No. 17 Buckeyes top Oklahoma, improve to 7-0

By Jim Massie

The Columbus Dispatch

NORMAN, Okla.

For three minutes of the second half, Samantha Prahalis watched from the Ohio State bench with four fouls checked next to her stat column and the Oklahoma Sooners doing their best to erase an eight-point deficit.

When Prahalis re-entered with 6:04 remaining in the Lloyd Noble Center, the 17th-ranked Buckeyes went from a prolonged stutter to a finishing purr in putting away the Sooners 69-63 in a Big Ten/Big 12 challenge game.

Tayler Hill, whose four free throws in the final 16 seconds sealed the win, smiled at the mention of Prahalis’ return.

“Really essential,” Hill said. “She is very essential. She’s a big part of the team. I need her to be on the floor. She’s our leader. She hit a couple of clutch shots at the end.”

The No. 18 Sooners had closed to 59-58 when Prahalis hit a jumper from the baseline. She fed Ashley Adams for an inside score with 2:23 to play and added another jumper after an Adams steal that gave the Buckeyes a 63-58 lead with 1:34 remaining.

“She played like a senior and used all that experience, I think, at the end,” OSU coach Jim Foster said.

Adams, a 6-foot-5 sophomore, had two steals down the stretch. Those plays were as big as the ones Prahalis contributed.

“If you lose sight of stops — if you lose focus — you’re not going to win the game,” Foster said. “You have to get some key stops. Ashley is incredibly long, and she’s got a great sense of timing. And she knows how to use her length in a very effective way. What appears to be an opening oftentimes is not.”

Ohio State had opened the game in torrid fashion. The Buckeyes (7-0) made their first nine shots and were up 17-6 after a four-point play by Prahalis at the 15:05 mark.

Turnovers, however, were about to happen, and the Sooners began to make some 2-pointers.

When Nicole Griffin scored after an offensive rebound, Oklahoma (3-2) closed to 29-25. Amber Stokes answered with her sixth field goal of the half and Hill made two free throws to blunt that comeback, as Ohio State led 41-33 at the break.

But Oklahoma turned up its defense in the second half and slowly climbed back into the game. Prahalis drew her fourth foul with 9:16 remaining on a charging call.

Darryce Moore (Boardman) and Amy Scullion (Salem) were scoreless off the bench for the Buckeyes.