The Ohio State women’s basketball team defeated the No. 17 Texas Longhorns 70-66 in the Big Ten-Big 12 Challenge last night before a season-high 2,996 fans in St. John Arena.

The victory was especially significant for the Buckeyes as they played in a nationally televised game for the first time in OSU women’s basketball coach Jim Foster’s tenure at OSU. The Buckeyes are on a seven-game winning streak and are perfect at home this year. The win improved their record to 10-2 overall, while Texas dropped to 7-4.

“It was a good, hard-fought basketball game,” Foster said. “We came back at them; they came back at us. I think they’re going to be a real factor in the post-season.”

The Buckeyes, coming off a Big Ten opening victory over Northwestern on New Year’s Eve, took the first lead of the game and never looked back.

Senior forward Courtney Coleman, who leads the Big Ten in field goal percentage, was the leading scorer for the Buckeyes with 21 points. Sophomore guard Ashley Allen scored 17 points for Ohio State and sophomore guard Caity Matter chipped in 12, including two key free throws down the stretch.

“It took a lot of effort. It went down to the last 30 seconds of the game,” Coleman said.

Ohio State shot 62 percent from the field to go up to 36-25 at halftime, finishing the game at 58 percent overall. The Buckeyes took off on a 20-4 scoring run midway through the first half, fueled by eight points from Allen. Senior forward D’wan Shackleford came off the bench for the Buckeyes to contribute six points during the drive.

Matter sparked the Buckeyes in the second half with two three-pointers within the first three minutes. Texas came within two points late in the game, but a 10-2 OSU rally late in the second half put the Buckeyes ahead for good.

Freshman point guard Kim Wilburn became involved in a crucial jump ball situation at midcourt, which gave the Buckeyes possession with 30 seconds remaining. Forced to foul, Texas sent Matter to the line to seal the OSU victory and extend her own perfect streak to 22 from the free-throw line.

The fact that Texas is a big-time opponent and the game was on the line wasn’t an issue, Matter said.

“You really can’t think about how much time is on the clock. If you’re a confident shooter, it really shouldn’t matter,” she said.

Sophomore forward Kala Bowers and freshman guard Nina Norman tied for game-high honors with 12 points each for the Longhorns.

The Buckeyes hope to maintain the level of intensity as they continue into the Big Ten season, Coleman said.

“We know that we can play at a certain level. This is a confidence booster,” she said.

Yesterday’s win marked the second time Ohio State has defeated a ranked opponent this season. OSU beat No. 19 Arizona 84-65 last month.

“We’ve taken care of our business pretty much in the non-confernece segment of our season,” Foster said.

It was also a homecoming victory for the Buckeyes, who played their first game in St. John Arena since the end of the 1998 season.

They will return to the former basketball venue for their final regular season game against Michigan, featuring a commemorative reunion for the women’s Final Four team of 1993.

Ohio State takes on the Spartans of Michigan State Thursday at the Schottenstein Center in their second regular-season Big Ten game.