With Northwestern’s starting backcourt playing at less than full strength, the Ohio State women’s basketball team decided to throw a high-octane defensive attack at the Wildcats in hopes of forcing a sloppy performance and an NU loss.
Led by the pressure of D’wan Shackleford and Tomeka Brown, the Buckeyes got both of their wishes.
NU (4-9, 0-3 Big Ten) turned over the ball 28 times, mostly on errant passes resulting from the unrelenting Ohio State press. And the Cats lost their third consecutive Big Ten game, 66-61, in front 957 at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
NU led for most of the game, holding a 10-point advantage at halftime before letting it slip away over the next 10 minutes.
In the first half, point guard Emily Butler handled the Buckeyes’ pressure and dished out seven assists. Her backcourt mate, Dana Leonard, returned to last year’s form, hitting five of seven shots for 13 points. She finished with 19.
The Buckeyes (11-3, 1-3), on the other side of the ball, came out flat. Heading into halftime, it was obvious they missed the services of leading scorer LaToya Turner.
Then came coach Beth Burns’ wake-up call.
“I really felt at halftime that we were feeling sorry for ourselves a bit,” Burns said. “But it was kind of our seasonal moment of truth. It was time to lay it out.”
Ohio State’s frontline raised its game, and the press continued to give the Cats headaches. When Butler dumped the ball inside, NU found success in the post. But many times, the Buckeyes simply smothered the Cats on the perimeter.
“It was hard having someone as quick as Brown guarding you all the way up the court and having another person trying to trap you at the same time,” Butler said. “My numbers probably showed that. In general we just needed to get more out of each possession.”
Added Burns: “We wanted to try to keep their offense outside the circle and keep Emily dribbling.”
With Leonard still fighting the effects of mononucleosis, Butler did the bulk of the ball handling. The Cats also missed the scrappy play and offensive burst of injured guard/forward Nicole Daniels, who would have lifted some of the pressure off Butler.
“When you only have one true point guard, you don’t have anybody else to go to,” NU coach June Olkowski said. “She is sometimes going to make good decisions, and she is sometimes going to make bad ones.”
Although Olkowski didn’t want to make excuses for the loss, she admitted fatigue was a problem for the Cats. NU made only nine second-half field goals, failed to hit the boards with authority and struggled to get the ball inside late in the game.
The Buckeyes grabbed their first lead with nine minutes left and never let go. Already trailing in the second half, NU’s comeback hopes dimmed when Butler and Leonard fouled out.
Ohio State forward Courtney Coleman had a career-high 19 points in 30 minutes, while Shackleford collected 17 rebounds, also a career high.
Leonard led the way for the Cats in scoring on 6-for-9 shooting and canned a pair of three-pointers. Sears, NU’s leading scorer last season, missed several inside shots and finished with just seven points.
Despite the loss, Olkowski remained positive about the team as it heads into the thick of the Big Ten schedule.
“I’m more proud of this performance than of any game thus far this year,” she said. “We just couldn’t get over the hump.”
