Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Ohio State
Buckeyes Overwhelm Wildcats 77-35
1/11/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
EVANSTON, Ill. - No. 22 Ohio State was not the team that would cure Northwestern's ails on Sunday as Caity Matter scored 21 points to lift the Buckeyes over the 'Cats 77-35. The loss in NU's third straight and second consecutive by more than 30 points.
"They were better than we were today, but they are not 40 points better," said head coach June Olkowski. "It is the same thing with Minnesota. Our kids know that. We are not playing nearly up to the potential that we were before leaving for break. We can make excuses of injuries and suspensions, but we know that we need to stay focused."
Northwestern (7-7, 0-3 Big Ten) was without three players, including starter Samantha McComb who is suffering from a foot injury. Kristin Ambrose and Maria McCarthy were also unavailable to play due to violations of team rules. However, starting center Sarah Kwasinski was back in the lineup after a two-game absence, shooting 2-of-12 in the contest.
"Having `Kwas' on the floor helped, but she is not back to her normal self yet," said Olkowski. "That is going to take time."
Ohio State (10-4, 2-1 Big Ten) had three players score in the double digits, including forward Caity Matter who scored 21 points with four 3-pointers. Michelle Munoz chipped in 14 and LaToya Turner scored 13 with a game-high seven boards.
After NU took an early 8-4 lead, OSU responded emphatically with a 23-0 run to shut down the Wildcats for the remainder of the game. Ohio State shot 6-for-11 from 3-point range in the first half and built a 42-17 lead by the break. NU shot 30% overall compared to the Buckeyes' 50% and were again plagued by turnovers, committing 27 of the errors. OSU scored 31 points off of turnovers in the game.
"The bottom line is our people on the floor need to take better care of the ball," said Olkowski. "(Breanne) Smilie got in and started because she has not turned the ball over in practice and she has done a better job of it when we played. We just can not turn the ball over, period."
The first Big Ten road trip of the season lies ahead for Northwestern as it faces Purdue and Indiana this weekend.
"There is only one way to recover from these losses, and that is to get our injured players back," said Olkowski. "You get one player back at a time and then you have to work them back into game shape. You have to work everyday. You can not have players be off for two weeks and then put them into a game and expect them to perform like they did when they had three weeks of everyday practice."
(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)
