Although the team made improvements and put up good numbers, the final score wasn’t what the Northwestern women’s basketball team was looking for against Illinois-Chicago on Friday night.
And against Drake Sunday afternoon, nothing looked good.
Drake (1-0) scored the game’s first 11 points on its way to handing NU (0-2) its 19th consecutive loss — a 68-35 crushing in Des Moines, Iowa.
NU managed to score only 14 points at the break, which set a Drake school record for fewest points allowed in a half.
For the game, the Cats shot just 27 percent from the field. Sophomore center Sarah Kwasinski and senior forward Leslie Dolland led the Cats with 10 points each.
Against Illinois-Chicago, the situation was a lot more optimistic.
The Flames (1-0) led by as many as 11 points and held off a last-minute NU rally en route to a 58-53 victory at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
The Wildcats never led in the contest.
“They jumped on us, and we couldn’t make it up,” NU head coach June Olkowski said. “We had our chances.”
The Cats shot and rebounded well — hitting 45 percent from the field and grabbing 38 boards to the Flames’ 36.
NU committed 19 turnovers against a speedy Illinois-Chicago defense that employed the full-court press from the opening whistle.
“We were ready for (the press) and we didn’t turn the ball over because of it,” Olkowski said. “But (the Flames) all are very good athletes and they were well prepared.”
Illinois-Chicago came out on fire, shooting 52 percent in the first half and collecting six steals on its way to a 36-26 halftime lead.
But NU had its chances in the second half, as the Flames went ice cold. Illinois-Chicago shot only 22 percent from the field after the break, making just one field goal in the last 10:17.
But that field goal was huge, as senior guard LeKesha Williams sank a three-pointer to put the Flames up 52-43. Williams had 17 points in the first half and finished with 28 to lead all scorers.
After NU began to intentionally foul with just under two minutes to go, it seemed the Flames would put the Cats away at the charity stripe.
But NU made it interesting.
After Williams made two foul shots with 23 seconds left, guard Natalie Will drove down the lane and made a layup to cut the lead to five.
Kwasinski then intercepted the ensuing inbounds pass and cut the lead to three with a short-range bank shot.
The next inbounds pass was tipped out of bounds, but the Flames regained possession and went on to secure the victory.
Although NU played well at times, Olkowski said she saw a lot of things that need work.
“We made a lot of mental mistakes,” Olkowski said. “We gave up on some plays in the second half and passed up on some open shots. We have to have confidence to make them.”
Kwasinski led the Cats with 16 points and eight rebounds.
Also shining for NU was freshman Ifeoma Okonkwo, who started her first collegiate game.
The forward was aggressive early on, scoring seven points and grabbing seven rebounds before fouling out with a little over a minute to go.
Friday night’s performance was a vast improvement from Okonkwo’s first, in last week’s exhibition against the Dominican Republic, where she had to combat first-game jitters.
“I knew I had to step up for this game and I had to put all the nervousness aside,” she said. “The team needed me and I needed to show up.”
Sophomore guard Samantha McComb also played well, bringing up the ball against a suffocating full-court press.
McComb finished with 11 points and had a game-high six assists.
“(McComb) did really well for us today, ” Okonkwo said. “She was a leader for us and she kept her poise throughout the entire game.”
Despite the superlatives, NU still had to deal with the defeat.
“You’re going to ask if we’re disappointed — well of course we’re disappointed,” Olkowski said after the Illinois-Chicago loss. “But we need to learn from this game.”
