The Northwestern women’s basketball team will bring the same players and the same offense to Carver-Hawkeye Arena tonight as it did on when the teams met Dec. 22 in Evanston. Iowa blew out the Wildcats in the first installment. But now, the team has a renewed philosophy.
“We’re coming out with a new attitude,” junior Natalie Will said. “We’re wiping the slate clean.”
NU (4-11, 0-4 Big Ten) plans to avenge its 74-47 loss to the Hawkeyes (9-5, 2-2 Big Ten) with tighter man-to-man coverage and better transition defense.
Before leaving for Iowa City on Wednesday, the team had an intense practice that focused on defense and physical play.
The Cats have given up over 70 points per game in league play this season and have allowed each of their last two opponents to amass 77 points. But they’re hoping today’s second look will mean a first conference win.
“With a lot of the Big Ten teams, if you play them twice you have a taste in your mouth from the last time,” said junior Leslie Dolland, who led the team in scoring with 15 points in the first matchup against Iowa.
“We definitely have that bad taste in our mouth, and we want to get rid of it,” Dolland added.
NU will have to play excellent defense to slow down the Hawkeyes, who upset No. 10 Purdue 90-75 on Sunday.
Senior Lindsey Meder, who scored 19 points against the Boilermakers, leads Iowa’s triangle offense. The preseason second-team All-American has the ability to score inside and from long range.
“All their perimeter players can shoot, and they really spread the floor,” NU coach June Olkowski said. “We need to rebound and hold them to one shot each possession.”
Even with the new attitude, NU’s offensive goals are the same as they have been all season. The team wants to eliminate turnovers and create quality scoring chances.
The Cats have committed 102 turnovers in their four league games, and they gave away the ball 29 times in the early loss to Iowa.
“We just need to do the small things, it’s not brain science,” Dolland said.
NU will try to ignite an offense that has yet to reach 70 points in Big Ten play, possibly by earning more trips to the free-throw line, Olkowski said.
The team has attempted only 50 free throws in the past four games.
Olkowski added that the team’s guards need to penetrate more with the dribble, and the post players need to develop more of a presence inside.
“We have to establish ourselves, take hits – we haven’t been taking hits,” Olkowski said. “We have been shying away and have been getting bodied. We need to get to the foul line more.”
Olkowski will rely on a young starting lineup that features four freshmen: guards Melissa Culver and Samantha McComb, center Sarah Kwasinski and forward Suzanne Morrison. Forward Natalie Will will be the only upperclassman on the floor at tip-off.
“Once you have played in a Big Ten game, you have played all the rest,” said Will. “The freshmen are not really like freshman anymore. They are as much of an upperclassman as I am.”
NU has no more excuses, Olkowski said. The team hopes that intense defense and a more aggressive offense will lead to its first Big Ten win of 2002.
The victory would be the team’s first regular-season conference win in nearly two years.
But Olkowski remains optimistic.
“We have a realistic chance of beating anybody if we come to play,” the coach said.
