No. 11 Ohio St. cruises behind Lavender’s 33

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

The past, present and future played out Tuesday night on the Value City Arena court.

Ohio State rebounded from its first loss three days earlier and made quick work of South Carolina-Upstate to win 87-55 and put the 11th-ranked Buckeyes’ full attention on a date with history in New York City on Sunday.

Jantel Lavender scored 33 points for the Buckeyes in their last game before meeting No. 1 Connecticut.

The Huskies will try to match the UCLA men’s NCAA record 88-game winning streak in the game at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

“I’m very excited,” forward Sarah Schulze said. “I grew up watching UConn on TV and now I finally get to play them. It’s definitely a cool thing.”

Ohio State coach Jim Foster lauded his players for focusing on Tuesday’s game and not what should be an electric atmosphere with an expected sellout crowd in the Maggie Dixon Classic.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that have not been looking past what’s in front of us,” he said.

The lone exception was a costly one Saturday in a 75-66 loss at No. 24 Syracuse.

“We had one blip we shouldn’t have had,” he said. “That’s a learning curve — taking things for granted and not working as hard as we should. The frustration with Syracuse was us, what we didn’t do.”

Ohio State (8-1) rebounded from its first defeat three days earlier at No. 24 Syracuse by going inside to Lavender early and often.

The Buckeyes led 26-17 when the All-American took her first breather with 7 minutes left in the first half.

She had as many points as the Spartans (3-4) at that point.

“She’s a great player,” Spartans coach Tammy George said of Lavender. “Ohio State is very good. They lived up to their billing. I’m excited how hard we played and kept it somewhat respectable.”

Reserve Kim Roach had 15 points for the Spartans but they had no answer for Lavender.

Freshman Darryce Moore (Boardman) had three points and a rebound off the bench for OSU.