Lavender Leads No. 15 Ohio State Past Michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—For 30 minutes Thursday, Michigan thought they had a shot at upsetting No. 15 Ohio State.

The Buckeyes defense had different ideas, though.

Ohio State held Michigan to five points in the final 10 minutes and held on to their Big Ten lead with a 52-44 victory.

“I thought we got really aggressive in the last 10 minutes and that won us the game,“ said Ohio State coach Jim Foster. “It is easy to play on nights when the offense is flowing, but it is your defense that wins games like this.“

Michigan had the ball with three minutes left, trailing 46-44, but Shavelle Little’s steal lead to a Brittany Johnson 3-pointer and the Wolverines never recovered.

“I thought we did a good job against their ball pressure, but Little got that one steal just when they needed it,“ Michigan coach Kevin Borseth said. “That led to the three, and that really hurt us.“

With a smaller team than the Buckeyes, Michigan was forced to rely on the outside shot, but hit just 2-of-20 3-pointers, missing 11 of 12 in the second half.

“They were taking things away inside, but they left us a lot of open outside shots, and we went 2-for-20,“ Borseth said. “If we make three more - just five of 20 - we’re in good shape, but you aren’t going to beat too many teams with 44 points.“

Jantel Lavender scored 17 points and Johnson added 13 for the Buckeyes (17-3, 8-1 Big Ten), who beat Michigan for the second time in five weeks.

“We knew that they’ve beaten a lot of good teams at home, so it wasn’t going to be easy,“ Lavender said. “We couldn’t get our offense going, but Brittany’s three really picked us up.“

Courtney Boylan and Melinda Queen scored 10 points each for Michigan (9-12, 2-8), which lost its sixth straight.

“I thought we played well tonight, but I’ll tell you what it means tomorrow,“ Borseth said. “I want to see how they show up for practice after six straight losses. If they have fire in their eyes, we might be getting somewhere.“

The Wolverines only shot 27 percent in the first half, but took a 23-22 lead at halftime by forcing 12 turnovers by the Buckeyes. Michigan also went 8-for-11 from the free-throw line, while Ohio State made the only shot they took.

The teams traded the lead for the first 10 minutes of the second half, with Ohio State’s turnovers preventing them from pulling away.

The Buckeyes defense tightened up midway through the final period, though. They held Michigan without a point for nearly five minutes and built a 46-39 lead.

Boylan scored the next five points, but Johnson answered with her 3-pointer to make it 49-44 and the Buckeyes sealed the game from the free-throw line. Ohio State was 16-for-20 from the line in the second half, while Michigan didn’t get a single attempt.

“Free throws are a big part of our game,“ Foster said. “It wasn’t there in the first half, but we were able to make it happen in the second half. I think they might have gotten a little fatigued, and that’s when teams start reaching and fouling.“