On Dec. 1, the Northwestern women’s basketball team grabbed a come-from-behind overtime win against the Pennsylvania Quakers in the Roger L. White Invitational.
The dramatic victory, in front of 1,700 fans at Welsh-Ryan Arena, gave the Wildcats a 3-1 record and marked NU’s best start since the 1996-97 season — the last time NU finished above .500.
With every indication that they had solidified under second-year coach June Olkowski and were ready to move out of the Big Ten basement, the Cats then took a nosedive.
What started as a robust .750 winning percentage has steadily dwindled since the first two weeks of the season. In 13 games since the invitational, the Cats (4-13, 0-7 Big Ten) have won only once.
“We had already made giant leaps from last year,” NU center Tami Sears said of the strong start. “We had pretty high goals for ourselves. Unfortunately, those haven’t worked out yet.”
Indeed, the Cats are still searching for their first conference win — a position they never expected to be in come late January.
“I expected us to have a winning record (by now),” junior guard Ashley Messenger said. “And I definitely thought we’d be in the upper half of the Big Ten. I’m surprised at where we are.”
The Cats’ major concern is no longer keeping with the top dogs in the Big Ten, but staving off the embarrassing losses. After dropping their last three games by 57, 42 and 32 points, expectations are definitely in need of a readjustment.
“There’s a lot of doubting ourselves,” Sears said. “I’ve doubted myself on offense a lot lately. That comes along with getting blown out in games. I think anyone would lose confidence if you lost games by the points we’re losing by.”
Although the about-face largely can be chalked up to stiffer Big Ten competition, the Cats are still searching for signs of the potential they exhibited at the start of the season.
“I don’t know what went on, but all I’m concerned with is that things change,” Messenger said. “I don’t think we’ve had a game yet where we’ve walked off the court with our heads up.”
OH, SHOOT: In Sunday’s 79-47 loss to Minnesota, the Golden Gophers defied all percentages by scoring on their first eight possessions. They finished with a 60 percent shooting mark from the floor.
By contrast, the Cats have shot an ice-cold average of 29 percent in their last three losses. In other words, if NU could get off twice as many shots as its opponent, it might stand a fighting chance of staying in a ballgame.
“We’re never going to beat a team letting them shoot 60 percent,” Sears said. “The biggest thing that happened to us at Minnesota was that we didn’t make a defensive stand and that affected our offense.”
So when you’re shooting 30 percent and losing by 40 points on a regular basis, where can you possibly turn for inspiration?
“I always think of our football team,” Sears said. “They were in a position of accepting losing for many years. Losing wasn’t a big deal, and sometimes I think that’s the position we’re in. We just want to give up on everything.”
