buckeyes hadn't lost a game this season, and most importantly, had been bounced from the NCAA Tournament two seasons ago at the hands of the Eagles.
The No. 4 Buckeyes accomplished their mission yesterday by defeating BC, 66-61, but the Eagles didn't make it easy for the team that had held all four of its previous opponents to 38 points or fewer. BC, down by just 1 at the half, fell behind by 11 after intermission, but stormed back to tie it. But the Buckeyes forced overtime, and defeated the Eagles before 2,422 at Conte Forum.
''It was a disappointing loss," said BC forward Aja Parham, who scored 12 points before fouling out in overtime. ''But we can definitely take some positives from it." Such as holding 6-foot-5-inch center Jessica Davenport to 12 points on 4-for-9 shooting, and outrebounding the Buckeyes, 48-31.
''We worked a lot on that because we knew they had a big kid inside," said BC junior Kathrin Ress, who had a team-high 16 points and 10 rebounds. ''But we definitely had it."
The Eagles, in fact, had a 4-point lead, 50-46, with 2:06 to go in regulation after freshman guard Brittanny Johnson (15 points) hit two free throws. But Ohio State rattled off four free throws and BC forward Brooke Queenan missed a reverse layup with nine seconds to go, leaving the score tied at 50 as it went to overtime.
The teams traded baskets and there were three ties in the OT, until Ohio State pulled away with 2:23 left. With the score tied at 57, the Buckeyes went on a 5-0 run, on two free throws by Davenport and a 3-pointer by Marscilla Packer, who scored a game-high 18 points, including five of Ohio State's six 3-pointers.
BC (6-2) came as close as 3 points (62-59), but Ohio State closed the game by making 4 of 5 free throws, so a layup by Johnson with nine seconds left was virtually meaningless. The Buckeyes are now 5-0.
BC coach Cathy Inglese acknowledged that her team seemed to have it wrapped up with two minutes left in regulation, but she wanted to look at the positives instead of the missteps.
''There are so many good things about the game, let me start with that," Inglese said. ''For us to play a [first] half like that, with three of your starters sitting down on the bench [with foul trouble] and pretty much being even for the game shows the attitude of the team. We were down by [11], and our players didn't give up, they went up by 4 points. Outrebounding them, keeping their field goal percentage down, those are all things we talked about.
''Certainly the discouraging part was the last two minutes, but I can't be any more pleased with the perseverance and team attitude."
Ohio State coach Jim Foster said yesterday was the kind of game ''that you look back on at the end of a long season and determine if you had a good season, a very good season, or a great season. I think these games are kind of a litmus test."
After Ohio State took a 1-point lead into the half (the Buckeyes had held three of their four previous opponents to 14 first-half points), Ohio State went on a 10-0 run to start the second half. But BC came back to tie it three times and finally went ahead, 46-44, on a driving layup by guard Sarah Marshall. Those were her only points of the game, but she had a game-high six assists.
''The last two minutes of the game and the overtime, we just played basketball," Foster said. ''I think we were happy to have a fresh start and just went out and did the little things that are necessary to win a game."
