The No. 11 Ohio State Buckeyes outlasted the Northwestern Wildcats 94-87 in a battle of Big Ten women's basketball heavyweights Tuesday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Right from the start, both teams were scorching hot from the field, knocking down 12 combined threes in the first quarter alone. Each team shot above 50 percent from the field and 55 percent from beyond the arc as well.
The Wildcats, though, could not keep up their offensive firepower in the second quarter. They struggled to find their shooting touch, shooting just three-for-eight from three-point range. Inside and out, Ohio State’s (13-4, 3-0 B1G) zone defense stymied the Wildcats’ offensive production and clamped down on driving lanes. Despite the muted offensive performance in the second quarter, the ‘Cats were able to keep the game close and trailed 54-42 at halftime.
NU came out strong in the second half, but they were never able to take the lead away from Ohio State. For every NU scoring run in the second half, Ohio State seemed to have an answer and cemented the game away with key free throw shooting down the stretch.
“They are definitely an up-and-down team,” said senior point guard Ashley Deary. “We didn’t pull the ball out and make them work on defense.”
NU’s (13-3, 2-1 B1G) balanced offensive attack saw five players score in double figures, including Nia Coffey’s 22 points and Christen Inman’s 20 points. As a team, the ‘Cats set a new season-high in three-point makes with 12, two more than its previous season-high against Chicago State.
The real surprise, though, was NU’s freshman forward Abi Scheid. On a team that relies so heavily on its seniors to score, Scheid took over the second half, knocking down four threes in the third quarter alone. Averaging just 4.2 points coming into the game, Scheid’s career-high 20 points, on 7-7 shooting, kept the Wildcats in the contest as the Buckeyes seemed to run away with the game.
“Every game for Schied is a learning experience, especially playing with three seniors,” said coach Joe McKeown. “The mistake I made was not getting [Abi] enough shots.”
Ultimately for Northwestern, the game was lost on the defensive end. Entering Tuesday night, NU was second in the B1G in three-point defense, holding opponents to just 28 percent from behind the arc and just over 60 points per game. The Buckeyes, however, shattered NU’s defense, making 13 out of 29 three-point attempts and torching NU for 94 points.
“I thought we played really good defense in stretches,” said McKeown. “We just need to get better in transition [defense].”
For Ohio State, it was the Kelsey Mitchell Show. Mitchell, Ohio State’s and the Big Ten’s leading scorer, continuously slashed through the NU defense with quick crossover dribbles and hard drives, en route to a game-high 33 points.
“I thought it was a really hard-fought game on both ends,” said McKeown. “I think our players should come out of this feeling good.”
On the night NU gave up its highest scoring game of the year, NU’s senior point guard Ashley Deary became the B1G all-time leader in steals. Deary, the reigning B1G Defensive Player of the Year, earned six steals against Ohio State, increasing her career total to 384.
The Wildcats will hit the road for back-to-back road games at Maryland on Jan. 7 and Minnesota on Jan. 11. Then, on Jan. 14, the ‘Cats return home for a clash with the Indiana Hoosiers at 2 p.m.