A month and a half after starting the basketball season on the bench, Northwestern guard Dana Leonard finally found her way into the starting lineup Sunday.
Prior to the season, coach June Olkowski had floated visions of the senior as the anchor that would stabilize the Cats (4-9, 0-3 Big Ten) after last year’s 7-21 campaign. But Leonard contracted mononucleosis and was at best a minor contributor through the first 12 games of the season.
Her 19 points in Sunday’s 66-61 loss to Ohio State (11-3, 1-3), however, suggest that she may be nearing full force.
“This is the best performance since Dana’s been back from her mono,” Olkowski said. “(Mono) is lingering, it’s weakening. She looks 70 pounds soaking wet, so it’s affecting her strength and conditioning. It almost takes a year to get back to some part of your old self.”
Leonard played only 13 minutes in Thursday’s loss to Penn State and didn’t score in the last two games.
“Coach is going to play me if I’m playing well,” said Leonard, attributing her decreased playing time to a cold shooting hand and not to her recent illness. “But if I’m playing like crap, she’s not going to play me. And I’ve been playing like crap lately.”
Despite Leonard’s recent struggles, Olkowski gave her the starting nod Sunday.
“Mentally I needed this game,” Leonard said. “I’ve been kind of down on myself and that’s affected my play. I needed a breakout game. When coach told me I was starting, I kind of used that as motivation.”
Leonard was on the floor for 28 minutes. And as the team’s best three-point threat, she might have left an even bigger mark on the final score had she not fouled out with 1:28 left and the Cats trailing by five.
Her contributions also extended beyond the box score. For the first time this season, Leonard could play the role Olkowski envisioned her in: that of team leader.
“Having Dana on the floor, just in general – you can see it even from the sideline – she’s just a great spirit on the floor and it motivates everyone,” center Leslie Dolland said. “It’s great to have her back in the game, and I’m glad she started today so that she could realize how big of a part she is to this team.”
Now that Leonard has returned, the double-digit scoring, 20-minute-plus performances could become a regular occurrence for the Cats. Last season she nearly averaged 10 points per game and started most of the year.
“Oh, I’m back,” she said. “Just like Michael.”
CHOO-CHOO: Although Sunday’s game was filed under the loss column, Olkowski said her team put forth its best effort of the season.
That accomplishment means even more, given that the Cats were rebounding from a devastating 92-54 loss to No. 10 Penn State Thursday.
“We would have had to play a perfect game to beat Penn State, and I think our kids understood that,” Olkowski said. “We had a decent game plan but they shot the hell out of the ball – they just shot the lights out. What do you say? My philosophy is that we’re the little red engine and we’re going to keep chugging.”
PITY THE TWO: Instead of playing basketball, the Cats and Buckeyes could have had just as much fun arguing over who deserves more pity.
NU began preseason workouts with only six players and continues to battle injuries and illnesses to its best players. Meanwhile, Ohio State saw its fifth season-ending injury Thursday when leading scorer LaToya Turner suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
“We haven’t had sprained ankles,” Ohio State coach Beth Burns said. “We’ve had two broken legs, a broken heel, a quadriceps tear and now an ACL. I really felt at halftime that we were feeling sorry for ourselves a bit. But it was kind of our seasonal moment of truth.”
