Women’s Basketball: Northwestern closes out regular season against No. 5 Maryland
February 28, 2015
It’s been a long, successful season for the Wildcats, but it’s not over yet.
No. 25 Northwestern (22-6, 12-5 Big Ten) will meet No. 5 Maryland (26-2, 17-0) at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Sunday for the finale of a historic regular season.
After going 8-0 in February, with the latest result a dominant 20-point win against No. 20 Rutgers on Thursday, the Cats’ sky-high confidence is unsurprising.
“It’s all about us. Obviously Maryland is a great opponent on Sunday, and anybody we play we respect. But we are so focused on what we do well,” junior guard Maggie Lyon said. “We love playing together.”
In their debut year in the Big Ten, the Terrapins quickly asserted themselves as a leading force. Maryland leads the Big Ten in a plethora of categories, including scoring, field goal percentage and 3-point defense. Maryland is also the only team with four of the Top 30 scorers in the conference.
Given Maryland’s exceptional offensive power, coach Joe McKeown said NU will have to focus its energy on specific areas of defense in order to halt the points.
“They have a lot of weapons. They can score off transition. They can score inside and out,” McKewon said. “That’s what makes them so good, that they are so balanced. You’ve got to stop them in transition and stop them on the offensive glass.”
Maryland also leads the Big Ten in rebounding margin, an area in which the Cats have only recently begun to improve.
NU sits 11th in the conference in rebounding margin, but grabbed four more boards than Rutgers on Thursday. McKeown said rebounds will be a huge focus for Sunday’s matchup.
“We’ve got to get everybody — all five people — blocking out and on the glass and get the long rebounds too,” McKeown said.
With the end of such a successful season within reach and the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments looming, it’s the right time for the Cats to reflect on their progress as a team and as a program.
This year’s squad is the first to win 12 or more conference games since the 1992-1993 squad tallied 13 Big Ten victories. February 2015 was also the first month an NU squad has gone undefeated in a single month in 35 years.
Lyon attributed this season’s success to the offseason and a switch to a more aggressive mindset.
“This year we found the fight within us,” Lyon said. “All offseason we were focusing on teaching chemistry, working hard and battling together. We just came together, and it’s so special. It’s incredible to see how things have played out.”
McKeown also attributed this season’s success to more experience for the younger players on the team and just how much the team has “bought in.”
For Lyon, the progress that the program as a whole has made is the most special.
“Anybody can go to a team that has tradition, that always has top 25 standing,” she said. “But to get this program to this moment is incredible.”
Khadrice Rollins contributed reporting.
Email: ClaireHansen2018@u.northwestern.edu
Twitter: @clairechansen
