Ohio State (7-1, 1-0 Big Ten) opened conference play with a 79-70 road win over Northwestern (6-3, 0-1 Big Ten) on Sunday. The Buckeyes received standout performances from sophomore guard Jaloni Cambridge and redshirt freshman forward Kylee Kitts, who combined for 40 of Ohio State’s points.
Both teams struggled offensively early on. The Buckeyes and Wildcats failed to score in the first two minutes. It wasn’t until Northwestern forward Grace Sullivan made a jumper at the 7:38 mark that a team finally scored. Ohio State guard T’yana Todd tied the game at 2 with a second-chance layup, and neither team created a lead larger than two points until Northwestern closed the first quarter on a 6-0 scoring run to go up 16-10. During that run, the Buckeyes missed their final six consecutive field goal attempts.
Sophomore center Elsa Lemmilä helped Ohio State cut its deficit to 20-18 with a layup at the 6:27 mark of the second quarter, but Northwestern answered with a three-point jumper on the other end. Trailing by five with 6:05 remaining in the second quarter, Ohio State turned the game around with a 15-2 scoring run that ended the first half.
Sophomore guard Ava Watson scored five points during the run, three of those points were from a jumper she made from beyond the arc with 1:26 remaining in the first half. Todd made her own three-point jumper during that run with 59 seconds left in the first half, and Lemmilä gave Ohio State a 33-25 lead heading into the locker room with a second-chance bucket.
Ohio State scored the first basket of the second half, but Northwestern hit two straight three-point jumpers to make the score 35-31. Northwestern’s momentum didn’t last long, though. Ohio State went on an 18-4 scoring run to extend its lead to 18 points. Kitts led the Buckeyes during the run with seven points.
Northwestern found a groove on offense to end the third quarter and cut Ohio State’s lead to 14 entering the final frame.
Kitts continued to play well in the fourth quarter, she scored Ohio State’s first seven points to help put the Buckeyes up 68-51.
Northwestern kept fighting and gave itself somewhat of a chance with a 6-0 scoring run that made the score 74-63 with 3:30 remaining in the game. However, Todd drained a three-point jumper at the 3:12 mark that helped Ohio State cruise to its nine-point win.
Cambridge was Ohio State’s leading scorer in the win. She had 22 points on 10-19 shooting, while Kitts wasn’t far behind with 18 points on 6-10 shooting. Todd was the only other Buckeye to reach double figures. She had 13 points on 4-9 shooting. Junior guard Kennedy Cambridge led Ohio State with six assists, while Lemmilä grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
As a team, Ohio State shot 28-68 from the field (41.2 percent) and held Northwestern to 29-67 shooting (43.3 percent).
Sullivan was outstanding for the Wildcats. She had a game-high 37 points on 17-28 shooting and also led her team with eight rebounds.
