No. 19 Ohio St. 76, Minnesota 62

2/3/2008 5:21 PM

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -Ashlee Trebilcock scored 19 points and No. 19 Ohio State pulled away in the second half for a 76-62 victory over Minnesota on Sunday.

Ohio State (17-5, 8-3 Big Ten) held a 32-27 halftime lead despite the absence of Marscilla Packer for nearly the first 11 minutes.

Packer, the second leading scorer for the Buckeyes at 14.8 points, did not start for the first time this season for undisclosed reasons. She had two points in the first half but hit three consecutive 3-pointers and a field goal in the lane over a 3-minute stretch to give the Buckeyes a 54-43 lead with 12:09 remaining.

The Gophers (15-8, 6-5) never got closer than 10 the rest of the way.

Packer finished with 16 points while Jantel Lavender had 12 points and Tamarah Riley had 11.

Leslie Knight had 16 points for the Gophers, 17 less than she had in Minnesota's 79-70 win over the Buckeyes on Jan. 24. Zoe Harper added 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Minnesota has never won in 23 tries in Columbus and trails the series 46-9.