Ohio State Hangs On to Big Ten Title

Marscilla Packer’s three-point shot with 38.4 seconds left helped No. 2 Ohio State stave off Purdue’s second-half comeback and the Buckeyes claimed their first women’s Big Ten tournament title with a 63-60 victory Monday night at Indianapolis.

Jessica Davenport led the Buckeyes (28-2) with 17 points and 14 rebounds. By winning its 19th straight game, Ohio State also earned the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament and made its case for a No. 1 seeding. Erin Lawless had 17 points for the Boilermakers (24-6), who had tied it after trailing, 36-19, at halftime.

West Virginia 56, No. 6 Rutgers 40 -- Britney Davis-White had a career-high 21 points and Chakhia Cole added 18 to help the 12th-seeded Mountaineers (15-15) stun the Scarlet Knights (25-4) in a Big East tournament semifinal at Hartford. Cappie Pondexter scored 21 for Rutgers.

West Virginia will meet Connecticut as the lowest seeded finalist in the tournament’s 23 years.

No. 9 Connecticut 69, DePaul 57 -- Barbara Turner scored 14 points and Ann Strother added 13 to lead the Huskies (28-4) past the Blue Demons (25-6) in the semifinals of the Big East Conference tournament. Khara Smith had 18 points and 10 rebounds to lead DePaul.

No. 22 Temple 59, George Washington 54 -- Candice Dupree scored 25 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and was named the Atlantic 10 tournament’s most outstanding player for the third consecutive season after the Owls (24-7) beat the top-seeded Colonials (22-8) in the title game. Kimberly Beck scored 21 points for the Colonials.

Wisconsin Milwaukee 71, Illinois Chicago 63 -- Traci Edwards scored 24 points at Milwaukee to help the Panthers (22-8) beat the Flames (16-14) in the Horizon League championship game and earn an NCAA tournament bid for the second time.

Jacquay Holmes scored 17 for the Flames.