Buckeyes hope to top Big Ten ranks

By ANN TATKO
Collegian Sports Writer

This weekend, Ohio State could be the potential spoiler for one Big Ten women's basketball team.

The Buckeyes get a chance to knock off one of the two conference leaders -- Purdue and Penn State -- to close out the regular season.

The scenario was set on Jan. 21 when the Boilermakers stomped on the Lady Lions, 57-43, to take a half-game lead in the Big Ten. Since then, Penn State (20-4, 11-3 Big Ten) and Purdue (20-6, 12-3) have continued to rack up conference wins and rise in the national rankings -- to No. 8 and No. 13, respectively.

Now the two defending conference co-champions head into the home stretch this weekend almost neck and neck.

While the Lady Lions must first travel to Michigan State on Friday, the key weekend opponent is Ohio State (14-10, 7-7). If Penn State wins both contests and Purdue loses its game, the Lady Lions win the conference. If Purdue wins, the best Penn State can do is share the crown.

Purdue tackles the Buckeyes first in Columbus on Friday. Then Penn State gets them at home on Sunday.

Despite losing two conference games over the weekend, Ohio State seemingly has an edge in the games this weekend.

In late December, Ohio State beat Penn State, 78-63, and Purdue, 71-68. The Buckeyes also have power forward Katie Smith, who averages 22.2 points per game and has scored in double figures in all but one game this season.

Purdue and Penn State have also been dealt blows to their lineups this season.

The Lady Lions have played the last two weekends without starting their leading scorer and rebounder, Angie Potthoff, who's battling back from exhaustion. Meanwhile, Purdue has been without its leading rebounder, Leslie Johnson, who left the team for personal reasons.

But Purdue Coach Lin Dunn said the loss of Johnson has not hampered her team.

"Other people just stepped up and played, and I think that's been a characteristic of this team -- our depth," Dunn said. "Basically, we're pushing the ball up and down the floor a little bit faster. I think we've become a little bit more versatile in that we mix up who's in the block and who's at the high post. But other than that, the system's pretty much the same."

Penn State has also found an effective mix in the last few games with Kim Calhoun starting at center and Potthoff coming in off the bench. Calhoun scored a career-high 20 points in Sunday's win over Minnesota, with Potthoff contributing 17 points.

But Portland wasn't pleased with the team's attitude of redeeming an early season loss to the Gophers.

"I don't like games where revenge is a motive," Portland said. "There's a sign in our locker room that says, 'Don't get to March and ask for a second chance.' It's not going to be there. We have two games left, and we need to take them one at a time."

Then March will come, and with it, for the first time since 1982, the Big Ten tournament, March 3-6.

Penn State's position heading into that tournament will depend greatly on how the Lady Lions fair this weekend. This season, not only is the Big Ten title on the line but also the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament, where the automatic NCAA tournament bid will go to the winner.