Lavender helps Buckeyes ease past CSU, but Vikings' late comeback irks Foster
by Doug Lesmerises/Plain Dealer Reporter Monday December 15, 2008, 10:05 PM
Jay LaPrete/Associated PressJantel Lavender, right, shoots over Cleveland State's Jessica Roque during the second half of the Buckeyes' victory in women's basketball Monday night in Columbus.
COLUMBUS -- During her high school days at Cleveland Central Catholic, Jantel Lavender went to open gyms at Cleveland State for fun and to keep her game sharp. Though most of the Vikings players she knew are gone, Cleveland State coach Kate Peterson Abiad hasn't forgotten Lavender, now Ohio State's leading scorer as a sophomore. "We reminded her every day if she didn't just feel like going way from home, she could stay and play for the Vikings," Peterson Abiad said. "But she had other things in mind and look what she's done. Everyone is Cleveland is proud of her, and it's a pleasure to see her getting this much success."
In No. 18 Ohio State's 68-54 victory over Cleveland State at Nationwide Arena on Monday night, Peterson Abiad praised what she saw during the Vikings' first look at Ohio State since the 2000 season. Lavender led the Buckeyes (8-2) with 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Ohio State built its lead to 30 points with 13 minutes to play.
"Ohio State is very good and very deserving of their ranking," Peterson Abiad said.
But Ohio State coach Jim Foster didn't agree, particularly at the end of the game, when the Vikings (4-5) finished on a 28-12 run, led by Kailey Klein's game-high and season-high 30 points. The whole thing actually looked like an open gym.
"I'm not happy with this team," said Foster, who will throw them right back on the court against Delaware State Tuesday night. "If I have to say much to this team, then we don't get it. I think the performance should speak for itself."
Foster played 11 players for at least 12 minutes and thought many of them were worried about finding their own shot rather than finding teammates or playing defense.
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Women's basketball: Buckeyes cruise early but finish on sour note
Tuesday, December 16, 2008 3:18 AM
By Jim Massie
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
JAMES D. DeCAMP Dispatch
Ohio State's Star Allen fights traffic in the first half, when the Buckeyes built their lead.
The coach of the winning team scanned the box score last night in Nationwide Arena and looked like a man who had just found a fly doing the backstroke in his lobster bisque. The star center for the winning team sat next to him and also wore a frown after the Ohio State women's basketball team defeated Cleveland State 68-54.
And a guard who played one of the best games of her career for the winning team didn't seem to find the experience appetizing, either.
The sour moods followed because the favored, 18th-ranked Buckeyes built a 30-point lead with solid play and then watched the underdog Vikings shave the deficit to 14 points during the final, sloppy 10 minutes.
"I'm not happy with this team right now," Ohio State coach Jim Foster said. "I don't think we played with the passion and energy that is necessary to be competitive in a league like the Big Ten.
"You have to play every possession. You have to play 40 minutes. And when you get a chance to get into the game, show me something. If I have to say much to this team, then we don't get it. I think the performance should speak for itself."
For much of the game, the Buckeyes (8-2) brushed aside the smaller Vikings (4-5) with an ease that really didn't surprise Cleveland State coach Kate Peterson Abiad.
"Ohio State is a very good team," Abiad said. "Teams at the mid-major level like Cleveland State, in a big game like this, they don't want to do anything wrong. They want to be perfect. So they hesitate.
"Nobody expects you to come into Ohio State and win. So why not just play free and aggressively? When we buried ourselves in a hole, we did come back like, 'All right, now let's just play.' "
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