The stage was set for something big to happen yesterday afternoon at Value City Arena.

The Ohio State women’s basketball team stepped onto the court against Big Ten-leading Purdue with a buzz coming from a crowd of 8,422, the largest home gathering of the season, and the glitz of a national television audience.

For 39 minutes, 19 seconds, the 10th-ranked Buckeyes (22-3, 9-3) and the 16th-ranked Boilermakers (19-6, 9-3) went nose-to-nose in the family feud manner associated with conference basketball.

Then, with 41 seconds remaining, the Red Sea parted and OSU senior Samantha Prahalis splashed in a wide-open three-pointer that helped lead her team past Purdue 80-71.

With the victory, the Buckeyes moved into a tie for second place with the Boilermakers, a half-game behind Penn State (20-5, 10-3).

Prahalis’ shot followed an out-of-bounds play with OSU clinging to a 73-71 lead and featured one of the few defensive lapses by Purdue.

“My girl doubled Tayler (Hill) so I couldn’t get the (inbounds) pass to Tayler,” Prahalis said. “Ashley (Adams) posted up pretty strong and I saw that she was open. I threw it to her, she made a great pass back and I hit it.”

Purdue coach Sharon Versyp saw the opening, watched Prahalis take the return pass from Adams and cringed.

“It was a two-point game,” Versyp said. “They had 15 seconds and a sideline out of bounds. We just made a mistake, a big one, and they were able to knock down the three. We never double team.”

Prahalis stole the ball on Purdue’s next possession, which led to a foul and two free throws by Hill. Prahalis added two more free throws to finish off the Boilermakers and her 26-point performance.

To win, Ohio State had to rally from a 37-31 halftime deficit, and did so by turning up its defense.

Purdue’s 26 points in the paint that seemed to come easily in the first half grew harder to find after the break.

“We just kept grinding,” junior guard Amber Stokes said. “We were getting to loose balls and getting to rebounds and just playing hard and playing together. We know our future is in our hands. We know what we’ve got to do and we got the (win).”

The Boilermakers entered the game allowing 56 points a game, tops in the Big Ten. They aggressively attacked Hill and Prahalis from the opening tip and controlled most of the first half.

The tone and tactics changed in the second half. Prahalis had five turnovers in the first half while trying to penetrate the edges of Purdue’s defense.

“We knew what we had to do,” Prahalis said. “We were down six. (Coach Jim Foster) told me personally that I had to go north and south. When I went north and south, it worked.”

Purdue helped by fouling Prahalis for a second time on a three-point attempt. She made three free throws and trimmed a five-point deficit to 61-59. A three-point play by Adams gave the Buckeyes the lead and set up the charge to the end.

“We put a little wrinkle in our offense,” Foster said. “Once we did that, the flow was better. We were able to get in the lane from different angles.

“When we get there, good things happen with this basketball team.”

jmassie@dispatch.com