Tayler Hill scored a game-high 26 points and had six steals and Darryce Moore grabbed 12 rebounds, blocked three shots and had three assists off the bench as Ohio State won its third consecutive game with a 59-52 win at Northwestern.
The win moves Ohio State to 14-10 overall and 4-7 in league play while Northwestern dips to 11-13 and 3-8 in Big Ten play.
Hill was 10 of 11 from the free throw line as she was aggressive on both ends of the floor, taking the ball to the basket and nabbing steals on the defensive end. Ohio State’s defense forced 20 Northwestern turnovers, held 19-8 advantage in points off turnovers and held NU’s leading scorer, Kendall Hackney (14.6 ppg) to just three points on 1 of 7 shooting.
Ashley Adams had another solid game for the Buckeyes, scoring 13 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Amber Stokes added six points and seven rebounds.
The Buckeyes held an 11-point lead with 6 minutes left and withstood one last charge by the Wildcats as NU whittled OSU’s lead to 53-49 with 2:43 left. Jim Foster then used his second timeout of the game to stop the momentum and the Buckeyes iced the game with four straight free throws by Hill to hold on for the victory.
For the third game in a row, Ohio State played solid defense (held NU to 39 percent shooting; 20 turnovers) and kept its turnovers to a minimum with only 12. They are averaing just nine turnovers per game during the three-game win streak.
Ohio State got off to a slow start and actually trailed 6-0 early on. After an OSU timeout, the Buckeyes regrouped and went on a 9-1 run and eventually led 33-26 at the half. Adams had 11 first half points and Hill 10.
After Danielle Diamont put NU up 19-18 at the 6:08 mark, Ohio State responded with a 13-0 run to take a 31-19 lead with 2:09 left in the half.
Ohio State will hit the road this week when it travels to Lincoln, Neb., to face the Cornhuskers at 9 p.m. Thursday on BTN.
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