The Northwestern women’s basketball team has struggled through the first two months of the season fighting that one pesky aspect of the game that can’t be fine-tuned through practice drills: height.
While the Wildcats are coping with their small stature as best they can, they still find themselves taking the court each game with a big disadvantage.
That problem was most apparent in a 94-37 loss to Purdue over the weekend — the Cats were not only dominated on the scoreboard, but also at the tape measure.
The Boilermakers sent five players into the game taller than 6-foot-1. By contrast, the Cats (4-11, 0-5 Big Ten) rotated in the backcourt one of the Big Ten’s tiniest trios of guards.
Relieving starters Emily Butler and Dana Leonard off the bench, walk-on Courtney Koester is easily one of the smallest players in the conference.
“Everyone thinks I’m a soccer player,” said Koester, who is listed generously — make that very generously — at 5-foot-5.
The moniker of “The Little One,” given to Koester by coach June Olkowski, may be a better indication of her size.
“You focus on what you have and not what you don’t have,” Koester said. “I’ve been short all my life, so I’ve just dealt with it. But because you’re short, you’re lower to the ground and quicker. You have a better sense of balance. And you’re scrappier.”
Koester, along with Butler and Leonard, makes up for a less-than-traditional basketball body type with above-average ball-handling skills and scrappiness.
Butler has actually produced more on offense pushing past larger guards and firing from near the perimeter than NU’s pair of 6-foot-2 starters, forward Tami Sears and center Leslie Dolland. But she’s conscious of the extra challenges presented by her height.
“It makes it harder to get your shot off, so maybe you have to make a really good move,” said Butler, who is listed at 5-foot-8. “And it’s important to play defense up close to someone because otherwise they could shoot right over you.”
Leonard has similarly learned to adapt to the body the basketball gods gave her.
“I’m going up against 5-foot-10, 6-foot-2 guards,” Leonard said. “And obviously, I’m 5-foot-6 at the most — or 5-foot-8 as coach (Tricie) Johnson likes to tell me. But you just have to be smarter than they are and take advantage of their weaknesses.”
OH, THE STRESS: The Cats have been hit by stress fractures this season as if they were a cold in a kindergarten classroom.
Sears missed preseason workouts and the first few weeks of the season with stress fractures in both her legs. Sophomore Nicole Daniels started 10 of the first 11 games of the season before a stress fracture in her foot sidelined the forward/guard until February.
Another leg stress fracture has limited 6-foot-4 senior Becky Fisher to only five minutes of play. Fisher saw her first action of the season last Thursday against Illinois and also played in the final minutes of the weekend loss to Purdue.
Butler was nearly added to the list of casualties when she sprained her ankle Sunday against Purdue with about five minutes to play. But the sophomore participated in practice Tuesday.
“It’s just sore and it hurts, but it’s like the 100th time I’ve sprained my ankle this year,” Butler said.
ON THE CLOCK: NU has been showcasing an all-inclusive clinic on the clock through the first two months of the season.
Seven of the 11 healthy players on the roster are averaging 20 minutes or more of play, while Dana Leonard and Billeé Russell are clocking 18 minutes a piece. Only Emily Butler and Leslie Dolland have started all 15 games.
“I think Coach is just looking for the right combinations,” Leonard said. “Right now we’re obviously not playing as well as we would want to, and she’s just looking for a group of five and some sparks in the starting lineup.”
