New Years Eve in the B1G

[Ignatius L Hoops]

Game 1: Rutgers (1-1) ran out to an 18-4 1st quarter lead and defeated Penn State (0-2) at the RAC, 61-45. PSU played without Teniya Page who was on the bench with some of her fingers bandaged. The announcers said that according to Coquese Washington the benching was not due to discipline or academics.

Rutgers looked good at times. Their trademark press forced 19 Penn State turnovers (13 of which were steals). The Scarlet Knights hit 25-52 from the field and 7-17 from three. Penn State struggled offensively, making only 16-60. Rutgers even threw in 10 blocks to keep the Lady Lions under control.

Next up on CBS: Ohio State at Indiana

 

[tripledouble]

Rutgers plays hard. They're a bit offensively-challenged (although not today), but they play good defense. PSU off to an 0-2 start in the BIG, probably not what they expected.

 

[Ignatius L Hoops]

The final three games finished as expected:

Ohio State (2-0) took down the Hoosiers (1-1) in Bloomington 92-82. The Buckeyes led 48-29 at the half. Indiana made some small runs in the second half making OSU work; but Kelsey Mitchell and the crew kept things fairly comfortable. K Mitchell finished with 31 and IU's Cahill posted 28 points and 9 rebounds (she had 20 and 8 against PSU). She'll be a pain in the butt for the Gophers.

In Iowa City, the Hawkeyes defeated Nebraska 75-72. The Hawkeyes led 39-36 at the half. Nebraska took a lead early in the second half before the Iowa took over and I let my attention wander to other things. However, with 2:05 remaining and Iowa leading 75-63, the the Hawks stopped scoring. Nebraska cut the lead to three with 9 seconds left. Chase Coley was fouled and missed two free throws. Grabbing the rebound, Nebraska quickly scrambled down court and Whitish missed an open three pointer. Gustafson scored 22 with 9 rebounds and Shepard finished with 28 points and 8 rebounds.

In Evanston, Northwestern (2-0) made straightforward work of Purdue (0-1), 76-60. The start of the game featured a 10 minute delay to get the clock operating correctly. Joe Mckeown also changed up the Wildcats starting lineup sitting Rhode and Hamilton. After all of that, Northwestern led 20-19 at the end of one. Nia Coffey led the Wildcats with 19 points, 8 rebounds and 5 turnovers.