When the Northwestern women’s basketball team met Iowa in its Big Ten opener two weeks ago, the end result – a 27-point loss – wasn’t pretty for the Wildcats.
NU (4-12, 0-5 Big Ten) got a second chance Thursday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. And while the tally in the loss column was ultimately the same, the 82-68 defeat was closer, more intense and less sloppy.
The Cats, starting four freshmen, came out of the locker room fired up before the 3,191 fans in attendance. With 14:41 to go in the first half, freshman guard Melissa Culver tied the game at 9-9 on a three-pointer. But the Cats quickly cooled down, failing to make a field goal in the next nine minutes.
“There was a spell in the first half where we couldn’t score – we bounced back – but that hurt us,” NU head coach June Olkowski said.
The Hawkeyes (10-5, 3-2), coming off a 90-75 upset over No. 9 Purdue, capitalized on the NU scoring drought and took a 12-point halftime lead. Preseason second-team All-American Lindsey Meder was dominant, scoring 27 points on the night, including 3-for-4 from three-point range and 8 of 9 from the free-throw line.
NU managed to trim the deficit to five points with 8:30 remaining in the second half, bringing the score to 57-52. Another Iowa run put the Cats down 11, but a 3-pointer by forward Michelle Zylstra pulled NU within eight with 6:07 left to play. A flurry of fouls then put the game out of reach.
The Cats stayed in the game in the second half behind standout post play from junior Leslie Dolland, who came off the bench to score 16 of her 19 points after halftime.
“Coach was saying before the game that we’ve all got to contribute,” Dolland said. “I just wanted to get in there early and do as much as I could.”
NU guards have struggled to get the ball inside this season, but that situation improved on Thursday. Several of the Cats’ post players dominated the scoring, taking turns on the court as NU began racking up late fouls.
In addition to Dolland, forward Suzanne Morrison had eight points, Zylstra had nine and center Sarah Kwasinski had six before fouling out with about six minutes to go.
“For Leslie Dolland to score 19 points, we were putting the ball inside pretty well,” Olkowski said. “It was the best post offense our bench has played in a while.”
Before fouling out in the waning minutes, Culver balanced the scoring for the backcourt with 13 points of her own to go along with five assists. In addition, NU turned the ball over 10 fewer times in its second meeting with Iowa, committing 19 turnovers.
“Half of our turnovers are stupid,” Will said. “They’re unforced and easy to correct. Our coaches keep telling us that we have to make a conscious effort to be careful. The ball means something.”
The Cats neither protected nor rebounded the ball particularly well – they were hurt under the basket, where Iowa outrebounded them 45-34. Unlike the last meeting between the two teams where the rebounding was split at an even 45-45, NU had no answer to the Hawkeyes’ Jerica Watson, who grabbed 12 boards.
“Obviously we needed to take more advantage on the rebounds,” Dolland said. “Had we done that, you’d be looking at a different ball game.”
The Cats managed to get good position under the basket, Dolland said, but failed to drive back, allowing Iowa players to jump over them for boards.
And in the end, foul trouble and Iowa’s free throws dashed NU’s chances. Two starters, Culver and Kwasinski, fouled out, and Will and Morrison finished the game with four fouls apiece.
“In the second half, (the problem) was all the fouls that were called,” said Will, who was quick to add that she was not criticizing the calls made by the officials. “We were making stupid fouls, and things were just going their way. It hurt us at the end that Iowa was repeatedly going to the line.”
NU’s 26 fouls resulted in 22 made free throws on 36 attempts for the Hawkeyes.
A bright spot for NU was the 38 minutes Will contributed, which meant that the Cats were able to keep their only non-freshman starter on the court for the majority of the game.
Will shot only 2 of 9 from the floor but kept herself off the bench with a strong night on the defensive side of the ball.
“I definitely take pride in my defense,” Will said. “I was aggressive and up on the ball, but I really felt like everybody was. There was a lot of intensity out there.”
NU continues the quest for its first Big Ten victory when Wisconsin visits Welsh-Ryan Arena on Sunday at 2 p.m.
