EVANSTON, Ill. – Amy Jaeschke scored 15 points, Brittany Orban added 12 and Northwestern held off a late surge by No. 24 Ohio State for a 64-53 victory on Thursday night.
The win was the Wildcats' first over the Buckeyes since 2000 and snapped a 19-game losing streak in the series.
Big Ten scoring leader Jantel Lavender and Samantha Prahalis each scored 19 points for Ohio State.
The defending Big Ten champions (10-6, 1-3) dropped their second straight overall and fifth in seven games, while Northwestern (14-4, 3-2) has won three of four.
The Buckeyes, who trailed by as many as 20 points in the second half, got as close as seven with 1:01 to play.
Both teams shot poorly in the first half, with the Buckeyes going 7 of 33 for a season-low 21 percent from the field. Lavender hit just 2 of 12 shots for four points.
The Wildcats were 9 of 25 (36 percent) but used a 17-3 run through the final 10:42 of the half to open a 23-16 lead by halftime.
Northwestern appeared in command with a 53-33 lead after an Allison Mocchi shot off the glass with 8:17 to play, but Lavender answered with a layup seconds later and Ohio State was off on a 10-1 run.
The Buckeyes would eventually cut the deficit to 58-51 on Prahalis' jumper with 61 seconds to play, but got no closer.
Wildcats forward Kendall Hackney added 11 points while Jaeschke had a game-high 12 rebounds.
Lavender, this week's Big Ten player of the week, and Sarah Schulze each had 10 rebounds.
Ohio State, which holds a 37-16 edge in the all-time series, hosts No. 9 Michigan State on Sunday.
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