Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Ohio State
Wildcats Fall To No. 18 Ohio State
2/15/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 15, 2009
COLUMBUS, OHIO (AP) -Samantha Prahalis scored 18 points and Jantel Lavender had 17 points and 10 rebounds, leading the way Sunday as No. 18 Ohio State regrouped after back-to-back losses to beat Northwestern 81-55.
The Buckeyes (20-5, 11-3 Big Ten) moved back into a tie for first place with Michigan State in the conference with four games remaining.
Star Allen added 13 points and Brittany Johnson 12 for the Buckeyes, who had won 13 of their last 14 games before dropping two road games this week.
Brittany Orban had 25 points - almost double her career high of 13 - for the Wildcats, who lost their 17th straight game to Ohio State. They have dropped nine of their last 10 games overall.
Amy Jaeschke, who came in leading Northwestern in scoring (14.6), didn't score in the first half and finished with four points in 34 minutes.
This one was over early, and not just because it had a strange 11 a.m. start dictated by the Big Ten's television network. Ahead 8-4 after the opening 4 minutes, the Buckeyes scored 14 of the next 16 points over the next 7 1/2 minutes while the Wildcats missed all four of their shots from the field and committed seven turnovers.
After Orban had a four-point play to slow the surge, Ohio State ran off the next 11 points to swell the lead to 33-10.
The Buckeyes rattled off the first seven points of the second half and Northwestern never got closer than 20 points again.
The Buckeyes did it without starting shooting guard Ashlee Trebilcock, who sat out to rest an achy right knee. Trebilcock had started the last 20 games. Brittany Johnson started in her place and hit an early 3 to touch off Ohio State's first spurt.
The Buckeyes were atop the Big Ten and on their way to a fifth consecutive conference title before losing road games at Michigan State (52-46 last Sunday) and Iowa (85-75 on Thursday).
Michigan State has home games remaining against Michigan and Minnesota, with road games at Indiana and Wisconsin. The Buckeyes play at Minnesota on Thursday and Indiana Sunday before returning home to play Wisconsin and Penn State.
Ohio State had won the earlier meeting with Northwestern 68-59.
At halftime, Ohio State retired the No. 44 jersey of three-time All-Big Ten player Tracey Hall (1985-88), who led the Buckeyes to a 102-20 record and four NCAA tournament trips while scoring 1,912 points and grabbing a school-record 1,115 rebounds.
