COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Although yesterday's game came down to two free throws with just two seconds remaining the tone of yesterday's game was set long before that.

Ohio State's Nikki Keyton nailed two free throws to give the No. 7 Buckeyes a 73-71 victory over the No. 6 Lady Lions, but the emotion for yesterday's contest began when Penn State routed Ohio State 97-80 on Jan. 27 at Rec Hall.

As the Lady Lions rolled to a sizeable second-half lead in that game, a partisan Rec Hall crowd of 4,215 hurled chants of 'overrated' at the Buckeyes something that stuck with them at last night's game at St. Johns Arena.

"We never really talked about revenge," said Ohio State Coach Nancy Darsch. "I think our players were ticked off by that (chant). We do have pride and we do work hard."

And Keyton, who scored a game-high 17 points, agreed with her coach, saying that yesterday's victory was one of the Buckeye's biggest of the year.

"Coming into the game, we wanted it worse than probably any other game we played this year." Keyton said. "We haven't beaten them since I've been there, and Nancy (Darsch) hasn't beaten them in her 10 years. It feels great that we won."

With the victory, Ohio State claimed sole possession of second place in the Big Ten with a 11-2 conference mark, and that has Darsch thinking about a Big Ten title.

"We feel very much in control," Darsch said. "I think I would be more worried if we lost tonight. We'd be so distraught or concerned that we were out of the championship race. Now we're hopeful."

Penn State on the other hand dropped to 10-3 in the conference and dropped a notch into third place. The Lady Lions trail league-leading Iowa (13-0 in the Big Ten) by three games and with just five Big Ten games left Penn State's title chances took a major blow.

But Penn State Coach Rene Portland isn't ready to throw in the towel yet. With the parity in women's basketball this season, Portland believes that her Lady Lions still have a shot at the Big Ten trophy.

"Anything can happen on any given day," said Portland. "We're going to sit baack and watch everyone else be tired and come into other gyms. For our first time going around in the Big Ten, we are enjoying it, and we'll always keep the Big Ten title (as our goal)."

Ohio State's Darsch thinks that Portland has the right idea, adding that Penn Stat's Rec Hall has turned into one of the nation's most difficult venues for opposing teams.

"It's probably the most difficult place to play in the conference," Darsch said. "And that's a complement to them."