COLUMBUS — Tamarah Riley giggled just thinking about it.
Asked what she’d remember most about the day, she said, “I’d say after the game, all of us getting together and saying, ’Not one, not two, not three, but four!”’
Marscilla Packer scored 17 of her 21 points in the second half and No. 18 Ohio State beat Northwestern 74-50 Sunday to become the first team in 18 years to win at least a share of four straight Big Ten titles.
“We’ve been talking about it from the beginning of the season — let’s be four-time champions,” Packer said. “It’s kind of weird: Are we really seniors now? It went so fast.”
The Buckeyes (22-7, 13-5) clinched a tie for the championship with Iowa, which won at Wisconsin 87-78 an hour earlier.
Only three schools have won at least four titles in a row. Ohio State grabbed at least a piece of the first five Big Ten crowns from 1983-87. Iowa took home trophies four years in a row from 1987-90.
Jantel Lavender had 12 points and 12 rebounds and Riley had 11 points for the Buckeyes, who have won 63 of their last 72 regular-season conference games. They have also won 76 home games in a row against unranked opponents.
Championship T-shirts were distributed at midcourt after the game, and the team posed for pictures with the Big Ten trophy.
Coach Jim Foster has won 656 games in his 30 years as a head coach in college, but even he was surprised that the Buckeyes could accomplish so much after graduating two-time All-American center Jessica Davenport and her perennial all-conference runningmate, Brandie Hoskins, a year ago.
“This was the most difficult because the league was very competitive, deeper than — my guess is — maybe ever,” he said.
Then he went over a long list of injuries that plagued his young team, in addition to losing starting forward Star Allen to grade problems.
“We figured out how to do a lot of things with the parts that were available and didn’t spend a lot of time dwelling on the parts that weren’t available,” he said.
Amy Jaeschke led Northwestern (5-25, 1-17) with 14 points. Nadia Bibbs added 12 for the Wildcats, who have lost 18 of 19.
“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Jim Foster and what he’s done,” Northwestern coach Beth Combs said. “If you’re going to come on somebody’s home court and get beat the way we did, I guess the best way I can say this is I’m glad it’s him. His players play hard, they play through adversity. I congratulate him for his fourth straight. It’s not an easy feat, no matter how easy Ohio State makes it look.”
The Buckeyes, who have won five of six, will be the top seed in the Big Ten tournament this week at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Ohio State seniors Packer, Riley and Alice Jamen were honored prior to the game. The win gave them a record 109 victories in their career, one more than last year’s seniors.
Northwestern hung tough with the Buckeyes for much of the first half before the Buckeyes stretched a narrow lead to 33-20 with a 12-0 run that featured five players scorers.
The Buckeyes may have been deprived of an outright title by a scoring error earlier this week at Indiana. A free throw by the Hoosiers was disallowed by a violation with 21⁄2 minutes left, but the officials did not consult with the scorer’s table, which counted the point. Instead of Ohio State having a one-point lead, Indiana ended up tied and eventually forced overtime before winning the game, 69-61.
But Foster wasn’t looking back. He was, as a matter of fact, looking to the future.
“The first half today I looked out there and we had three freshmen and two sophomores on the floor playing pretty well,” he said. “That’s a lot of fun.”
Then, just like Riley and the rest, he flashed a big smile.
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Buckeyes earn at least share of fourth straight Big Ten title
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Bound for Columbus!
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A Vince Peluso column: GV finds a way, though that way is quite unclear
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I can tell you that Stanley Sirrine delivered the game winning hit. -
Scholastic Statistics:
BASEBALL
DIVISION III
REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Grand Valley 12, Ursuline 11 -
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BASEBALL
Major
n Angels 7, Tigers 6
n WP — Grant Kingston.
n Other — Kyle Van Allen (T) 1 S, 1 D, Brandon Santiago (T) 1 D; Kingston (A) 2 S, Davey Amsdell (A) 2 S, Alex Tulino (A) 1 S, 1 D, Ethan Barker (A) 1 S. -
Scholastic Schedule:
SATURDAY, MAY 26
Track and Field
Regional
Division II
at Bedford High School
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Mustangs move on!
The Grand Valley Mustangs used timely hitting, strong pitching and a dazzling play in the field to continue their impressive run through the Division III state playoffs as they knocked off the Orrville Red Raiders, 7-4, in a regional semifinal at Carl “Ducky” Schroeder Field at Massillon Washington High School.
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Scholastic Statistics:
BASEBALL
DIVISION III
REGIONAL SEMIFINAL
Grand Valley 7, Orrville 4
at Carl “Ducky” Schroeder Field, Massillon Washington High School -
Scholastic Schedule:
FRIDAY, MAY 25
Baseball
Division III
at Massillon Washington High School
Regional championship
n Grand Valley vs. Ursuline (5) -
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