No. 3 Ohio State continues to live among the nation’s unbeaten, going on the road to take down Northwestern, 81-48, on Wednesday to move to 14-0 on the season and 3-0 in conference play.
The Wildcats (6-6, 0-2 Big Ten) stayed close to Ohio State through the game’s early stages, forcing several mistakes by the Buckeyes to the tune of nine first-half turnovers and just 42.4 percent shooting from the field – and just 1 of 10 from deep – but Ohio State outscored Northwestern 46-24 in the second half for the win.
Ohio State – who was again without guards Jacy Sheldon or Madison Greene, the latter announced as out for the season with a knee injury – opened on an 11-1 run through the game’s first four minutes, with freshman forward Cotie McMahon and sophomore guard Taylor Thierry accounting for 9 of those 11 points.
Northwestern’s first basket of the game came off a triple from guard Hailey Weaver with nearly six minutes gone by, which kickstarted an 11-5 run for the Wildcats to close the opening quarter as Ohio State led 18-13.
Despite the Wildcats’ push – including a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to 18-15 to open the second quarter – Ohio State exploded for an 11-0 run to take a 29-15 lead with 4:41 remaining in the half, holding Northwestern scoreless for four minutes while jumping out to their biggest lead of the game. During that run, the Buckeyes were 5 of 5 from the field as McMahon knocked down the team’s first triple of the contest.
Northwestern stopped the bleeding with a layup from forward Paige Mott and later added a triple from guard Jillian Brown as Ohio State led 35-24 heading into the break.
McMahon continued to dominate out of the locker room, scoring Ohio State’s first two baskets, and forward Rebeka Mikulášiková added her first three-pointer of the game to give the Buckeyes a 42-24 lead with 8:16 remaining in the quarter.
Ohio State – with most contributions coming from guard Rikki Harris, McMahon, Mikesell and Mikulášiková – eventually went up by as many as 25 points before leading 59-28 entering the fourth, where the Buckeyes added 22 points for the 81-48 win.
The Buckeyes were led by McMahon, who reached the 20-point mark for the third time in four games. She finished with 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting, while Mikesell added a team-high nine rebounds and Harris finished with 8 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Brown was the leading scorer for Northwestern, totaling 13 points on 2-of-11 shooting, though she went 8 of 8 at the charity stripe.
Ohio State’s undefeated record will be put on the line next against No. 14 Michigan, with the Buckeyes set to host the Wolverines at the Covelli Center on Saturday at 1 p.m.
