Ohio State Stands Tall Against Rutgers

Rutgers finally found a top 10 team it couldn’t handle.

Jessica Davenport, a 6-foot-5 center, scored 22 points and No. 5 Ohio State went on a late 6-0 run to beat the No. 4 Scarlet Knights, 52-50, Sunday at Columbus, Ohio.

Rutgers, which fell to 12-3, had risen 20 spots in the rankings by beating No. 8 Tennessee, No. 4 Texas and No. 1 Louisiana State in the span of eight days in the last month.

Ohio State (17-2) ended that run by getting the ball inside to Davenport and consistently beating the Scarlet Knight pressure defense.

The Scarlet Knights also didn’t stop Caity Matter when it mattered most, on her wide-open three-point shot that gave the Buckeyes a 50-45 lead with 1:16 left -- the first time in the second half that the teams had been separated by more than three points.

“I thought Matter’s eyes were going to pop out of her head,” Ohio State Coach Jim Foster said of the shot. “That was the first time someone hadn’t been within two feet of her all day.”

No. 2 Baylor 78, Oklahoma 68 -- Chameka Scott made three three-point shots in a 16-4 run that pushed the Bears (13-2, 3-1) past the Sooners (9-5, 1-2) in a Big 12 game at Waco, Texas.

No. 3 Louisiana State 76, Alabama 51 -- Seimone Augustus scored 19 points in 23 minutes to lead the Tigers (16-1, 3-0) over the Crimson Tide (10-6, 1-2) in a Southeastern Conference game at Baton Rouge, La.

No. 7 Notre Dame 86, No. 20 Purdue 69 -- Jacqueline Batteast had 21 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Fighting Irish (14-3) over the Boilermakers (10-6) at South Bend, Ind.

No. 8 Tennessee 79, No. 17 Vanderbilt 65 -- Shanna Zolman scored 20 points, and the Lady Vols (12-3, 2-0) rallied from a 15-point, first-half deficit to beat the Commodores (13-3, 2-1) in an SEC game at Nashville.

No. 9 Michigan State 62, No. 11 Minnesota 49 -- Lindsay Bowen scored 18 of her 20 points for the Spartans (15-2, 4-1) in the second half at East Lansing, Mich., and helped hand the Gophers (14-3, 4-1) their first Big Ten loss. Janel McCarville had 14 points and 15 rebounds for the Gophers.

Florida State 95, No. 15 Maryland 91 -- The Seminoles (16-2, 3-1) overcame a 12-point deficit over the final 10 minutes of regulation and then went on to defeat the Terrapins (12-3, 2-2) in overtime in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Tallahassee, Fla. Florida State’s Roneeka Hodges and Maryland’s Shay Doron each had 39 points.

No. 18 Georgia 71, Auburn 56 -- Freshman Tasha Humphrey had 17 points for the Bulldogs (14-5, 3-2) in their SEC victory over the Tigers (9-7, 0-3) at Athens, Ga.

No. 21 Iowa 81, Northwestern 76 -- Jamie Cavey scored 29 points and the Hawkeyes (14-3, 3-3) overcame a 17-point deficit to defeat the Wildcats (4-15, 1-5) in a Big Ten game at Iowa City, Iowa.

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Texas Christian’s Sandora Irvin, the niece of former NFL star Michael Irvin, set an NCAA Division I record with 16 blocked shots in a 75-34 victory over Alabama Birmingham at Fort Worth. Irvin, who also had 20 points and 18 rebounds, broke the record of 15 set by Amy Lundquist of Loyola Marymount in 1992 against Western Kentucky.