Caity Matter helped lead her team to two wins this weekend as the Ohio State women’s basketball team extended its unbeaten streak at home to 16-0.

Six-foot-five-inch freshman center Jessica Davenport tallied 15 points in her debut as four Buckeye players reached double digits in their home opener. Matter led the Buckeyes Friday night with 17 points as they defeated Ohio University 83-50.

“I think Jess did a very good job,” coach Jim Foster said. “With LaToya (Turner) sitting on the bench, there is a lot of pressure on Jess to be out there and give more minutes. The tendency is for players to sometimes get tired. She had four fouls against Ohio University and we put her out there, left her out for another five or six minutes with the charge of not getting her fifth and she did an absolute terrific job.”

Florida A&M came to the Schottenstein Center, bringing with them two of the top Mid Eastern Athletic Conference players, guard Yolanda Dixon and center Kim Watson.

The Buckeyes got off to a slow start with Florida A&M matching every shot until 10:47 in the first half. With the score notched 13-13, Jessica Davenport hit a layup off of a Stephanie Blanton assist that put the Buckeyes up 15-13 and started a 14-0 run that went unanswered, giving OSU a 33-17 advantage at the half.

“I was a lot more settled,” Davenport said. “The first game, your first college game, a lot of the community came and watched us play, so I was really nervous. But this game I calmed down and did a better job.”

Davenport led the Buckeyes on Sunday afternoon with 23 points, including 9-of-14 from the charity stripe. Matter added 5-12 from behind the arc and finished the game with 21. Brandie Hoskins chipped in 10.

“I think, obviously, the freshmen didn’t have as many jitters tonight,” Matter said. “We ran the ball pretty well in blips and we need to do that more consistently. Obviously, we didn’t do as well in the second half because we got outscored.”

The second half saw the Rattlers’ Yolanda Dixon light up the Buckeyes, at one point hitting three consecutive three-point-shots. But it was too little too late as the Buckeyes held on for a 71-56 victory.

“Early games have a lot of different scenarios taking place,” Foster said. “You have no scouting report, per se, because they haven’t played. So you’re going on what last year was. Ohio University had three new coaches, a new staff, a new scheme. If you’re not communicating early in the season you could be in some trouble, so that is something we definitely need to work on.”

The Buckeyes will face UNC-Wilmington today at the Schott. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.

USA Basketball honors Foster

After winning the gold medal in this summer’s FIBA World Basketball for Young Women tournament, Foster was named the 2003 USA Basketball Developmental Coach of the Year by the USA Basketball Executive Committee yesterday.

Foster’s squad finished the tournmanet in Croatia with a 7-1 record.

“USA Basketball was extremely fortunate to have an international basketball coaching veteran like Jim Foster to lead our Young Women’s National Team this year,” said USA Basketball Executive Director Jim Tooley. “He did an outstanding job in guiding the team to the gold medal in the inaugural World Championship for Young Women. Jim had these young athletes working together as a team from the beginning of training camp and his team approach is why they were able to bring home the gold.”

Matter was also on the squad which brought home the gold medal.