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Prahalis scores 23 points for Ohio State in win

Jan 29, 2010 - 4:02 AM COLUMBUS, Ohio(AP) -- Samantha Prahalis is doing her best to make up for Monday's miss.

The sophomore guard had 23 points, 10 assists, six rebounds and no turnovers in 31 minutes Thursday night for No. 4 Ohio State in an 81-58 victory over Minnesota.

"I don't think you can't take it personally," she said of her missed layup that would've tied it Monday night, a game Ohio State lost 63-61 at Purdue and snapped the Buckeye's 12-game winning streak.

"I wanted to get back out and play and play better than I did Monday," she said. "I'm never going to wash that away. I've just got to play better. I owe it to my team to be there mentally and physically the whole game. Monday I really wasn't."

Jantel Lavender added 20 and 11 rebounds for the Buckeyes (21-2, 9-1 Big Ten). Kiara Buford led Minnesota (11-9, 4-5) with 14 points and Zoe Harper had 13.

Prahalis was all over the court against the Gophers and had 19 points and nine assists in the first half as Ohio State took a 55-26 lead.

"She played a great game," Lavender said. "She took her time. She delivered the ball. She was a great leader. You couldn't really see any mistakes."

Among Prahalis' passing gems were a half-court chest pass to Lavender; a full-length lob to a streaking Tayler Hill and a no-look, between the legs back pass to Sarah Schulze that gave the Buckeyes a 24-13 lead.

The Gophers were trying to match last season's 59-56 win in Columbus - Ohio State's only loss at home to an unranked team in 108 games - and were at 19-13 after 7 minutes thanks to hitting all three 3-pointers.

But Ohio State's transition game was too much for the Gophers, who trailed by 35 with 5:30 to play before making the score respectable against the Buckeyes' reserves.

"It was an absolutely embarrassing display of basketball by our team tonight," Minnesota coach Pam Borton said. "I don't think anybody showed up to play. Very disappointing."

Ohio State coach Jim Foster sensed his team was eager to get back on the court and so was he.

"I'm just glad I'm not a football coach. They play once a week; two days and we're back. We keep playing games," he said. "You have to snap back. You can't get down. You can't pout. You just have to clear your head."

Minnesota, who hosts Indiana on Sunday, has lost all three games since starting guard China Antoine (knee surgery) was injured.

"We're absolutely a completely different team (without her) - defensive pressure, point guard-wise, handling pressure, scoring," Borton said. "The past three games we've struggled on both ends of the floor."