Like the old “Rawhide” theme, the No. 10 Ohio State women’s basketball team keeps rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ along as it defeated the Bradley Braves 86-52 to win the Buckeye Classic at St. John Arena yesterday.

Sophomore center Jessica Davenport gave the Buckeyes the shove they needed to get beyond the Braves, scoring 19 points, getting four blocks and hauling down three rebounds. She leads the team in the first two categories.

Bradley tested the Buckeyes (5-1) though, arguably more than any other team had this season at home. The Braves (3-1) went to the dressing room only down by nine mainly – no, totally – due to the three-point shooting of senior forward Genny Mueller, who went 5-7 from the three-point line, including one during the first 10 minutes that was from about 25 feet away. Before yesterday, Mueller had only been shooting approximately 35 percent from the line and the team had only been shooting 30 percent from beyond the arc. Mueller finished the night leading all scorers with 26 points and going six-for-10 from the three-point line.

“Genny’s got the ability to light it up and I thought she did,” said Bradley coach Paula Buscher.

OSU coach Jim Foster thought the Buckeyes’ defense was slow, recognizing that Springfield, Ill. native, Mueller was hot.

“We didn’t communicate where Mueller was,” Foster said. “At some point in time you have to wake up to the fact the kid’s hot and it’s got to get competitive and you really have to start barking at your teammates to be where they need to be and let them know she’s coming into their area.”

Buscher was impressed with the Buckeyes’ play.

“They have a solid team across the board,” she said. “They move the ball so well and take advantage if you make mistakes.”

Before this game, OSU had held its opponents to only eight three-pointers. Bradley made 10.

Davenport stood out for the Buckeyes, but three other players ended up in double-figures as senior guard Caity Matter had 13 points with two three-pointers. Freshman Marscilla Packer and sophomore Stephanie Blanton added 10 points each. For Packer, that was a personal best. Blanton also led the team in rebounds.

“I just thank my teammates because they got me in better shape and especially helped me in practice so I just owe a lot to them,” Packer said.

Davenport continues to lead the team in scoring average, with ___. WAITING FOR STAT UPDATE

“I think a lot of our points came on transition,” said Davenport. “They press a lot and we would get good shots after the guards pushed the ball up.”