Lady Bucks Basketball Thread

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

3/23/06

OSU WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Buckeyes live and learn, look forward to next season

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Jim Massie
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH




The end arrived for the Ohio State women’s basketball team late Tuesday night in Mackey Arena with the cold, sudden shock of a fall through thin ice and into a pond.

The Buckeyes, who entered the NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 seed in the Albuquerque Regional, were dunked and dismissed in the second round by eighth-seeded Boston College in a 79-69 upset.

In losing, the Big Ten regular-season and tournament champions became the first top seed not to reach the Sweet 16 since Stanford and Texas Tech in 1998.

"We just got outworked," OSU junior center Jessica Davenport said. "We didn’t execute our offense. We didn’t execute our defense."

The defensive lapses allowed the Eagles (21-11) to build an early lead.

"In the first four minutes of the game, we weren’t getting stops on defense," sophomore guard Marscilla Packer said. "We made mistakes that we don’t usually make and they came back to haunt us."

Spotty offense prevented the Buckeyes (29-3) from making a run after they took a 48-46 lead with 10:47 left in the game. While OSU sputtered, Boston College’s Kindyll Dorsey started the decisive run with three quick three-point field goals.

"The turning point in the game came when we took the lead," OSU coach Jim Foster said. "We had an opportunity to come down and score. We threw the ball into a guard on the block.

"When you have been behind the whole game and you crawl back and get the lead, that’s something you need to value. You need to get a quality shot that time down the floor and we didn’t."

Late in the game, the Buckeyes lost junior guard Brandie Hoskins to an ankle injury. She was to undergo a magnetic resonance imaging to determine the extent of the damage.

The team returned to Columbus by bus from West Lafayette yesterday with Foster already planning for next season.

He knows what he is losing in senior forward Debbie Merrill and senior guards Kim Wilburn, Ashley Allen, Candace Dark and Tia Battle.

"Debbie Merrill came in and gave us a degree of toughness," Foster said.

"Kim and Ashley, while not natural point guards, did a yeoman’s job of managing the position.

"Tia and Candace were role players, but role players have great value to a basketball team, especially ones that understand it and know how to give the effort necessary . . . when they are called upon."

The recruiting class, which includes transfer guard Ashlee Trebilcock, will have an opportunity to play.

"I think there is going to be a lot of competition for Debbie’s position," said Foster, who has been named a finalist for the Naismith coach of the year award.

He listed juniors-to-be Alice Jamen and Tam Riley, sophomore-to-be Star Allen and incoming freshman Lesslee Mason-Cox from Cincinnati Princeton as possibilities.

Andrea Walker, a 6-5 freshman of West Allegheny, Pa., will provide size inside to complement Davenport, the two-time Big Ten player of the year.

Freshman point guard Maria Moeller of Marion Local in Maria Stein and guards Cherise Daniel of Eastmoor Academy and Shavelle Little of Huron in Ann Arbor, Mich., already are slotted into roles.

"Trebilcock is a very good player," Foster said. "She’ll be eligible as soon as the second quarter starts. Maria Moeller is going to have to come in here and be ready to play. More often than not, kids today are.

"Shavelle Little has got to bring the energy from the defensive perspective that Kim and Ashley gave us. Cherise is long like Tia Battle and a very good shooter. They’re going to have to earn their minutes. But I just think we’re going to be solid."

jmassie@dispatch.com

Thursday, March 23, 2006

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Canton

3/29/06

College women’s basketball: Hoskins has surgery

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Ohio State guard Brandie Hoskins, who ruptured her Achilles’ tendon in the NCAA tournament, has undergone successful surgery. The junior averaged 12.3 points per game and ranked second on the team with 96 assists this season for the Buckeyes.

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

3/29/06

OSU WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Davenport gets two honors

Center on All-America, USA teams

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Jim Massie
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

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Good news washed up like waves against Jessica Davenport yesterday outside the Ohio State women’s basketball locker room.

The Buckeyes’ junior center and two-time Big Ten player of the year expected the first splash. The other served as a pleasant surprise.

Davenport had known for two months that she would be one of four college players joining the USA Basketball senior national team for its spring training trip to Australia in April.

She also learned that she had been selected a second-team All-American by the Associated Press. Davenport made first team a year ago, but shrugged off the drop with a smile.

"Any type of All-America is good," she said. "We had a great season this year. I think I’ve had a great season, and it’s just a reflection that."

The Buckeyes (29-3) won the Big Ten regular season and tournament championships and were a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament before losing to Boston College in the second round.

Davenport led the conference in scoring, rebounding, fieldgoal percentage and blocked shots. She feels that she ended the season as a better all-around player than she started.

"I think that anybody that is with this program, the players and coaches, know that I’ve expanded my game this year and I’ve gotten better," Davenport said.

She views the trip to Australia as an opportunity to improve. She will be joined by collegians Seimone Augustus and Sylvia Fowles of Louisiana State and Cappie Pondexter of Rutgers. The four hope to make the USA team for the FIBA World Championships in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in September.

Former OSU All-American Katie Smith, a member of the Detroit Shock of the WNBA, is among the veteran players on the team.

"Playing against the best players in the world I think will be a great opportunity for me to gain experience," Davenport said. "A lot of those people are WNBA players, something I aspire to be. And playing with Katie Smith, I’ve known her for a long time, I know while I’m down there she’ll help me out."

Ohio State coach Jim Foster is pleased Davenport will have the chance to play against nationalteam competition such as Australia, China and Taiwan.

"Any time you play against better players, it challenges you to get better," he said.

Although Foster believes that Davenport has improved, he has a goal for her next season to draw more fouls. He is aware that she probably led the Big Ten in contact without drawing a referee’s whistle.

"We’re going to have to make sure it happens," Foster said. "She just needs to be strong to the basket and toward the lane a little bit. I think that stuff makes a difference."
Surgery for Hoskins



Not all the news was good for the Buckeyes. Junior guard Brandie Hoskins underwent surgery Monday to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon. She suffered the injury in the final minutes of the Boston College game. Foster would not speculate on when Hoskins would be back.

"That stuff is all relative to the individual, how quickly they heal and how the rehab goes," Foster said. "She has got a mind-set that she wants to be back quickly."

jmassie@dispatch.com

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

DDN

3/31/06

Injury forces Hoskins to rest

By Doug Harris
Dayton Daily News

COLUMBUS | — Ohio State's Brandie Hoskins could always count on her legs to zip past defenders and navigate to the basket.

But in an NCAA tournament loss to Boston College last week, her body finally rebelled.

The junior guard from Dayton dropped to the court in a heap near the end of the 79-69 second-round loss and was shocked to discover that she hadn't first been fouled. "When I caught the ball, I felt something pop," Hoskins said. "I thought someone kicked me, but no one was around.

"I've never had so much pain in my life. When I couldn't get back up, that's when I knew I was really hurt."

The Chaminade-Julienne grad underwent surgery Monday to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon.

Once she sheds her crutches, she will begin an extensive rehab program.
OSU women's head trainer Chalisa Fonza said recovery times range from four months to two years.

"It depends on the person," Fonza said. "You really can't put a (precise) timetable on it."

But Hoskins has vowed to return within four months. "I'll be all right," she said. "My mom always tells me God doesn't put more on you than you can handle, and I can handle this. It hurts. I cry about it. But I'm strong, and I love basketball. And next year, I'll be a better player."

The injury was the culmination of a forgettable night for Hoskins and the top-seeded Buckeyes. The two-time all-Big Ten honoree scored 13 points on 6-of-15 shooting and had five turnovers, and the team had its 20-game winning streak snapped while finishing 29-3.

"It was tough (to lose), but it's over," Hoskins said. "They beat us. It wasn't our night. Every time we made a run, they knocked down shots."

Hoskins, known for being a tireless worker, hadn't taken a significant break from basketball since last season began, having played during the summer with a USA all-star team that won a gold medal overseas. She believes the physical stress of that experience may have caught up with her.

"I think this is just God's way of telling me I need to rest my body," Hoskins said. "It's an injury, but I'm glad it was at the end of the season and not my first game. It could be worse. I could be out the rest of my life.

"Next year, I plan on coming back and being one of the best point guards in the country, if not THE best. I'm using this as motivation."


Contact Doug Harris at (937) 225-2125.

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

4/12/06

Davenport helps U . S . win



Ohio State junior center Jessica Davenport came off the bench to score 10 points and grab six rebounds to help the USA senior women’s basketball team beat Chinese Taipei 91-66 in the 2006 Opals World Challenge in Canberra, Australia.

Former OSU All-American Katie Smith had four points and three assists in the win.
The United States (4-0) and Australia (3-1) meet in the final today.

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

4/22/06

DISPATCH COACH OF YEAR

Foster content to let players do talking, winning

Laid-back tack led to 29-3 season for OSU

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Mark Znidar
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

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Because players come and go within a four- and five-year period, it has been said coaches are the enduring face of college basketball.
Those faces often are splashed across television screens as they rant, carry on like cheerleaders and wander so far onto the court it seems they want to guard someone.
Jim Foster of Ohio State isn’t one of the bunch.
When OSU defeated Penn State with a shot by Marscilla Packer with two seconds left, he stepped to the side and let the players celebrate.
When they won the regularseason and tournament Big Ten championships, Foster again watched with pride but from the perimeter.
"No. 1, when you’ve been doing things for a long time, I think you become more comfortable," he said of his demeanor. "No. 2, I think this should always be about the players. It’s a players’ game and it always has been a players’ game. With the growth of the women’s game and television, I think theater has become part of the game. I don’t have much time for that."
The quiet gentleman from Philadelphia was responsible for Ohio State making a lot of noise this past season. He was voted The Dispatch Women’s Ohio College Basketball Coach of the Year by his peers for leading the Buckeyes to a 29-3 record and No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The team won 20 straight games before losing to Boston College in the NCAA second round.
What you see is what you get, Buckeyes assistant Debbie Black said. She played for Foster when he was an up-and-coming coach at St. Joseph’s in the late ’80s.
"He might have been a little more animated then, but he’s not a whole lot different," Black said. "He can motivate you in different ways. He has a subtle approach and has a different way of getting his point across."
Black recalls one game that was out of character for Foster.
"He actually fell backward on the sideline," she said. "He was just lying there. It was doubleovertime and it was his reaction of having finally won the game."
Coaches have poked fun at Foster’s studious approach, earning him the nickname "The Professor."
"Coach has his game plan and knows what he wants us to do," center Jessica Davenport said. "There’s a certain level of play he wants from us. But coach doesn’t get animated and he doesn’t expect us to get animated. He just wants us to play the way we are capable of playing."
That doesn’t mean Foster is a robot.
"Coach has his days," Davenport said. "He can get upset. He’ll come out of that calm demeanor. It’s just that he isn’t into the hoopla of the game. He works hard and he demands results. We’ve learned that even after the game, you celebrate with your teammates inside the locker room as a group."
One of Foster’s pet peeves is the media devoting too much time to the so-called game within a game.
"I really dislike some of those clichés like, ‘He’s working the officials’ or ‘He’s into the game because he’s up (walking the sideline),’ " he said. "There’s so much emphasis placed on stuff that really doesn’t matter during a game. I’ve learned that after 28 years not a whole lot will catch you by surprise. You know what’s coming by the amount of tape you watch. Then it’s the players’ turn to perform."
mznidar@dispatch.com