No. 5 Ohio State 74, Wisconsin 51

1/18/2007 11:09 PM

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -Ohio State owns the Big Ten.

Jessica Davenport scored 16 points, Brandie Hoskins added 15 and the fifth-ranked Buckeyes beat Wisconsin 74-51 on Thursday night for their 22nd consecutive conference victory.

``They're just solid from top to bottom, there's no question about it,'' Wisconsin coach Lisa Stone said. ``They are a team that you can play with for a little while, but they are methodical in what they do and they do it well. They hang along long enough just to keep sticking it to you.''

Sophomore forward Star Allen had 14 points for the Buckeyes (16-1, 5-0 Big Ten), who took a 35-24 halftime lead and then went on a 27-9 run in the second half to put the game out of reach.

Ohio State ran its overall winning streak to nine with a balanced offense. The Buckeyes are one win short of tying the best start in program history, when they were 17-1 in 1973-74 and finished 18-2.

Jolene Anderson scored 25 points to lead the Badgers (13-6, 2-4), who have lost two straight.

Davenport, a 6-foot-5 senior center, moved within five points of 2,000 for her career. With Ohio State leading 68-41 with just more than six minutes left, coach Jim Foster pulled her for the rest of the game.

The Buckeyes held the Badgers to 29 percent shooting (20-for-69) from the field. The Badgers missed 19 of their first 21 shots.

Ohio State got off to a strong start, taking a 20-6 lead. The Buckeyes got the ball inside and Davenport converted layups, scoring eight points during that stretch.

Davenport was pleased with the Buckeyes' ball movement.

``We came out pretty strong, just moving the ball, executing offense and defense and I think that helped out a lot when we come out to great starts,'' Davenport said.

The Badgers pulled within 11 at halftime but became frustrated with the Buckeyes' 2-3 zone defense and never posed a serious threat in the second half.

Foster thought Ohio State did a good job of keeping control of the pace of the game.

``I thought our defense was good,'' Foster said. ``Some of our thought process was that they shoot quickly and that we needed to be ready for that. We didn't want to get in that kind of game.''