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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff said his team accomplished what it set out to do Saturday in a blowout win over less-talented NIU Brooklyn: The Buckeyes improved. Junior Guerra Jersey .Sierra Calhoun scored 22 points and Kelsey Mitchell added 21 as No. 7 Ohio State routed the Northeast Conference team 113-54.Obviously, today was going to be more about us, and how we handled this game and this situation, McGuff said. Because were really trying to focus on ourselves and getting better, and we did that. If we were going make it about the score or something like that, then we were going to get distracted and caught up in some things that we shouldnt be doing.The more aggressive Buckeyes had 18 steals and with a size advantage inside, outrebounded the Blackbirds 56 to 30.Makayla Waterman added 15 points and nine rebounds for Ohio State, and Kiara Lewis had 12 points. Tori McCoy had nine points and 12 rebounds.I think we played good as a team, Calhoun said. I felt like the ball was moving a lot more than it normally does. I feel like were getting better as a team gradually as the games go on.Drew Winter led LIU Brooklyn with 12 points, and Brianna Farris Drew had 10. The Blackbirds are winless in their first three starts.Mitchell, an All-American and arguably the Big Tens best player, was her usual hot-shooting self, going 8 for 11 from the floor, hitting four 3-pointers and dishing five assists.With a front-court size advantage of a couple inches, Ohio State (3-1) dominated under the basket, logging 62 points in the paint compared with zero by the Blackbirds. Ohio State shot 50.4 percent from the floor, while LIU Brooklyn made just 31.5 percent of its shots.Ohio States 11-0 run to begin the game set the tone. The Buckeyes led 32-8 after the first period on the strength of Duke transfer Calhouns 5 for 5 shooting from beyond the arc. The Blackbirds played better in the second period but still trailed 59-20 at the half. Ohio State led by 53 after three quarters.My team did a great job of finding me after they saw I was hitting all those 3s, Calhoun said. Once that first shot goes in your confidence goes up, and I just kept shooting.LIU Brooklyn coach Stephanie Oliver said there were bright spots for her team.It prepared us for our conference, she said. Look, we can score 54 points on a good basketball team. Our out-of-bounds plays work, our offense works. If we can execute against them and get better against them, its really going to help us down the line.BIG PICTURELIU Brooklyn: After their third straight loss by double-digits to open the season, the Blackbirds have much room for improvement.Ohio State: The Buckeyes lighter preconference schedule continues, giving them a chance to work out the bugs before the tougher games begin. They did what they were supposed to do against a less-talented team.Playing teams like this helps us out executing plays, doing the little things, making nice passes, posting up well, McCoy said. It was a learning experience for all of us.INJURY REPORTOhio State forward Stephanie Mavunga got the day off because of what McGuff described as general soreness.POLL IMPLICATIONSOhio State likely will stay put at or around No. 7.UP NEXTLIU Brooklyn: Plays University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Friday night at the TD Bank Classic in Burlington, Vermont.Ohio State: Travels to Fort Myers to play Florida Gulf Coast.---Follow Mitch Stacy at http://twitter.com/mitchstacy Bobby Wahl Brewers Jersey .Y. -- The Buffalo Sabres have placed centre Cody Hodgson on injured reserve and recalled two players from their AHL affiliate in Rochester. Jordan Lyles Jersey .C. Lions has come to an end. Banks told TSN on Jan 2 that he had no interest in playing out the option year of his contract with the Lions in 2014, and he again made that clear in a conversation with Lions GM Wally Buono last week. https://www.cheapbrewers.com/249y-jay-ja...ey-brewers.html . -- Running backs Darren McFadden and Rashad Jennings were back at practice for the Oakland Raiders on Wednesday despite being hampered by hamstring injuries. MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin hit out at discrimination against the countrys banned track and field athletes at a Kremlin send-off ceremony Wednesday for its depleted Olympic team.Fencers, triathletes and table tennis players became the latest team of Russians to be cleared to compete in the Olympics by the governing bodies of their sports ahead of the Moscow ceremony, but the IAAF rejected a bid by the bulk of the track and field team to be reinstated.More than 100 Russians from the 387-strong Olympic team have been banned so far from going to Rio de Janeiro.We cant accept indiscriminate disqualification of our athletes with an absolutely clean doping history, Putin said. We cannot and will not accept what in fact is pure discrimination.Putin said the athletes banned from the Olympics were victims of a campaign to present Russian sports in a bad light. He spoke with two-time Olympic pole-vaulting champion Yelena Isinbayeva, the most high-profile of the 67 track and field athletes banned from the games, standing beside him.Fighting back tears, Isinbayeva told Rio-bound Russian athletes: Show them what youre able to do -- for yourself and for us too.As the athletes walked across Red Square to meet Putin, some posed for selfies with Vitaly Mutko, whose sports ministry was accused by the World Anti-Doping Agency of orchestrating the doping cover-up. The sports minister has been blocked by the International Olympic Committee from attending the games next month but he remains in Putins government.The IAAF is the only sport to impose a near-blanket ban on Russians, only deeming one -- long jumper Darya Klishina -- eligible for Rio.The situation went beyond the legal field as well as common sense, Putin told the audience, which included many of the banned athletes. Its a well-planned campaign which targeted our athletes, which included double-standards and the concept of collective punishment which has nothing to do with justice or even basic legal norms.Not only have our athletes who never faced any specific accusations been hurt -- this is a blow to the entire global sports and the Olympic Games. Clearly, the absence of Russian athletes who were leaders in some of the sports will affect the competition.There was positive news, however, from Putins ally, Alisher Usmanov, the Russian billionaire who is president of the Intternational Fencing Federation. Paul Molitor Jersey. The governing body said it would allow the 16 Russian fencers who have qualified for the Rio Games to compete and it approved four reserves. The decision came after the FIE said it had re-examined 197 tests taken from Russian fencers in 35 countries over the last two years which all came back negative.The FIE said the fencers heading to Rio were not implicated in the latest report by WADA investigator Richard McLaren, who found that four positive doping tests in Russian fencing disappeared in recent years.Four positive results in Russian triathlon were also covered up, according to McLaren. The International Triathlon Union said the three men and three women who qualified for Rio are not mentioned in the McLaren report and have not served past doping suspensions.They have all been tested outside of Russia, the ITU said in a statement. Therefore, ITU will recommend to the IOC that these six athletes be permitted to compete in Rio next month.The Table Tennis Federation also announced that the three Russians who qualified for Rio should be allowed to compete because they were not implicated in the McLaren report, which classified one doping case in their sport as a disappearing positive.Russian entries to the Olympics must still be examined and upheld by an expert from the Court of Arbitration for Sport.The International Gymnastics Federation said it has established a pool of eligible Russian athletes and is awaiting IOC approval.Individual sports federations were given the task of deciding which athletes should be cleared to compete in Rio by the International Olympic Committee on Sunday. In his native Germany, IOC President Thomas Bach is facing increasing criticism for failing to impose a complete ban on Russias team.Germanys national anti-doping agency chief Andrea Gotzmann said the decision does not follow the IOCs declared zero tolerance policy, saying Bach has missed a huge chance.Olympic discuss champion Robert Harting said he was ashamed of Thomas Bach.---This story has been corrected to show that Isinbayevas first name is Yelena, not Irina.---Harris reported from London. AP Sports Writer Nesha Starcevic in Frankfurt, Germany contributed to this report. ' ' '