Ohio State
Temple
Buckeyes hold off Temple rally, win 70-66 – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/18/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 18, 2011
Box Score | Game Highlights | Photo Gallery
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Samantha Prahalis and Tayler Hill combined for 44 points Friday evening as No. 24 Ohio State defeated visiting Temple, 70-66, in front of 3,659 fans at Value City Arena.
The win moves Ohio State to 2-0 on the young season while Temple dips to 2-1. It was the second straight win over the Owls after the Buckeyes took last year’s game in Philadelphia.
Temple, the preseason favorite in the Atlantic-10, trailed by 16 points with 10:08 left in the game before rallying to cut the lead to two, 68-66, on a three-pointer by Shey Peddy with 14 seconds remaining. Prahalis was immediately fouled and hit both to put the Buckeyes back up by four to seal the victory.
“At the end of the season (these kinds of games) are what we’re going to look back on,” head coach Jim Foster said. “That’s how you win games. You have to be tough between the ears. I like playing hard nose teams this time of the year. We’re going to practice hard tomorrow.”
The Buckeyes used the free throw line as an ally, hitting 25-of-31 overall, including a combined 13-of-14 from Prahalis and Hill. Amber Stokes, who finished with a career-high 11 points, finished 7-of-8 from the line.
Prahalis and Hill paced the Buckeyes in the opening 20 minutes with 12 and 11 points, respectively. When the Buckeyes weren’t out and running, they ran their offense through center Ashley Adams who found open shooters and had five assists at halftime. She twice found Hill on the perimeter as she drained two deep three’s, including one while getting fouled.
Adams finished with 10 points, eight rebounds and a team-high five assists from her post position. And with freshman starter Kalpana Beach in foul trouble, sophomore Darryce Moore stepped in and played a career-high 23 minutes, grabbing seven rebounds (four offensive) and scoring four points.
The Buckeyes fired out of the gates for the second consecutive game, attacking the basket and forcing 10 first-half turnovers to offset a 20-18 rebounding advantage in the opening half. They forced 16 turnovers for the game from a Temple team that returned four starters from last year.
The Buckeyes are back in action next Tuesday against Howard at Value City Arena. Game time is 7 p.m. ET.
Postgame Notes
- Ohio State moves to 2-0 all-time vs. Temple. Including the 70-66 win Friday night, the Buckeyes beat the Owls in the 2010-11 season opener, 84-75, in Philadelphia.
- The Buckeyes improve to 33-6 all-time against current members of the Atlantic 10 Conference.
- Ohio State is 142-13 at home overall under Jim Foster and 115-9 since the start of the 2004-05 season.
- Jim Foster is 18-8 all-time vs. Temple. He is 2-0 as the Buckeye head coach, was 2-0 as the head coach at Vanderbilt and 14-8 as the coach at Saint Joseph’s.
- After Temple cut the Ohio State lead to four (38-34) in the second half, the Buckeyes went on a 13-2 run to take a 51-36 lead at the 11:54 mark.
- Junior guard Tayler Hill led all scorers with a career-best 24 points (6-for-10 from the field) in 35 minutes. She also tied her career high in 3-pointers made with 3.
- It was a career night for redshirt-junior guard Amber Stokes. Stokes scored a career-high 11 points and pulled down a personal best 7 rebounds in a career-best 30 minutes.
- Sophomore forward Darryce Moore also set a career high in rebounds with 7 and played a personal best 23 minutes.
- Sophomore center Ashley Adams dished out a career-high 5assists and tied her personal best in minutes played with 40.
Postgame Quotes
Tonya Cardoza, Temple head coach
On the end of the game
“I wish it (the energy) was there to start the game. The one thing about our team is we’re going to fight until the end. We’re not a group that gives up. If you follow our team, no matter who we play against, we’re going to play until the very end.”
On Temple’s performance in the second half
“I think defensively we did a better job of stopping them and securing rebounds early on. We gave up offensive rebounds and that hurt us. Down the stretch we didn’t give up those rebounds and we would go down and score. Once a couple of guys started making some shots it gave us some new life. Defensively we picked it up some more.”
On learning from this game
“When you’re playing a team like Ohio State on their home floor you have to do just about everything right. The things we didn’t do right were just disturbing. We created dumb fouls and had two of our best players on the bench with 10 minutes left in the first half. You can’t do those things against a team like Ohio State. If we had come back and won this game, I don’t think that message would have come across the team.”
On Tayler Hill
“She has more confidence. She’s out there handling the ball well. She can do a lot of things with the ball. She’s one of those guys you would love to have on your team.”
On Temple’s game plan
“Our strategy was to make them shoot the ball from the outside. They didn’t shoot enough from the outside. We knew their bigger players were a lot bigger than ours and their guards like to go to the basket. Our strategy was to keep them out of the paint. They scored too many points in the paint and were getting offensive rebounds.”
Jim Foster, Ohio State head coach
On Temple’s comeback
I hope they all come with the intentions to win. You live and you learn. You don’t get better unless you go through experiences like this. Sam (Prahalis) is already analyzing what she did wrong tonight as is Tayler (Hill). That’s why they’re good players.”
On the game
“At the end of the season that’s what we’re going to look back on. That’s how you win games. You have to be tough between the ears. I like playing hard nose teams this time of the year. We’re going to practice hard tomorrow.”
Amber Stokes, sophomore guard
On what Ohio State did well and how the team can improve
“I know we came out hard, like we were supposed to. Coach (Foster) said we played hard for 35 minutes, but the last five minutes we let up. We need to focus for the whole 40 minutes.”
Tayler Hill, junior guard
On Temple’s play
“They didn’t surprise me. I knew they were a guard-oriented team and they were going to come in and play hard.”
On Ohio State’s free throw shooting
“We are probably one of the only teams that work on free throws every day for a good amount of time in practice. It’s important to us.”
On preparing for the game
“I think we did a good job prepping for them, going over their plays and personality. There were a couple things we could have fixed and you learn as you go.”
On Ohio State’s shooting performance
“I think we were taking good shots. They were open shots and high-percentage shots. Players did a good job of finding us. Ashley (Adams) had five assists.”
Samantha Prahalis, senior guard
On Temple’s comeback at the end of the game
“We lost our focus a little bit. I could have done a better job of slowing down and using the clock, but overall we just lost our focus. We could have closed it out better. We shouldn’t have won by only four points.”
On the play of Darryce Moore and Ashley Adams
“I thought Darryce (Moore) did really well. She always has a strong presence in the post and plays hard. That’s what we need, someone who will band around a little bit. Ashley (Adams) always passes well, but tonight she was looking for the guards. It’s not a shock, we knew she could do that.”
