Thursday just wasn’t Northwestern’s night in Columbus. Rather it was Senior Night for No. 10 Ohio State, and the Buckeyes made sure to send their seniors out in style.
The combination of sophomore point guard Samantha Prahalis and junior center Jantel Lavender proved too much for the Cats, as the pair of Naismith Trophy candidates combined for 40 points and led Ohio State to a 78-47 win over NU.
“Everyone’s pretty disappointed,” senior guard Kristin Cartwright said. “We know we had opportunities that we didn’t take tonight.”
After losing their first home game of the season Sunday, the Buckeyes (27-4, 15-3 Big Ten) were looking to avoid dropping consecutive contests at Value Center Arena for the first time since 2004. Meanwhile the Cats (16-12, 7-10) were trying to extend their conference winning streak to three, which no NU team had done since 1997.
Even with momentum on their side, the Cats came out flat. Their defense had trouble stopping the highest-scoring team in the Big Ten, while their offense opened the game 2-for-13 from the field. Ohio State took advantage of NU’s poor start, sprinting out to a 20-4 advantage.
“A lot of our shots weren’t falling,” Cartwright said. “We didn’t find the flow on offense initially, and our defense wasn’t sound enough.”
Junior center Amy Jaeschke ended the Buckeyes’ run with a layup midway through the half. Then it was the Cats’ turn to make a run. Junior point guard Beth Marshall nailed a 3-pointer with six minutes left in the period to pull NU within seven. Two minutes later Marshall found sophomore forward Brittany Orban on the perimeter, and Orban calmly sank a 3 to cut the deficit to six. On the Cats’ ensuing possession, freshman forward Kendall Hackney laid out Buckeyes guard Amber Stokes on a screen, freeing up Marshall to drive in for an uncontested layup.
“(Marshall) tried to keep us in it,” Cartwright said. “But everyone needed to build off that, and we weren’t able to.”
NU cut Ohio State’s lead to five at the end of the first half, but that was as close as it would get. The Buckeyes opened the second stanza with a 17-0 run from which the Cats were unable to respond. NU only managed 19 points after intermission.
“I was thinking that we had to do what we did in the first half again,” junior center Amy Jaeschke said. “But it didn’t quite work out that way.”
Jaeschke led the way for the Cats, finishing with 22 points. Other than Jaeschke, Hackney was the only NU player in double figures, recording 11 points and seven rebounds. Hackney also went 2-for-2 from the free throw line on a night when the Cats only got to the charity stripe five times.
“We couldn’t find our momentum,” Cartwright said. “Offensively and defensively we didn’t play how we’re capable of.”
NU returns home to take on Illinois in its final game of the regular season. The last time the in-state rivals met, the Fighting Illini demolished the Cats 81-50. Depending on several other Sunday matchups around the conference, another loss to Illinois could bump NU down to the eight or nine seed in the Big Ten Tournament. If that were the case, NU could end up facing top-seeded Ohio State again next week.[email protected]
