Buckeyes get bulldozed by Mississippi St. in rematch

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

They remembered how it felt to lose the lead, and their season, to Ohio State in the final few minutes. Oh, did the Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs remember.

When Ohio State popped up on their bracket again, they knew they’d get the second chance that many NCAA tournament losers don’t. They were determined not to waste it, either.

Alexis Rack drove through and around Ohio State’s slow-to-react defense for 30 points and seventh-seeded Mississippi State upset the second-seeded Buckeyes 87-67 on Tuesday night to reach the NCAA women’s tournament round of 16 for the first time.

The Lady Bulldogs trailed by as many as eight points in the first half, only to use their quickness, adept ball movement and outside shooting to seize control with an 18-0 run that turned a 32-26 deficit into a 44-32 lead. They never looked back in avenging a second-round loss to the Buckeyes (31-5) a season ago.

Mississippi State (21-12) plays Florida State (28-5) on Sunday in Dayton.

“Stay humble — and stay hungry,” Lady Bulldogs coach Sharon Fanning-Otis said, referring to her postgame message to her excited players. “We want to finish this.”

This time, the Lady Bulldogs finished the job against Ohio State, which scored the final 10 points last year while holding Mississippi State scoreless for the final 6:43 in Columbus to win 64-58 in the second round.

“We were excited to get an opportunity to play them again,” said Mary Kathryn Govero, the only junior among four Mississippi State senior starters. “We believed in ourselves from the beginning.”

Ohio State’s Janet Lavender, harassed all night by Chanel Mokango, scored 17 points — many after it was far too late.

“We got outworked,” Lavender said. “They played like they wanted to advance. They fronted me and denied me the ball — all around, we got outworked.”

The Buckeyes’ fast-growing frustration showed when Samantha Prahalis tore at her shorts in anger after drawing a technical with 4:22 remaining.

“The Rack kid had a great game, they got some momentum and I think we went through a blip ... in the later parts of the second half we, between the ears, really lost it,” Ohio State coach Jim Foster said.