Consistent with the theme of the season, the Northwestern women’s basketball team played its best game of the year Sunday against one of the top teams in the country and still couldn’t come away content.
The Wildcats (4-17, 0-11 Big Ten) were within 21 seconds of stealing a victory from No. 16 Penn State (16-6, 8-3) on Sunday, but instead had to settle for a 65-62 loss and a few more “big steps” in the right direction.
Taken in the context of an 0-11 conference season, the Cats should be happy hanging tough with the same team that beat them by 38 points last month.
But Big Ten win No. 1 was close, only slipping away in the final seconds – and that merely soured the otherwise strong performance.
“There’s nothing satisfying about losing,” said sophomore guard Emily Butler, who scored 22 points. “We can get a lot of satisfaction from competing with a team that’s ranked in the Top 25. But at the same time, no loss feels good – especially when you can feel it and you can taste it in your head.”
The Cats held a tenuous lead through the final four minutes of the game and had a chance to go up by three on a Butler layup with 25 seconds left. Butler missed the shot, and Penn State freshman Kelly Mazzante grabbed the rebound and went coast to coast for a layup.
In a matter of four seconds, the Cats found themselves down 63-62 with 21 seconds on the clock. The Lady Lions then called a timeout, and overwhelmed NU on the ensuing possession.
Butler attempted to feed the ball to Tami Sears but was caught in the backcourt press and turned the ball over to Penn State’s Rashana Barnes. Sears then fouled out, sending Lisa Shepherd to the line.
Shepherd’s two free throws made the score 65-62, meaning the Cats had to sink a three – a feat they have accomplished only 29 percent of the time this season – to go to overtime.
In the final seconds of the game, freshman Michelle Zylstra lofted the potentially game-tying trey over the top of the rim, sending the Cats to the locker room with one of the most difficult losses of the season – and their school-record 11th consecutive defeat.
“I’ve walked in the locker room before and not quite known what to say, but this was a tough one,” NU coach June Olkowski said. “I asked them to dedicate the game to someone they would want to be proud of them. And whoever those people were, they should be very proud of their efforts.”
Penn State opened the game with a 15-6 run, offering every indication that the Cats were about to suffer yet another 40-point loss. But that was the largest lead the Lions would hold, as NU then ran off eight-straight points and took a 26-25 halftime lead.
In the second half Penn State was never able to regain the dominance the team showed in the first five minutes, or in the January meeting between the two teams.
“Do you overlook a team that’s 0-10 in the conference? I think that’s human nature,” Penn State coach Rene Portland said. “I think you have to turn around and say Northwestern’s on the cutting edge of just trying to make it happen themselves, and that’s why today was such a tough game for us.”
While Portland conceded that her team played one of its worst games of the season, Butler and many of her teammates played one of their best. Butler matched her season high in scoring, and the team shot 51 percent from the field.
“Emily had a tremendous game, and I think that motivated us to step up our game,” said NU guard Dana Leonard, who scored six points on 2-for-10 shooting. “When you see your point guard going all out, you don’t want to let her down.”
Unfortunately for the Cats, the game came down to the charity stripe, where they shot only 36 percent.
Still, NU was able to take away positives from Sunday’s effort. The defense limited Penn State to just 34 percent shooting in the first half and 44 percent for the game.
“We’re finally learning that defense is what does it,” Butler said. “We’ve played so many junk defenses, and none of them has worked. We just decided to go back to the basics and play (man-to-man), because everyone’s just tired, tired, tired, tired of losing.”
