After Ohio State trampled visiting Northwestern by a score of 82-49 in the teams’ Big Ten opener on New Year’s Eve, the Wildcats made a point of trying to limit the Buckeyes’ scoring when the two teams got together Sunday in Evanston.
And it worked — at least in the first half.
In the rematch, NU (6-11, 1-5 Big Ten) held the Buckeyes to 21 points in the first 20 minutes. But the Cats’ defense gave up twice that amount after the break as Ohio State (13-3, 4-1) cruised to a 63-42 win in front of 584 fans at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Both games with Ohio State have been disappointing for NU, which has kept the final score relatively close in its other three Big Ten losses.
“(Ohio State is) just a good team — not to say that the other teams we lost to weren’t good,” NU coach June Olkowski said. “They give us personnel and matchup problems. There’s really no way to cheat on them because they don’t have weaknesses.”
NU alternated between a 2-3 zone and man-to-man defense for much of the first half, effectively keeping the Buckeyes on the perimeter. Ohio State shot 43 percent from the field while going 0-for-2 from 3-point range.
But the Cats didn’t fare any better, shooting only 33 percent in the half while attempting only 15 shots.
The defensive standstill worked to NU’s advantage for most of the half, as Ohio State held a slim 15-14 lead with two minutes to go. But then the visitors forced a couple of turnovers and scored easy transition buckets to take a 21-14 lead — and the momentum — into halftime.
“That’s definitely not the way we wanted to end the first half,” senior guard Natalie Will said. “After that, we just weren’t making our shots.”
Ohio State dominated the second half by shooting 65 percent from the field and going 6 of 9 from beyond the arc.
The Cats had no answer for Ohio State forwards Caity Matter and Courtney Coleman. Matter led all scorers with 23 points and Coleman added 15 points on 5-for-5 shooting.
The Cats’ own star, center Sarah Kwasinski, was held in checkmost of the game. Although Kwasinski finished with 15 points, all but five came when the game was out of reach.
“She’s getting shots, but she just needs to finish more,” Olkowski said. “Would I like her to touch the ball more? Yes, but the rest of the league knows that also.”
Kwasinski grabbed 15 boards to lead NU to a 29-24 rebounding edge. It was the third straight game in which NU has won the board battle.
But it was NU’s disappointing second half that defined the loss, and the only solace for players is knowing that they adjusted from the New Year’s Eve blowout by shutting down Ohio State for a half.
“They were a much better defensive team today than they were in Columbus,” Ohio State coach Jim Foster said. “They’ve got a good, young group of players who are very patient. And they’re only going to get better.”
