Around the Oval: Wednesday, November 20

  
No. 1 Ranked Logan Stieber

Around the Oval is Eleven Warriors' weekly love letter to Ohio State sports that don't get the coverage they should.

With the end of the fall sports season just around the corner, winter sports are beginning to pick up.

While the men's basketball team stole the headlines with a dominating 52-35 victory over Marquette, the wrestling team took to the mats for their first team match of the season.

After a couple of impressive showings in open tournaments, the Buckeyes defeated Notre Dame College (Ohio), 29-11, in their home opener. Nick Roberts, Johnni DiJulius, Logan Stieber, Ian Paddock, Randy Languis, Joe Grandominico and Kenny Courts all won matches for the Buckeyes. 

Head coach Tom Ryan was pleased with the effort, but still sees plenty of room to improve.

"The energy was good, but we lost a couple critical individual matches," Ryan said. "We had a great team win, but we need to work on individual battles."

Ohio State is currently ranked No. 9 in the country, while Logan Stieber is the top-ranked wrestler nationally in the 141-pound weight class.  The Buckeyes travel to Durham, N.C. to take on the Duke Blue Devils, Friday.

Join us after the jump for the latest on Ohio State's smaller sports.

Women's Basketball

The Lady Buckeyes split a pair of games this week, defeating VCU at home, 83-71, before falling on the road to Georgia, 53-49. They are now 3-1 on the season.

Buckeyes' top scorer Ameryst Alston

Against VCU, it was senior Darryce Moore leading the way for Ohio State, with a career-high 20 points and 10 rebounds in her second straight double-double. To top it off, Moore finished the game shooting a perfect 9 for 9 from the field. Ashley Adams chipped in with 20 points, nine boards and six assists, while Ameryst Alston added 14 points.

On Sunday the Lady Buckeyes lost their first game of the season to no. 22 Georgia in Athens. Leading 33-29 at halftime, Ohio State couldn't withstand a 14-2 run by Georgia early in the second half, eventually losing by four. Ameryst Alston led the way for the Bucks, scoring 22 points, while Darryce Moore and Ashley Adams controlled the glass with 10 rebounds apiece.

The Buckeyes look to bounce back this weekend when they host Old Dominion on Friday, Marist on Saturday and Bowling Green on Sunday.

Cross Country

Both cross country teams were in action this past weekend, competing in the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championships. Coincidentally, both teams finished seventh in their respective divisions, with neither team qualifying for the NCAA National Championships.

However, Katie Borchers finished 12th in the female division and earned one of four individual bids to the National Championships this Saturday in Terre Haute, Indiana. Borchers and teammate Michelle Thomas were named to the All-Regional team, as Thomas placed 25th with a time of 21:00.

For the men, Nick Pupino earned All-Regional honors, finishing 20th overall with a time of 30:55.  Also scoring for Ohio State were Michael Brajdic (37th, 31:25), Brian Hannaford (38th, 31:26), Blake Taneff (50th, 31:43) and Curtis Hanle (57th, 31:51).

Women's Soccer

The Lady Bucks season came to a close on Friday as they fell to Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA tournament, 3-1.  After a scoreless first half, Kentucky took a 2-0 lead on a pair of goals in a span of three minutes early in the second half. Ohio State cut the lead to 2-1 in the 73rd minute when Nichelle Prince found the back of the net for her team-leading 13th goal of the season. Kentucky responded less than three minutes later, stretching the lead to 3-1 and putting the game away for good.

Ohio State finishes the season at 10-7-3 (4-5-2), while the senior class graduates with 55 career wins, the second-most in school history. In addition, freshman Nichelle Prince's 13 goals are the second most in school history by any player, as she is certainly a cornerstone for the Lady Bucks to build around for the next few seasons.

UPCOMING Home EVENTS

Friday: Women's Volleyball vs. Illinois, 7 p.m., St. John Arena

          Women's Basketball vs. Old Dominion, 8 p.m., Value City Arena

          Men's and Women's Swimming, Ohio State Invitational, All Day, McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion

Saturday: Women's Volleyball vs. Northwestern, 8:30 p.m., St. John Arena

              Women's Basketball vs. Marist, 8:30 pm, Value City Arena

              Men's and Women's Swimming, Ohio State Invitational, All Day, McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion

Sunday: Women's Basketball vs. Bowling Green, 3:30 p.m., Value City Arena

            Men's and Women's Swimming, Ohio State Invitational, All Day, McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion

Tuesday: Women's Ice Hockey vs. Robert Morris, 7:07 p.m., OSU Ice Rink

Wednesday: Women's Volleyball vs. Penn State, 7 p.m., St. John Arena

                  Women's Basketball vs. Lehigh, 7 p.m., Value City Arena