The No. 8 Ohio State women’s basketball team lost, 71-57, to the No. 23 Nebraksa Cornhuskers in their its final regular season game of 2011-12 campaign Sunday.
After senior guard Samantha Prahalis scored the first basket of the game, OSU (24-5, 11-5) fell behind early. The Cornhuskers (21-7, 10-6) capitalized on the Buckeyes poor shooting and ten turnovers in the first half and went on a 15-1 run. At the end of the half, OSU was shooting 10-of-27, and trailing, 39-29.
The second half didn’t see the score improve for the Buckeyes.
The 10-point first half deficit reached 16 in the second, after an OSU turnover led to a layup by freshman guard Brandi Jeffery, to make the score 52-36, at 12:08 in the second half. The Cornhuskers maintained the lead and finished the game with a 71-57 victory.
The Buckeyes had 17 turnovers and shot 33 percent from the field.
Prahalis led OSU in scoring with 18 points and added three assists. Junior guard Tayler Hill contributed 16 points.
Prahalis’ three assists make her four shy of becoming the all-time Big Ten assist leader. Northwestern’s Nancy Kennelly had 892 assists from 1989-1993
The Cornhuskers were led by freshman forward Emily Cady with 24 points.
The loss also iced any hope the Buckeyes had of clinching a share of the Big Ten regular season title.
Following their defeat, OSU heads to Indianapolis for the Big Ten tournament. Before the game, OSU has clinched the No. 2 seed in the tournament and will play at 11:30 a.m. Friday against the of the winner of the Michigan-Wisconsin game.
