OHIO STATE 68, OAKLAND 45: The top-seeded Buckeyes (29-2) went repeatedly to 6-5 Jessica Davenport, who had a double-double in the first half and finished with 19 points and 18 rebounds -- a school record for boards in an NCAA tournament game.
NCAA Women's Tournament Roundup--The Daily Southtown
Ohio State 68, Oakland 45
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Jessica Davenport, the Big Ten Conference's Player of the Year, had a double-double in the first half and finished with 19 points and 18 rebounds as the top-seeded Buckeyes (29-2) beat Oakland (15-16).
Senior Hafeli concludes her career in fine style--The Detroit Free Press
Ohio State brings Oakland back down to earth--The Detroit Free Press
For most fans, NCAAs are still about big schools
Powerful Buckeyes too much for Grizzlies--The Oakland Press
OU seniors go out on a high--The Oakland Press
PALACE NOTEBOOK--The Oakland Press
Time to stash OU’s special floor
By KEITH DUNLAP and BILL ROOSE Of The Oakland Press
AUBURN HILLS — If you watched the NCAA tournament games at The Palace in person or on TV, it was hard to miss.
The gigantic advertisement for Oakland University that covered nearly the entire court was well worth the expense, school officials say.
Unfortunately, the beautiful floor, which was specifically made and brought to The Palace for the six NCAA games, might be headed back to its maker, Horner Floor, in the Upper Peninsula.
OU senior associate athletic director Tracy Huth said the school received special permission from the NCAA for the floor’s design, which included a mammoth “Oakland University” written in cursive.
“People have seen it, they like it,” Huth said. “We’ve got the games against Michigan State here in a few years. We’re hoping that a couple, two, three years, down the road, we can expand our building and have a practice facility. That would be a natural place to store it, but right now, we have a storage issue.”
Beginning next season, the Grizzlies enter a five-year contract to play the Spartans. The Grizzlies’ two home games will be played at The Palace during the 2008-09 and 2010-11 seasons. If the school can find suitable storage, it will keep the floor and use it for the OU-MSU games in Auburn Hills.
“We had originally agreed to allow (Horner Floor) to broker the floor; they could find somebody else that wanted to buy it,” Huth said.
An immediate issue surrounding the floor called for its removal from The Palace so that the Pistons’ floor can be re-installed prior to tonight’s NBA game against Atlanta.
Following Sunday’s last game, the floor — which cost OU an estimated $85,000 — was loaded into a semi-tractor trailer and awaited its fate.
“The floor has been beneficial from the standpoint of the calls that I’ve gotten from the administrators on campus, that have said, ‘We couldn’t ask for anything more,’ ” Huth said. “It certainly has generated some exposure for us.”
Home of the Braves
It’s been 12 years since Bradley did away with its Indian mascot and all Native American references to its athletic department.
Despite those changes, the NCAA cited Bradley and 17 other schools for nicknames that the association deems “hostile and abusive.”
Last year, the NCAA ruled that schools with insensitive Native American nicknames or mascots are prohibited from using these mascots and logos at NCAA-sponsored events.
Next month, Bradley officials hope to get a reprieve from the NCAA Management Council, which is scheduled to hear the Braves’ final appeal.
Bradley was the only school at The Palace this weekend without a mascot.
Gansey cramps up
West Virginia senior and second-leading scorer Mike Gansey entered this weekend’s games worried about an abdominal strain that he suffered in a Big East tournament loss to Pittsburgh last week.
On Sunday, that was the least of his health concerns.
With 7:26 left to play and his team ahead 53-40, both of Gansey’s calves cramped up on a missed layup attempt. Northwestern State was then 5-on-4 the other way and took advantage when Clifton Lee hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 53-43 with 7:18 remaining.
Gansey had to leave the game to get massaged and returned shortly thereafter, but had to leave the game again with cramps with just over four minutes remaining.
He didn’t return, but the Mountaineers managed to hang on without him.
“For us to win the game while I had cramps, that’s a credit to my teammates,” Gansey said.
Sunday crowd
Even though Kansas and Iowa fans returned second-round tickets to The Palace following their teams’ first-round exits on Friday, Sunday’s games (one session) drew 19,689 fans.
Ohio State 68, Oakland 45--The Indy Star
Ohio State was too big, too strong and too athletic for 16th-seeded Oakland at Mackey Arena.
The top-seeded Buckeyes (29-2) took advantage of a huge size disparity inside, going repeatedly to 6-5 Jessica Davenport and 6-1 Debbie Merrill as they rolled in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Davenport, the Big Ten Conference's Player of the Year, had a double-double in the first half and finished with 19 points and 18 rebounds -- a school record for boards in an NCAA Tournament game. Merrill had 23 points, four rebounds and four assists.
They combined to hit 20-of-29 shots while the rest of the Buckeyes were 12-of-40.
Oakland (15-16), the Mid-Continent Conference champion, was led by Nicole Piggott with 14 points and eight rebounds. It was the Golden Grizzlies' second NCAA Tournament appearance.
Oakland Falls 68-45 to Ohio State in NCAA First Round--OUGrizzlies.com
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