Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 4, 1993 TAG: 9304040170
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ATLANTA LENGTH: Medium
OHIO STATE BEATS IOWA IN OT
The reward for the unofficial Big Ten women's basketball championship was a berth in the NCAA title game.Ohio State, which split a pair of regular-season games with Iowa, slipped past the Hawkeyes 73-72 in the second overtime contest in the 11-year history of the Women's Final Four.
Third-ranked Ohio State (28-3) will try to become the first Big Ten team to win the women's championship when it meets No. 5 Texas Tech (30-3) today at 4:04 p.m. at the Omni.
The second semifinal provided all the suspense that Texas Tech's 60-44 victory over Vanderbilt lacked. There were 13 lead changes, the last when Ohio State's Nikki Keyton made one of two free throws with 33.5 seconds left.
Iowa (28-4) had two more chances to take the lead, the last when point guard Laurie Aaron tripped over teammate Kathy Marx's foot and turned the ball over as coach Vivian Stringer was trying to call timeout.
It was the second week in a row in which a timeout signal figured prominently in an Ohio State victory. The Buckeyes beat Virginia 75-73 in the East Region final when UVa coach Debbie Ryan called timeout moments before Dena Evans swished a 3-pointer.
Stringer was not clear whether she was trying to get the officials' attention or just Aaron's, but there was no mistaking that she wanted time to set up a play.
"Obviously, we would have liked to do something a little different," Stringer said. "I think [Aaron] got a little caught up in the moment. We're seldom in that situation."
Aaron said, "I couldn't hear her. I couldn't see her. But if anybody is calling timeout, whether it's a player or not, it's the responsibility of the refs to notice them."
Aaron, who had four points in the first half, scored 15 of Iowa's last 23 points, including a pair of free throws with 2:45 left in overtime that put the Hawkeyes ahead 70-67.
Ohio State tied it with 2:22 left on a 3-pointer by Audrey Burcy, the Buckeyes' third 3-pointer of the overtime, and went ahead on a pair of Katie Smith free throws with 1:47 left.
Smith, an 81.7-percent free-throw shooter, later missed a one-and-one that gave Iowa a chance to win on its last possession and she was visibly shaken after the game. She missed three one-and-ones against Virginia.
"I have not lost any confidence in Katie's shooting ability and I hope she has not," Ohio State coach Nancy Darsch said. "She has been at the line so many times [at various levels] and has always come through."
Smith finished with only 11 points - well under her 18.0 average - but it was her baseline drive and twisting layup with 10 seconds left in regulation that forced the overtime at 61-61.
Ohio State had four double-figure scorers, led by 5-9 senior Averill Roberts with 16 points. Roberts had averaged fewer than 10 points in two regular-season meetings with the Hawkeyes.
"Averill Roberts has not come to the show every other time we have played," Stringer said, "[but] my biggest concern has always been Averill because I've seen a lot of tapes and knew what she could do." \
see microfilm for box score