Buckeye women rebound, roll over Hartford, 63-45

November 26, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

Jantel Lavender had 22 points and 10 rebounds for Ohio State.

COLUMBUS (AP) — Hartford coach Jennifer Rizzotti expected a struggle, and she was right.

Jantel Lavender scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to help No. 20 Ohio State rebound from its first loss of the season and beat Hartford 63-45 on Tuesday night.

“I knew coming into this game it was not going to be easy,” Rizzotti said. “Ohio State came back home after an overtime loss to Auburn and I knew they were going to play with great intensity.”

None fit that description better than Lavender, who also had five assists and two blocked shots for the Buckeyes (4-1), who lost 87-80 in overtime at Auburn on Sunday.

“We wanted to play well tonight and win a game,” Ohio State coach Jim Foster said of his team’s reaction to its loss. “You can’t make up for what you did and you have to look forward to get better and I thought we did a pretty good job of that tonight.”

Samantha Prahalis added 11 points and Ashlee Trebilcock added 10 points. Star Allen chipped in with 12 rebounds as the Buckeyes held a 40-33 edge on the boards.

“As a team we wanted to deny them, especially after a loss,” Trebilcock said. “I think we were extra pumped tonight. We wanted to go out and cause turnovers and create offense.”

MaryLynne Schaefer was the lone Hartford player in double figures with 15 points. Diana Delva had 10 rebounds for the Hawks (3-2), who upset then-No. 6 Duke 53-51 last week in the DePaul Invitational.

The Hawks are in the midst of a 10-day road trip.

“It’s tough playing on the road this long,” Rizzotti said. “To be able to face this caliber of teams in the postseason we need to learn how to play against them now. The only way we know how to get better at playing at this level is to travel to play these teams. It’s a good learning experience for our team.”

The Buckeyes shot 54 percent from the field in building a 38-23 halftime lead and never trailed again.