Football
18y

No. 7 Ohio State tops Michigan, extends win streak to 11

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) -- Ohio State's offense got a wake-up call
from its All-America center when it needed it the most.

Jessica Davenport scored 13 of her 23 points in the second half
and the seventh-ranked Buckeyes beat Michigan 74-55 on Friday night
to extend their winning streak to 11 games.

Marscilla Packer scored 13 points and Kim Wilburn had 10 and
five steals for the Buckeyes (20-2, 10-1), who moved into a tie
with Purdue for first place in the Big Ten.

"We started moving the ball better in the second half," said
Ohio State coach Jim Foster, whose team outscored the Wolverines
24-8 in the last 11 minutes of the game.

"We played the last 11 minutes the way we should be playing. If
everyone is moving and involved, we're a hard team to guard."

Stephany Skrba had 17 points and a career-high 13 rebounds for
Michigan (6-18, 0-12), which lost its 12th straight. The Wolverines
haven't beaten a Big Ten opponent since Jan. 23, 2005, a streak of
22 consecutive games.

Skrba cut the Buckeyes' lead to 50-47 with a putback nine minutes
into the second half, but Ohio State put together an 8-0 run over
the next 3 minutes to take control. Michigan was 0-for-5 from the
floor during the decisive stretch.

Davenport, the Big Ten's leading scorer and a consensus
All-American last season, was 6-for-9 from the floor in the second
half and finished the game with four blocks. Her presence in the
paint freed up shots for the team's guards in the last 11 minutes.

"We figured they would be up for this game," Davenport said of
Michigan, "but we just talked about clamping down on defense and
moving the ball around."

Packer had 10 points in the second half, including a pair of
layups during the run that extended the lead.

Ohio State scored 17 points off the Wolverines' 20 turnovers and
outrebounded Michigan 38-33.

The Buckeyes had a 10-point lead with four minutes to play in the
first half but the Wolverines ended the period on a 9-1 run and
trailed 32-30 at halftime.

Michigan, which lost starting forward Katie Dierdorf on Sunday
to a season-ending hip injury, started four freshmen and a
sophomore Friday. Coach Cheryl Burnett added three members of the
school's volleyball team to bolster a roster reduced to seven
scholarship players by injuries.

"That made us rally a little bit," Burnett said. "I'm proud
that we played hard."

Janelle Cooper scored 13 points and Carly Benson finished with
12 for Michigan.

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