The only thing uglier than having to face No. 6 Purdue – defending Big Ten champs and owners of a six-game winning streak coming into Sunday’s game – was contemplating the final score on a three-hour bus ride home.
The Northwestern women’s basketball team (4-11, 0-5 Big Ten) suffered its worst loss of the season Sunday at the hands of the Boilermakers (15-3, 5-0) – a 94-37 rout at Mackey Arena.
“We’re competitors and we got drilled,” said coach June Olkowski, trying to describe the atmosphere on the long ride home. “Unless you’ve experienced it, you couldn’t even understand.”
A few telling facts to aid the casual fan’s understanding: The 57-point margin of defeat was the largest the Cats have seen since a 114-49 road loss to Penn State last January, and their 37-point output was the lowest since a home loss to Penn State one month later.
“We haven’t won a game in a while,” said Olkowski, whose squad has now lost 10 of its last 11. “We’re not as confident as we should be, as we need to be. And the margin of error when we play a ranked team is very small.”
The Boilermakers controlled the game from the opening tip, scoring 10 points before Leslie Dolland was able to put NU on the board. In retrospect, that 10-2 spread would be the high point of the game for the Cats – they never got any closer.
Purdue used a relentless full-court press to control the tempo of the game and force 18 turnovers by the halfway mark. Although the Cats adjusted to the press in the second half, it was too late as Purdue more than doubled NU’s point total by intermission.
“(The press) was huge,” Olkowski said. “They took us totally out of our rhythm. We turned the ball over numerous times and then they were shooting layups and threes in every which way.”
In the second half Purdue continued to pound away at the Cats, scoring on easy layups and jump shots from the post. To further frustrate NU, the Boilermakers also popped a few from the perimeter.
Perhaps the most memorable shot of the game was a Beth Jones trey with 4:20 left that gave Purdue an overwhelming 50-point lead.
Disregarding some of the stats, NU’s primary problem has been a lack of size and athletic ability. The Cats regularly start three players shorter than 5-foot-10, which hurt them against Purdue, one of the tallest and most athletic teams in the Big Ten.
A literal team effort, five Boilermakers scored in double-digits, compared with zero for the Cats. Dolland led NU with only eight points, while Purdue’s Shereka Wright (19 points) single-handedly equaled the offensive output of the Cats’ other four starters.
Emily Butler, NU’s leading scorer on the season, had her second-straight off game. The sophomore point guard, who consistently carries the Cats’ offense, has scored only 13 points in her last 58 minutes of play.
Butler gave NU a scare with six minutes remaining when she hit the floor and had to leave with assistance from an athletic trainer. But the sophomore merely tweaked her ankle and is expected to play in Thursday’s home game against Michigan.
Off the court, the Cats had to contend with some of the most dedicated fans in women’s college basketball. A stark contrast to the hushed scene in the stands at Welsh-Ryan Arena, 8,651 fans turned out to support the Boilermakers.
But Olkowski insisted that NU’s technical weaknesses had more to do with the loss than Purdue’s raucous sixth man.
“Indiana basketball fans cheer good plays,” Olkowski said. “It was a great environment to play in, and you wish you had that environment, too. But they really never had to get in the game, and (the loss) had nothing to do with the fans.”
