Dec. 31, 2008

Box Score |  Game Action 

EVANSTON, ILL. -- Northwestern gave No. 17 Ohio State all it could handle, but the Buckeyes prevailed, 68-59, Wednesday afternoon at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Sophomore Amy Jaeschke (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) poured in 24 points while holding last year's co-Big Ten Player of the Year Jantel Lavender to just 15 points and five rebounds. It was only the second time this season Lavender did not tally a double-double.

Junior Kristin Cartwright (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) and sophomore Meshia Reed (Country Club Hills, Ill./Stockbridge (Ga.)) contributed 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the 'Cats.

It was the Amy Jaeschke Show early on as the center tallied NU's first eight points of the game until a trey from the corner by Erin Dickerson (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young), which pushed NU ahead 11-8 at the 13:11 mark. Ohio State's Brittany Johnson responded with the identical shot on the other end in the following possession, once again pulling the score even. Jaeschke knocked down 4-of-her first 5 looks.

Ohio State strung together a 5-0 run over the next two minutes to take an 18-13 lead with just under 10 minutes left in the half. A layup from Jaeschke pulled the game back to within a possession, but OSU spurted once again for five points to take an eight-point advantage at the 7:15 mark.

Every time the Buckeyes would score, Northwestern had an answer. Three pointers on three consecutive offensive possessions by Cartwright, Reed and Orban yielded just a four-point OSU lead at the 4:31 mark. Ohio State managed to outscore NU 11-8 the rest of the way to hold a 36-31 halftime advantage. The Wildcats knocked-down four treys in the period; their best effort in a half this season.

Jaeschke led all scorers with 13 points on 6-of-10 from the field and spearheaded a 56 percent Wildcat shooting effort.

A jumper from Cartwright 10 seconds into the half cut the Buckeye lead to three, but Ohio State knocked down 4-of-its-first 5 looks and outscored NU 10-4 to extend the lead to 46-35 with 15:45 left.

Ohio State built its lead to 14 before NU went on an 8-0 run to pull the difference to six, 53-47, with just under 10 minutes remaining. The Bucks answered with a 7-2 spurt of their own to take an 11 point advantage with just over five minutes on the clock. The 'Cats outscored OSU 6-4 in the remaining four minutes, but the difference was too great and the Buckeyes held on for their 11th win of the season.

Jaeschke finished with a balanced scoring performance, shooting 50 percent from the field (9-of-18) and tallied 13 first-half points and 11 in the second-half. She was 6-of-7 from the line and pulled down a Wildcat-high five boards while playing the full 40 minutes.

Northwestern shot 53 percent from the field, 44 percent from beyond the arc and 90 percent from the charity stripe.

The Wildcats are next in action on Sunday, Jan. 4 when they host Wisconsin in a 5 p.m. match up. The game will be carried live on the Big Ten Network.