Packer's 32 points pace Buckeyes' win

Ohio State overwhelmed Minnesota, 76-55.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Jessica Davenport was getting banged around under the basket in a typically physical game against Minnesota. Marscilla Packer's performance was Ohio State's perfect remedy to the rough stuff.
Packer scored a career-high 32 points, going 8-for-10 from 3-point range to lead the sixth-ranked Buckeyes to a 76-55 victory over the No. 17 Gophers Thursday night.
"It just happened," Packer said, laughing bashfully. "I don't know. Just playing."
Proving Ohio State (22-2, 12-1 Big Ten) has much more than just an All-America center, Packer made Minnesota pay for leaving her open on the perimeter.
She had 10 of her team's first 14 points, setting the tone for the Buckeyes' 13th consecutive win and matching the women's single-game school record for 3-pointers made.
Most importantly, Ohio State stayed even with Purdue in the conference race.
"I think we just flowed tonight in a lot of different ways," said Davenport, who had 12 points -- seven under her average -- and eight blocks.
Long-range success
A sophomore, Packer leads the Big Ten in 3-point shooting at a success rate of nearly 50 percent. So all those swishes weren't really a surprise. Still, it was disheartening for the Gophers to have kept the conference's leading scorer down -- only to watch someone else beat them so badly.
"When you have her at those numbers ... you think you'd win a basketball game," coach Pam Borton said.
April Calhoun, who guarded Packer most of the first half, was benched for Brittney Davis to start the second half.
Borton lauded Davis and fellow sophomore Natasha Williams, who did most of the work on Davenport and finished with 14 points, for their defense. And the team's effort was more complete than in recent losses to Michigan State and Purdue.
Another decisive defeat
But the Gophers (17-7, 9-4) suffered their third straight decisive defeat against the conference's elite -- after losing to the Spartans and Boilermakers by a combined 147-92 in their last two games. They had a chance at their first Big Ten title, but now that's a near-impossible feat.
"What I learned about this team, and what we all learned about this team, is we're not as good as we need to be right now," Borton said.
Ohio State, which tied Michigan State for last season's regular-season title, has the Spartans and Purdue at home for their next two opponents.
The Buckeyes' last defeat was to the Boilermakers, 61-59 on New Year's Day. Michigan State moved into third, a half-game ahead of the Gophers.
Jamie Broback led Minnesota with 17 points, which brought some energy to the beginning of the second half and cut the deficit to 35-29 on a pair of free throws by Broback. But Packer answered with a 3-pointer on the other end, and the Gophers -- who fell to 2-6 against ranked teams this season -- never got closer.
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