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Lady Basketball Buckeyes Tidbits 2005-2006 Season

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Dispatch

2/26/06

OSU WOMEN

Merrill has passion for passing

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Jim Massie
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

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</IMG> JAY LaPRETE | ASSOCIATED PRESS Debbie Merrill leads Ohio State with 87 assists from her power forward position.


In her previous basketball life with the University of Cincinnati, Ohio State senior forward Debbie Merrill had her job description tattooed across her forehead.
"At Cincinnati, I was only told to shoot," Merrill said. "I wasn’t allowed to pass. So when I got here and I was allowed to pass, it was a relief to pass the ball. I didn’t have to shoot the ball every single time."
In three seasons with the Bearcats, Merrill was a primary offensive force with the team and in Conference USA. She averaged 16 points and was an honorable mention All-American her sophomore year.
Merrill left Cincinnati after the 2003-04 season and joined the Buckeyes. She sat out per NCAA rules last season but was able to show her new coaching staff and teammates skills beyond scoring in the practice gym.
When the sixth-ranked, Big Ten champion Buckeyes (24-2, 14-1) play Penn State (12-14, 6-9) at 2 p.m. today in State College, Pa., Merrill will enter the game leading OSU with 87 assists from her power forward position.
"I didn’t even know I was a good passer until I got here," she said. "I had no idea. I had never worked on it. My whole time in college, all I had to do was shoot the ball, shoot the ball, shoot the ball."
OSU coach Jim Foster, she said, picked up on her ability to distribute the ball. Foster viewed it as Merrill adjusting her game to fit in with the new coaching staff and team.
"I just think it’s the philosophy of how we play," he said. "If you have a basketball IQ, that talent comes out. If it’s innate or if it’s learned, it comes out because you’re being shown another way of playing the game. It exposes skills and talents you might not have known you had. She’s got a good sense of how to play this game."
Part of that sense involved seeing All-American center Jessica Davenport, the Big Ten’s leading scorer and reigning player of the year, on the block. The 6-5 junior has been the target of many Merrill passes, but has enjoyed watching the steady expansion of her new teammate’s repertoire.
"From practice, you could see that she could pass," Davenport said. "But just going live in the first game this year, you knew it. You could see her work from the high post and drop the ball off to the guards in the right places.
"Her passing gets a lot of people involved. And she doesn’t pass the ball to people where they can’t score. She’s giving them the ball in places where they feel comfortable."
During a grueling four-game run against Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan State and Purdue, Merrill also has begun to look at the basket more. She averaged 12.8 points, seven rebounds and 5.5 assists in the four wins.
"Debbie is a pretty good passer," Allen said. "She sees the floor well. She throws that little back-door bounce pass. She’s pretty smooth with that. But sometimes she passes up shots. We’re always yelling at her to shoot the ball. But we all know she can pass it."
Merrill will continue to seek a happy medium between passing and scoring. She clearly prefers the former.
"If you have five assists, that’s 10 points right there for somebody else," she said. "I’m perfectly happy scoring whatever I’m scoring as long as we’re winning. I just try to look for them. If they’re open, they better look for the ball or else it’s going to hit them in the head."
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Sunday, February 26, 2006
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Very exciting finish. First lead came with 2.9 seconds remaining on a put back by Packer following a Davenport miss. Lady Bucks were down by as many as 16 pts. (don't remember exactly as I was flippiing back and forth) in the 2nd half.

Reminded me a lot of the men's game vs. NW. Couldn't put the ball in the ocean standing on the beach.....OSU was scoreless 7+ minutes into the game. Shot 30% in 1st half and not much better (38% ?) in the 2nd.


:io:
 
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(6) Ohio St. 61, Penn St. 59

By GENARO C. ARMAS, Associated Press Writer
February 26, 2006

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) -- Marschilla Packer scored on a fadeaway jumper with 2 seconds left as No. 6 Ohio State rallied from 18 points back to defeat Penn State 61-59 on Sunday.

With the score tied at 59, Jessica Davenport took an inbounds pass and wheeled in the lane toward the basket, but her shot bounced off the rim.

Packer grabbed the rebound and scored her game-winning basket, raising her arms in the air as she raced back on defense.

Penn State's Brianne O'Rourke missed a desperation 3-pointer, and the Buckeyes celebrated.

The comeback win sealed an already remarkable regular season for Ohio State (25-2, 15-1 Big Ten), which will be the top seed in the conference tournament starting later this week.

Penn State (12-15, 6-10) could have clinched the seventh seed had it held on for the win.

The Lady Lions led by 18 early in the game after Ohio State missed its first nine shots from the field. Ohio State got within three late in the first half before the Lady Lions stretched the lead back to 46-30 with just less than 15 minutes left after two fouls shots by Amanda Brown.

But Ohio State later went on an 11-0 run as it chipped away at the lead. After a three-point play by Davenport, who was playing with four fouls late, and a 3-pointer from the left corner by Marschilla Packer, Davenport hit a short turnaround jumper over Penn State's Charity Renfro to tie the score at 59-59.

Davenport also ended Ohio State's field goal drought in the first half after converting an offensive rebound about 11 minutes into the game. Davenport scored 17 of her 24 points in the first half.

O'Rourke hit two 3-pointers around another 3 by fellow freshman Mashea Williams to give Penn State a 24-6 lead in the first half.

About three dozen people protested against Penn State coach Rene Portland and the university during the game. The protesters laid out a rainbow flag on three rows of empty seats, then waved the large banner during halftime.

Former player Jennifer Harris has filed a federal lawsuit against Portland, accusing the coach of asking her to try to look more "feminine" and of maintaining a discriminatory policy against lesbians or those who she thought were lesbians.

Portland has denied the allegations. Several hundred fans responded by holding up "We Believe in Rene" signs that were distributed by Portland supporters before Sunday's game.

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaw/recap?gid=200602260459
 
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Dispatch

NO. 6 OHIO STATE 61 PENN STATE 59

Packer’s late shot caps major rally by OSU

Monday, February 27, 2006

Jim Massie
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

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PAT LITTLE | ASSOCIATED PRESS OSU center Jessica Davenport tries to maneuver around Penn State’s Charity Renfro. Davenport scored a game-high 24 points.


STATE COLLEGE, Pa. _ The pratfall looked unavoidable, as if someone had dropped a wet bar of soap leading to a set of fine china on the floor outside the Ohio State locker room.

Fresh off clinching the Big Ten regular-season championship, the sixthranked Buckeyes (25-2, 15-1) slid for more than 38 minutes yesterday afternoon in the Bryce Jordan Center before regaining their balance against pesky Penn State.

Despite the near crash, OSU dug out from a 17-point deficit in the final 14 minutes and won its 16 th consecutive game 61-59 when Marscilla Packer rebounded a Jessica Davenport miss and knocked down a short jumper with 2.7 seconds remaining.

"The ball fell into my hands," Packer said. "Debbie (Merrill) went in there for the offensive rebound and she had her hands on it. Luckily, I was in the right spot and got the shot off."

The basket was the only lead the Buckeyes had in the game. Davenport, who finished with a game-high 24 points, tied the score at 59 with 1:06 to play. That was the first time OSU had pulled even with the Lady Lions (12-15, 6-10).

Penn State jumped to a 12-0 lead after OSU missed its first nine shots and committed six turnovers in the first eight minutes.

"We knew coming in how tough it was going to be — we being the coaching staff," OSU coach Jim Foster said. "We had to beat Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan State and Purdue in a row to win the Big Ten. Maybe we had a collective sigh of relief Thursday, and the sigh lasted 48 hours and one half."

The Lions caused most of those first-half problems. Freshman Brianne O’Rourke, a 19- percent three-point shooter for the season, hit three treys and the lead reached 16 points. As good as things looked, Penn State coach Rene Portland kept an eye on OSU.

"You didn’t know how long it was going to last," Portland said. "So every minute that it continued to last, you had to take that as a real positive. In the second half, we went through a spurt of turnovers (and) that was the thing that got us."

Davenport started the turnaround with a pair of three-point field goals in the first half. She scored 17 points before the break and got OSU back to within seven points at 32-25.

"Pretty much in the first half, it was embarrassing," Davenport said. "We couldn’t get anything going offensively. We weren’t taking our type of shots or running our type of offense. Luckily, we were able not to let the game get away from us and play good enough defense that we could always have in the back of our minds that we were still in the game."

Defense helped rescue the Buckeyes, as did Packer, who followed her scoreless first half by hitting two three-pointers in the comeback. Senior guard Kim Wilburn stole an inbounds pass at the 5:04 mark and called timeout before falling out of bounds.

She scored when play resumed to cut the deficit to 55-52. The race to the finish saw the Buckeyes finally tie the score on Davenport’s score. After Penn State’s Charity Renfro and Merrill traded misses, OSU guard Tia Battle poked the ball loose from O’Rourke with 22 seconds left.

Two timeouts later, Davenport missed and Packer didn’t.

"In the second half, we inhaled and pulled up our shorts and just played hard, as did they," Foster said. "What broke out was a good basketball game. The last 20 minutes was good stuff by both teams."

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Monday, February 27, 2006
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Monday, February 27, 2006
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ohiostatebuckeyes.com

2/27/06

Jessica Davenport Earns Fourth Big Ten Player of the Week Award this Season


Columbus native turned in three 20-plus point outings in 3-0 week for Buckeyes


COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio State junior center Jessica Davenport collected her fourth Big Ten Player of the Week honor Monday in an announcement by the conference office. Davenport led the Buckeyes to three wins last week with three 20-plus scoring efforts.

Combined with her five Player of the Week selections last year, Davenport now has nine for her career, which ties her with Minnesota's Lindsay Whalen (2001-04) for second all-time in Big Ten history. The record is 17, set by Penn State's Kelly Mazzante from 2001-04.

Davenport started the week by scoring 22 points in Ohio State's 69-38 win over No. 14/14 Michigan State Monday. Davenport added her 10th double-double of the season vs. Purdue Thursday with 20 points and 10 rebounds in 40 minutes to help the Buckeyes clinch their first outright Big Ten championship wince 1985-86. She closed the week Sunday with 24 points, including a 2-for-3 mark from 3-point territory. Defensively, Davenport recorded at least three blocked shots in all three contests.
Davenport and the Buckeyes head to the Big Ten tournament as the No. 1 seed for the second-consecutive season. The Buckeyes play the winner of No. 8 Penn State and No. 9 Wisconsin at noon Friday in Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
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Dispatch

2/28/06

OSU to have bye in Big Ten tournament

Tuesday, February 28, 2006


FROM STAFF REPORTS




Ohio State is one win from clinching at least a share of the Big Ten men’s basketball championship, but the Buckeyes already have reaped one reward for their strong stretch run.

Six wins in their past seven conference games have assured them of a bye on the first day of the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis. With only four losses in conference play and two games remaining, they are guaranteed to be one of the top four seeds in the tournament. The top five do not play on the first day.

The tournament is March 9-12 in Conseco Fieldhouse.

Ohio State (21-4, 10-4) can secure at least a share of its first Big Ten championship since 2002 by winning one of its final two games, at Northwestern on Wednesday night or at home Sunday against Purdue. The Buckeyes can win the title outright for the first time since 1992 by winning both games.

Wins at Michigan State and over Michigan at home last week elevated the Buckeyes to No. 9 in the Associated Press poll this week, their first time in the top 10 since March 2000, when they finished the season No. 8.
Davenport is Big Ten women’s player of week



Ohio State’s Jessica Davenport captured her fourth Big Ten women’s player of the week award yesterday for leading the fifth-ranked Buckeyes to three victories and the team’s first outright conference championship in 20 years.
The junior averaged 22 points in wins over Michigan State, Purdue and Penn State. She had 20 points and 10 rebounds against Purdue for her 10 th double-double of the season.

Davenport has won the player of the week award nine times to match Minnesota’s Lindsay Whalen for the second-most selections in Big Ten history. Penn State’s Kelly Mazzante won 17.
The top-seeded Buckeyes (25-2, 15-1) open play in the Big Ten tournament at noon Friday in Indianapolis in Conseco Fieldhouse. They will meet the winner of Thursday’s 3 p.m. game between Wisconsin (11-17, 5-11) and Penn State (12-15, 6-10).
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Davenport repeats as consensus player of the year. Congratulations, Jessica, from a fellow 76er.

For complete All-Big 10 Teams, follow link

BigTen.org



Ohio State's Jessica Davenport Repeats as Consensus Big Ten Player of the Year
Buckeyes' Foster and Wilburn Earn Coach and Defensive Player of the Year, Iowa's Skouby Tabbed Freshman of the Year, and Purdue's George Selected as league's first Sixth Player of the Year

Feb. 28, 2006


PARK RIDGE, Ill. - The Big Ten women's basketball coaches and a 22-member media panel have selected Ohio State junior center Jessica Davenport as the conference's Player of the Year for the second-straight season. She is the fourth league standout to ever repeat as the Big Ten's top player, joining Northwestern's Anucha Brown (1984, 1985), Ohio State's Tracey Hall (1986, 1987), Purdue's Katie Douglas (2000, 2001) and Penn State's Kelly Mazzante (2003, 2004). Buckeye senior Kim Wilburn and mentor Jim Foster were also named Defensive Player and Coach of the Year, respectively. Iowa's Megan Skouby was tabbed Freshman of the Year, while the coaches named Purdue's Cherelle George as Sixth Player of the Year.

Davenport earned her second consecutive league scoring title after posting an average of 20.4 points per game. She also led the league in field-goal percentage (.662) and blocked shots (3.50 bpg), while averaging second in rebounding (8.2 rpg). In addition, the four-time 2005-06 Big Ten Player of the Week selection helped lead the Buckeyes to a 15-1 record in league play and their first outright conference championship since the 1985-86 season. It was the ninth Big Ten title and fourth outright league title for Ohio State, and marked the first time it won back-to-back regular season trophies since 1986 and 1987.

Wilburn, the first Buckeye to earn Defensive Player of the Year honors, was fourth in conference play with 2.25 steals per game, but holds a significant lead in the category for all games at 3.15 per contest. The school record holder in steals, Wilburn is tied with Wisconsin's Tamara Moore for second all-time in Big Ten career steals at 353. She enters the postseason 19 swipes shy of the conference record and just three steals shy of the Big Ten Tournament record.

Foster earns his second straight Coach of the Year honor as he shared the award with Michigan State's Joanne P. McCallie last season. The Buckeyes' coach recently became the Big Ten's third and the nation's 12th-active coach to possess 600 career victories. He enters postseason play with 602 career wins at three different stops in 28 seasons as a Division I head coach. He is already approaching 100 wins in Columbus, with a 98-27 record at Ohio State since 2002.







Skouby becomes the third Hawkeye to earn Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors, joining Franthea Price (1987) and Tiffany Gooden (1995). The 6-6 center is also the sixth Big Ten post-player to earn the award since 1983 and the first since Davenport in 2004. Skouby was honored by both the coaches and the media after finishing fourth in scoring with 16.8 points per game in conference play. She ranked fourth with 1.69 blocks per game, sixth with a field-goal percentage of .523, and placed near the top 15 in rebounding with 5.8 boards per game. In all games this year, she ranks fourth in the league with a .553 field goal percentage.

George, who did not record a single start in 27 regular-season games, earns the Big Ten's first-ever Sixth Player of the Year award. The junior transfer averaged 4.3 points, 2.2 steals and 1.5 assists per game, while providing a spark off the bench for the Boilermakers, who placed second in the conference at 13-3. Earlier this year, she swiped 10 steals against South Carolina, which is the second-best single-game total in the country this year.

In addition to individual honors, three All-Big Ten teams were selected by the media and coaches, while the league mentors also named a five-person All-Freshman and All-Defensive Team as well. Davenport was the lone unanimous first-team All-Big Ten selection, while Indiana's Cyndi Valentin, Iowa's Crystal Smith, Michigan State's Liz Shimek and Purdue's Katie Gearlds were named to the first team by both the coaches and media.

The conference office also announced today honorees from each of the league's 11 women's basketball squads for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award. The student-athletes chosen are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. In addition, the student-athletes must be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. Honorees for women's basketball are Illinois' Maggie Acuna, Indiana's Valentin, Iowa's Krista VandeVenter, Michigan's Krista Clement, Michigan State's Shimek, Minnesota's Shannon Schonrock, Northwestern's Kristin Cartwright, Ohio State's Davenport, Penn State's Amanda Brown, Purdue's Aya Traore and Wisconsin's Janese Banks. These 11 student-athletes are now candidates for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award, as the conference office will honor one male and one female student-athlete from each institution at the end of the school year.
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DDN

3/1/06

Champion OSU women sweep Big Ten individual honors

By Doug Harris
Dayton Daily News

COLUMBUS | — Ohio State's Jim Foster won his second consecutive Big Ten women's coach of the year award Monday, but he insisted he doesn't deserve to take any bows.

"I'm just fortunate to have good players," he said. "You have to have players that want to work really hard and be unselfish, and that's a hard thing to do today."

Foster led the fifth-ranked Buckeyes (25-2) to their first outright Big Ten title in 20 years after sharing the crown last season.

Junior center Jessica Davenport was named conference player of the year for the second straight season. She leads the Big Ten in scoring (19.4), blocked shots (3.1), field-goal percentage (.635) and is second in rebounds (8.4).

Davenport was the only unanimous selection on both all-conference first teams selected by the coaches and media. The 6-foot-5 left-hander was joined on those squads by Michigan State's Liz Shimek, Purdue's Katie Geralds, Indiana's Cyndi Valentin and Iowa's Crystal Smith.

Foster believes Davenport has continued to elevate her game, saying: "She's much more comfortable facing the basket and has increased her range and is a better player on the right block."

Junior guard Brandie Hoskins, a Chaminade-Julienne High School grad who is averaging 12 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3.2 assists for the Buckeyes, made the media's third team and was an honorable-mention pick by the coaches.

Three-point specialist Marscilla Packer was voted to the third team by both the coaches and media, while forward Debbie Merrill was named to the coaches' third team.

Backup point guard Kim Wilburn, who averages 3.1 steals, was named Big Ten defensive player of the year.

Contact Doug Harris at 225-2125.
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Dispatch

3/2/06

Indy part of journey, not destination

Top teams looking ahead to NCAA after Big Ten tournament

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Jim Massie
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH




Even in the one-game-at-atime universe of a college basketball coach, the sight of the mountain range rising just beyond the foothills of the various conference tournaments is impossible to ignore.

When the Big Ten tournament opens today in Indianapolis, the action in Conseco Fieldhouse is all about postseason possibilities. Mount Everest, of course, is the NCAA Tournament.

Barring an upset by a long shot, four to five Big Ten teams figure to make the NCAA field of 64. Top-seeded and regularseason champion Ohio State (25-2) is considered a lock.

Purdue (22-5), Michigan State (21-8) and Minnesota (19-8) also are safe bets with Iowa (17-10) and Indiana (15-12) occupying bubble seats.

The Hawkeyes finished 23-10 overall in 2004-05. But an 8-8 finish and sixth place in the conference kept them out of the NCAA Tournament.

"Last year put a sour tastes in our mouths," Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said.

"We’re not taking anything for granted. In our minds, we have to continue to win."

Ohio State coach Jim Foster, whose fifth-ranked Buckeyes have won 16 consecutive games, took a quick look in the direction of the Himalayas when he acknowledged that he would love to earn a No. 1 seed for the NCAAs.

"I think we’re playing for some seeding," he said. "I think we understand that. I think if we’re sitting there at 28-2, there’s some pretty good arguments in the room (for a No. 1 seed)."

Foster recognizes that North Carolina, Duke, Louisiana State, Maryland, Tennessee and Connecticut also will be talking about why they should have one of the four No. 1 seeds.

He noted that in Ohio State’s two losses — to LSU and Purdue — fifth-year senior point guard Ashley Allen was injured. She missed the game against the Tigers and played limited minutes against the Boilermakers because of a broken foot.

"We’re 17-0 with her as our starting point guard," he said. "If we’re fortunate enough to win this thing, you could give that argument in the room when they discuss seeding. But we have to take care of our business."

That isn’t an easy thing to do. The Buckeyes, who will play at noon Friday against the winner of the Penn State (12-15)/Wisconsin (11-17) game, were the No. 1 seed a year ago and lost to Minnesota in a Big Ten semifinal.

In the tournament’s 11-year history, the top seed has won the title twice. Indiana made the longest climb, winning as the No. 5 seed in 2002.

The Buckeyes have yet to win the tournament. With two-time Big Ten player of the year Jessica Davenport and defensive player of the year Kim Wilburn, they at least look formidable this time around.

"They find ways to do things," Illinois coach Theresa Grentz said. "They’ve won. They’ve won some close games. They’ve won some close games on the road. They’ve hit those shots.

"When you do that, you build a team’s confidence immeasurably. To take them out of that is going to be very difficult because they have different pieces that they use and they use very effectively."

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