After starting the season 3-1, the Northwestern women’s basketball team on Thursday continued its plummet toward the Big Ten basement, still in search of rock bottom.
The Wildcats entered the game confident it would provide a boost following a 57-point loss to Purdue over the weekend.
Instead, NU came out flat — and just kept deflating — in an 83-41 loss before 770 fans at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
“We had two hard practices (since Purdue) — probably the two best practices we’ve put together this season,” guard Dana Leonard said. “Everyone was playing tough, everyone was talking. So it was a shock that we came out and played like this.”
With the game just underway, the Cats (4-12, 0-6 Big Ten) squandered any hope of a first conference win, spotting the Wolverines (10-7, 3-4) a six-point lead shortly after the opening tip. NU fell behind 25-8 after the first 10 minutes.
“We’re a fragile team, and we got down early,” coach June Olkowski said. “And when we get down early, we panic. We missed some easy shots and then we hung our heads. Everything was hinged on the points we did put up.”
Early attempts grazed the rim, then missed shots turned into bricks. The Cats shot a paltry 28 percent from the floor.
Previewing a second half devoid of any confidence, the Cats snatched a turnover at half court with 15 seconds remaining before the break. Guard Natalie Will drove to the basket and set up center Tami Sears for an uncontested layup — which floated up to the rim, over it and straight down the other side.
In the second half, the high-percentage shots looked more like off-balance, half-court buzzer-beaters — and fell with as much frequency.
“That happens to us a lot,” Leonard said. “We get down by 10 and then we get down on ourselves. But we’ve just got to fight through that. We’ve got to be stronger.”
Leonard put up a doughnut in 16 minutes of play, while Sears made only one of nine shots from the field. Sears and forward Leslie Dolland, NU’s tallest players, struggled in the paint against a pair of 6-foot-3 towers.
Michigan freshman forward Jennifer Smith and sophomore center LeeAnn Bies not only cleaned up the lane on defense but also combined for 30 points.
The Cats tried filling the paint with a zone defense, but the Wolverines were too powerful and too accurate. Michigan shot a deadly 58 percent in the first half, nearly doubling up NU.
“We knew they were good players,” Leonard said. “But we just didn’t execute our game plan, which was to front the post. If you’re going to win in the Big Ten you have to execute.”
After starting the season on the bench with stress fractures in both legs, Sears was close to her old form in recent weeks. But Thursday’s game was a monumental setback for the senior.
“Her stress fracture’s been bothering her, so she’s been playing hurt,” Olkowski said. “But that’s no excuse, and she’ll tell you that. She’s just got to take her time a little bit more and catch the ball before trying to make her move.”
Olkowski tried to shake up the lineup in an effort to push the Cats over the hump. Freshman walk-on Courtney Koester started her first game and led the offense in the opening five minutes, with Emily Butler moving from point guard to shooting guard.
Olkowski had hoped to rest Butler and open up a stronger attack from beyond the arc, but the Cats converted only two treys in the game.
On Sunday the Cats travel to Minnesota in a battle for the Big Ten bottom. Both teams take winless conference records into the game — simple math dictates that one of the two teams must come away with its first “W.”
NU is confident that a Big Ten win is not as unattainable as recent scores might suggest.
“We can’t talk wins and losses — we have to talk effort,” Olkowski said. “We have to make sure we get 40 minutes of effort first. (But) we’re better than we performed tonight.”
