The Ohio State women’s basketball team couldn’t match the size of Michigan State in a 52-46 loss Sunday in East Lansing, Mich.
Few opponents can compete with the 6’4″ frame of Buckeye sophomore center Jantel Lavender. But junior center Allyssa DeHaan used her 6’9″ figure to turn in a 16-point performance for the Spartans, while limiting Lavender to just 8-for-20 shooting.
“[DeHaan] was really ready to play and we sure needed her today,” said Michigan State coach Suzy Merchant. “She is playing with some pain and you could hardly notice it out there today compared to the last two games. She’s been really pushing herself to make it happen.”
Lavender’s 19 points and eight rebounds paced No. 14 Ohio State (19-4, 10-2), which never held a lead. No other Buckeye reached double figures.
“I think we basically just got out-played,” Lavender said. “Michigan State came out and played extremely hard and we did not match their intensity out there and we ended up on the short end.”
The tallest player in Michigan State women’s basketball history, DeHaan used her giant presence to frustrate Lavender in the post.
“I think that we made some adjustments that made her have to struggle a little bit at times to get a good look at the rim, which was the most important thing,” Merchant said.
Michigan State’s Big Ten-leading field goal defense limited the Buckeyes to 35 percent shooting, including just 1-14 from three-point range.
“They did a terrific job and did what they had to do on both ends of the floor,” said OSU coach Jim Foster. “They got the ball into the offensive end and once they did that they executed well and took advantages of the mismatches.”
The loss, the second road defeat for OSU this season, snaps a five-game winning streak. OSU had won 12 of its previous 13 games. It’s the first time the Buckeyes have been held under 50 points all year.
“Mentally, we were not to the level to beat this team today,” Foster said. “They played with a lot of emotion and played a lot harder than we did, and they took advantage of what they could do and we did not take advantage of what we could do.”
The win pulls Michigan State (17-7, 10-3) within a half-game of the Big Ten-leading Buckeyes, and holds OSU from clinching a seventh consecutive 20-win season.
Though Ohio State has won 19-of-27 meetings at the Breslin Center, Michigan State has now captured six of the past eight contests.
OSU travels to Iowa to take on the Hawkeyes on Thursday.
Zack Meisel can be reached at [email protected].
