PITTSBURGH - Another NCAA Tournament dream went up in smoke last night for the Ohio State women's basketball team as surely as a bracket clipped from a newspaper and dropped on a bonfire.
In this case, Mississippi State burned second-seeded Ohio State at its own game in the Petersen Events Center and effectively reversed the order of their most recent encounter - at the same point of the tournament last season in Columbus.
The Bulldogs, the seventh seed in the Dayton Regional, built a 37-9 edge on points off turnovers and sent the Big Ten champion Buckeyes (31-5) home with an 87-67 second-round loss.
When it was over, there weren't enough tears to put out the emotional flames burning in the Ohio State locker room.
"We just didn't play like us, really," junior forward Sarah Schulze said. "We let them just control how we were playing. It was like we were scared of them when we were on offense. Whenever they started getting up in us, we just backed off. I don't know why."
Mississippi State senior guard Alexis Rack led the assault with a 30-point performance that included going 6 of 11 on three-pointers and knifing drives to the basket. Chanel Mokango had 19 points on 9-of-11 shooting, and Mary Kathryn Govero knocked down 5 of 6 three-pointers.
"We just weren't moving our feet (on defense) like we're capable of," junior Brittany Johnson said. "They kept getting buckets, and we had to make stops. We needed to start our defense at the three-point line with high hands. We didn't."
The Bulldogs (21-12) also played better defense. They smothered Jantel Lavender for most of the game. The All-America center had 17 points but wasn't a factor.
Point guard Samantha Prahalis struggled, as well. She finished with 10 of Ohio State's 24 turnovers. Prahalis also fouled out with 4:22 to play. She was whistled for a technical after a Mississippi State player hit her in the head and she didn't get the call.
"The girl punched me in my head and it wasn't called," a tearful Prahalis said. "I said, 'Why didn't you call it?' and she blew the tech.
"It was just frustration. I can't let it get to that point. I've got to be the leader, regardless. It's just disappointing to go out like that."
The Buckeyes actually led for much of the first half behind the three-point shooting of Schulze and Johnson. But the Bulldogs dug in behind Rack, who scored 20 points before the break, and closed the half with a 20-2 run to take a 46-34 lead.
"We knew whatever the score was, sooner or later we would turn it up," Rack said.
Schulze viewed the swing differently.
"We just stopped playing halfway through the first half," she said. "It was like we had no heart on defense."
The Bulldogs showed plenty.
"We just basically got outworked on the defensive end," Lavender said. "Mississippi State was just more aggressive and went to the glass harder. They wanted to make it to the next round, and they played like that."
The Bulldogs advance to the regional semifinals against third-seeded Florida State. The Buckeyes go home.
"Tonight, they were good. We, between the ears, lost it," Ohio State coach Jim Foster said. "A lot of things go into it."
jmassie@dispatch.com