Ohio St. counting on star power against Mississippi State tonight

COLUMBUS (AP) — The individual awards favor Ohio State. Mississippi State is fine with that.

When the two teams meet in the second round of the NCAA tournament tonight, there’s no question which team has the star power.

The 10th-ranked and third-seeded Buckeyes have two-time Big Ten player of the year Jantel Lavender, who has led the conference in scoring and rebounding her freshman and sophomore seasons. They also have the Big Ten’s best defensive player (Shavelle Little) and freshman (Samantha Prahalis). Star Allen was a third-team all-conference choice.

The unranked and 11th-seeded Lady Bulldogs have no problem being somewhat anonymous.

“That’s the best thing to have, not like star players but like a team,” reserve forward Donnisha Tate said Sunday. “You go farther as teams than just individual players. That’s what we drive on, being a team.”

Mississippi State (23-9) finished sixth in the Southeastern Conference, then drew sixth-seeded Texas in the first round of the NCAA tournament. They dispatched the Longhorns 71-63 by hitting 21-of-22 free throws while their defense forced Texas into 20 turnovers and 31-percent shooting from the field.

Alexis Rack hit just 3-of-11 shots from the field but all 13 of her free throw attempts while scoring 20 points. Starting with 1:24 left — and with her team holding a 61-59 lead — she was fouled on four consecutive possessions over a span of 56 seconds. She made all eight.

Rack, a first-team All-SEC choice, leads the Bulldogs at 14.6 points a game.

Ohio State coach Jim Foster said if some of the Bulldogs aren’t well known, it’s because they’re new on campus rather than due to them not having the chops to earn awards.

“I just don’t think people are used to them,” he said. “You have the junior-college transfers sort of enter into your frame of reference the way freshmen do and it takes you a little bit longer to honor such folks.”

Playing before a partisan crowd on their home court — which was transported 3 miles downtown to Nationwide Arena — the Buckeyes pulled away from Sacred Heart to win 77-63 in Saturday’s first round.

Prahalis had a career-high 23 points and seven assists, Lavender added 19 points and 10 rebounds and the Buckeyes ran the floor with abandon.