Prahalis, Lavender lead OSU to a win

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

No. 20 Ohio State isn’t back to its dominant self yet. But it took a small step toward getting there.

Samantha Prahalis broke out of a shooting slump with 23 points and Jantel Lavender had a career-high 22 rebounds to go with 22 points to lead the Buckeyes to an 83-65 win over Indiana on Wednesday night.

They had lost four of six after climbing to No. 6 in The Associated Press poll with a 7-0 start to the season.

“We were like a boxer and we just kept getting smacked around, just one shot after another,” coach Jim Foster said of the way his team had been playing. “Finally we just got so ticked off at it we decided we were going to fight back.”

Prahalis made 9 of her 14 shots after missing 17 of her previous 21 over the last two games, invigorating the offense.

“I just shot when I was open and they happened to go in,” she said.

Lavender did the dirty work inside, grabbing almost ever rebound, blocking shots and having her way. Her rebound total matched the third most in Ohio State history.

“I was boxing out and releasing and just following the ball and it was coming into my hands,” she said. “I just kept doing the same things. I tried to rebound extremely hard because my offense wasn’t as great. So I had to compensate in other ways.”

Tayler Hill added 12 points and Amber Stokes 10 for the Buckeyes (10-4, 1-1), winner of the last six Big Ten titles.

Jori Davis had 21 points and Whitney Lindsay 20 for Indiana (8-7, 2-1).