COLUMBUS — Tomeka Brown made an acrobatic layup at the buzzer to give Ohio State a 61-60 victory over the University of Cincinnati on Wednesday night in the first round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament.

        Brown left her feet and grabbed Caity Matter's desperation heave. Before hitting the floor, she tossed the ball over her head with two hands and it slipped over the rim and through the net as the buzzer sounded.

        Valerie King scored 24 points for the Bearcats, who couldn't hold a 60-52 lead with 2:05 remaining. They committed three turnovers and missed four free throws down the stretch.

        “In that last pass, Caity Matter wanted it more than we did. They were more hungry then we were in that last three seconds,” UC coach Laurie Pirtle said. “But it's a credit to Ohio State; they simply wanted it more.”

        Jamie Lewis started the comeback for Ohio State (18-11) with a layup. Brown made two free throws and Lewis was 1-for-2 at the line to pull the Buckeyes to 60-57 with 1:16 to play.

        The Bearcats were called for traveling on the next possession, and Brown's two free throws made it it 60-59 with 1:04 left.

        The Bearcats (22-10) had two chances to extend their lead in the last 10 seconds, but Laura Wilder missed two free throws with 4.7 seconds to go and two more with 3.3 seconds left.

        After her final miss, Ohio State got the rebound and called a timeout. Inbounding from under her own basket, Emily Haynam threw a baseball pass over half court. Matter went over two defenders to catch the ball, turned and threw up an off-balance 3-point attempt from about 35 feet.

        Her shot fell about a foot short to the left of the rim, but Brown timed her leap perfectly to grab the ball and score.

        “We are young and we are only going to get better,” Pirtle said. “Our kids just played their hearts out. We needed free throws to seal the game, and that just didn't happen.” Lewis scored 22 points for Ohio State.

        CINCINNATI (22-10) — Wilder 2-7 2-4 6, Young 2-2 1-1 5, Douglass 4-9 2-4 10, Sharp 0-4 0-2 0, King 7-20 8-8 24, Hammond 0-0 0-0 0, Merriweather 1-2 0-0 2, Flournoy 3-4 1-3 7, Hostetler 2-3 1-2 6. Totals 21-51 15-24 60.

        OHIO ST. (18-11) — Shackleford 3-5 0-0 6, Coleman 5-9 6-10 16, Brown 1-6 4-4 6, Lewis 7-15 6-8 22, Shenk 2-2 2-2 6, Bale 0-1 0-0 0, Stanhope 0-0 1-1 1, Matter 1-5 0-0 2, Reynolds 1-1 0-0 2, Haynam 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 20-47 19-25 61.

        Halftime—Cincinnati 29, Ohio St. 25. 3-point goals—Cincinnati 3-7 (King 2-4, Hostetler 1-1, Sharp 0-2), Ohio St. 2-10 (Lewis 2-6, Matter 0-3, Haynam 0-1). Fouled out—Young, Coleman. Rebounds— Cincinnati 37 (Douglass 15), Ohio St. 25 (Coleman 7). Assists—Cincinnati 9 (Sharp 4), Ohio St. 8 (Lewis 5). Total fouls—Cincinnati 20, Ohio St. 19. A—1,846.

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