No. 19 Ohio St. 71, Washington 54

12/16/2007 8:51 PM

By TIM BOOTH
AP Sports Writer

SEATTLE (AP) -Marscilla Packer had to spend two weeks sitting around and waiting before getting another opportunity to snap out of a dismal shooting slump.

It didn't take long.

Packer scored 14 of her 18 points in a nearly flawless first half by Ohio State, and the No. 19 Buckeyes didn't slow down despite having two weeks off, beating Washington 71-54 on Sunday.

``It felt good to make a couple of shots again,'' Packer said.

In her previous three games, Packer shot a combined 7-for-37 and scored 20 total points, two of those games were losses to Auburn and Maryland.

Packer quickly found her shot on Sunday, hitting an open 3-pointer on the first possession of the game. She made 7 of 16 shots and four 3-pointers.

While Packer was knocking down open shots from the outside, Jantel Lavender and Star Allen were dominating the interior, as the Buckeyes (7-2) had no problem with the Huskies despite not playing since Dec. 2.

Lavender finished with 14 points and Allen had 10 points and 10 rebounds. Ashlee Trebilcock also scored 10 points for Ohio State, including three 3s. The Buckeyes were 8-for-15 on 3s.

Ohio State coach Jim Foster wasn't pleased with the Buckeyes' second half, getting outscored 33-26 and turning the ball over 15 turnovers. But the first half was impressive enough for Ohio State, who played just its third road game of the season and its final test away from Columbus before the start of Big 10 Conference play on Dec. 30 at No. 21 Michigan State.

``When we push the tempo and reversal the ball we're a pretty good basketball team,'' Foster said. ``When we stand still or don't reverse the ball, we're not a good basketball team. We have some talented players who have to learn what a 40-minute, every-possession-game is.''

Freshman Katelan Redmon led Washington with 11 points and Jess McCormick added 10 off the bench. But the Huskies (4-7) shot a mere 26.5 percent in the first half and could never recover from two scoring droughts of nearly 11 minutes combined. The Huskies lost their third straight, all by more than 17 points. Six of their seven losses have been by at least 15.

Coach Tia Jackson unexpectedly went to a platoon system in the second half, pressing the Buckeyes and turning the game into a sloppy, up-and-down final 20 minutes that left the Huskies first-year coach optimistic.

``The Huskies played the second half and I don't know who it was the first half,'' Jackson said. ``That's the way we should have been playing.''

Having not played since a win over Ole Miss, any rust for Ohio State lasted all of about 6 minutes.

Sami Whitcomb's basket with 13:33 left gave Washington a 13-12 lead, but Ohio State scored 12 of the next 15 points and outscored the Huskies 33-8 to close the half.

Packer scored eight points during the run, including consecutive 3s to give the Buckeyes their first double-digit lead at 27-16. Trebilcock capped the half with a pair of 3s, as the Buckeyes shot 51 percent, outrebounded Washington 28-14 and had 11 second-chance points. Ohio State outrebounded Washington 43-26 for the game.

Washington went 6:38 between Whitcomb's basket and Redmon's 3-pointer with 6:55 left, then went scoreless for another 4:17 late in the half.

``We went in the locker room and we were like, 'we're down 20 something?''' Washington's Emily Florence said. ``We were with them the first 4 minutes.''