Lack of focus costly for OSU women

Ohio State's Emilee Harmon (left) battles for the ball with Minnesota's Kionna Kellogg during the Buckeyes' 76-65 loss in Minneapolis on Sunday.

Andy King/associated press photo Ohio State's Emilee Harmon (left) battles for the ball with Minnesota's Kionna Kellogg during the Buckeyes' 76-65 loss in Minneapolis on Sunday.

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Wire reports 11:13 PM Sunday, January 29, 2012

MINNEAPOLIS — The road caught the Ohio State women’s basketball team on Sunday afternoon in Williams Arena in the manner of a crocodile inviting a careless zebra home to dinner.

The water looked inviting until Big Ten rival Minnesota rose up to surprise the ninth-ranked Buckeyes 76-65 in front of 5,626 frenzied fans.

In the aftermath, a dour Ohio State coach Jim Foster acknowledged that his team got what it deserved at every level.

“They outplayed us,” Foster said.

“They outworked us. I didn’t do a very good job of preparing us between the ears. We were undisciplined and unfocused at the beginning of the game.”

In a rerun of the first half in Thursday night’s game at Indiana, the Buckeyes (20-2, 7-2) couldn’t catapult a boulder into the ocean for the first 20 minutes. The team that entered the game with a conference-best field-goal percentage of 47.8 was 8 of 35 from the field in the first half.

The Gophers (12-11, 4-5) took a 34-28 lead into the break and refused to let go despite multiple OSU challenges in the second half. The Buckeyes were never able to get closer than a 34-33 deficit with 18:10 to play.

Rachel Banham and Sari Noga blunted that particular charge with a pair of three-pointers.

Tayler Hill finished with 26 points, and Samantha Prahalis had 25 to move past 1,800 for her career.

No. 6 Kentucky 82, Alabama 68: Keyla Snowden scored 14 points and A’dia Mathies added 13 as Kentucky (20-2, 9-0 SEC) moved within one game of matching the best start in school history. The Wildcats are vying for their first Southeastern Conference title in 30 years.

Men’s highlights

No. 7 North Carolina 93, Georgia Tech 81: Harrison Barnes scored 23 points and North Carolina hit 10 3-pointers in ending a four-game losing streak to Georgia Tech.

Tyler Zeller added 17 points for the Tar Heels (18-3, 5-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), who have won 12 of 13 games and extended their school-record home winning streak to 31 games.

No. 16 Indiana 103, Iowa 89: Freshman Cody Zeller scored a season-high 26 points for Indiana which handed Iowa its third straight loss.

Zeller made 11 of 12 shots and had four assists and three steals for the Hoosiers (17-5, 5-5 Big Ten), who scored more than 100 points in a conference game for the first time since defeating Iowa 110-79 on March 12, 1995.

Josh Oglesby scored a season-high 24 points and Matt Gatens added 20 for Iowa (11-11, 3-6), which shot 63 percent from the field, but committed 17 turnovers.

Notre Dame 50, No. 24 Connecticut 48: Eric Atkins scored 13 points and Jerian Grant hit three key free throws late as Notre Dame got its third straight win and handed Connecticut its third straight loss.

The loss spoiled the return of freshman guard Ryan Boatright for Connecticut (14-6, 4-4), who missed the last three games amid an NCAA investigation into his eligibility. He finished with six points.

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