The Ohio State women's basketball team has heard clearly the harsh reviews of its disappointing season, which got a little less so with Sunday's 83-76 victory over the Gophers at Williams Arena.

The Buckeyes (15-9, 6-6 Big Ten) climbed to .500 in conference play with a victory that was considerably closer than the final score would indicate.

"A lot of people say we're heartless on the road, and when we get down we don't play as hard," said Buckeyes sophomore Tayler Hill, a Minneapolis South graduate who had 19 points and seven assists while playing all 40 minutes. "I think we showed today -- we got down, we got up and then we lost the lead and came back -- that we can fight through it."

Hill shined in a supporting role to senior center Jantel Lavender, the three-time reigning Big Ten Player of the Year. Lavender had 29 points and nine rebounds and became Ohio State's all-time scoring leader with 2,606 points. She passed former Lynx star Katie Smith, the previous leader at 2,578.

The Gophers (11-14, 3-9) had second-half leads of 50-46 and 62-60, and tied it 71-71 on a basket by Kristen Dockery with 2:39 to play. Samantha Prahalis, who had an otherwise forgettable shooting performance (5-for-13), drained a three-pointer on the ensuing possession to give OSU the lead for good.

Hill went 8-for-8 on free throws in the final 3:07, including six in the final 1:35. After Dockery's basket, the Gophers failed to score until Jackie Voigt hit a three-pointer with 38.4 seconds left that made it 78-74.

"I was very proud of our kids' fight and their effort, and playing to the bitter end against a very good team with a three-time All-American [Lavender]," Gophers coach Pam Borton said. "I think our team is progressing."

The Gophers got 23 points and six assists from guard Kiara Buford, 18 points and two blocks from center Katie Loberg and 17 points and nine rebounds from Voigt.

The Gophers had a 40-32 edge in rebounding, but committed 16 turnovers -- nine more than the Buckeyes. The difference, Borton said, was Minnesota's failure to get defensive stops after tying the score late.

"They've got an All-American center, and Tayler is the one kid on their team that can get to the rim," Borton said. "Tayler, at the end of the game, did what she needed to do to get to the foul line."