Another missed opportunity, another long bus ride back to Evanston.
Again it seemed like the Northwestern women’s basketball team (6-16, 1-10 Big Ten) had a chance.
Down only one point at the half, the Wildcats were in an excellent position to upend No. 10 Purdue (19-3, 9-2) Thursday night and bring home their first conference road victory.
But the ranked team ultimately ended up on top, defeating the Cats 74-56 in front of 6,786 at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind.
Before halftime NU was on fire, shooting 61.9 percent from the field and hitting 4 of 6 from beyond the arc.
“Our offense played a very good first half,” NU coach June Olkowski said. “We were firing on all cylinders.”
But unfortunately for the Cats, they followed a recent pattern and couldn’t perform at the same energy level after halftime.
And if NU’s lethargy wasn’t enough, Purdue was just warming up.
Three jump shots, two 3-pointers and two free throws within the first four minutes of the second half fueled a 14-0 Purdue run.
Meanwhile, it took the Cats more than five minutes to add anything to their total.
“When a team comes out and scores 14 points in the first three minutes, all you can do is try to fight back,” Olkowski said. “We got within 10 points, but that was it.”
As they did in the teams’ first meeting on Jan. 26, Purdue’s guards proved unstoppable. Erika Valek tallied a game-high 18 points while Beth Jones racked up 14. All-America candidate Shereka Wright tacked on 11.
For the Cats, sophomore Sarah Kwasinski led the team with 16 points. The center shot .500 from the field and sank all four of her free-throw attempts.
“The ball flows better when it goes through Kwas,” Olkowski said.
NU can thank the 6-foot-4 Kwasinski for four blocks, too. NU out-blocked Purdue 6-2.
Adding to the Cats’ score, sophomore guard Kristin Ambrose finished with nine points and a team-high six rebounds.
The key to the Purdue victory was NU’s foul trouble. The Cats had 22 personals, compared with 13 for the Boilermakers. Purdue sank 22 of 34 free throw attempts — a stark contrast from NU’s 5-for-6 finish.
Next on the agenda is NU’s second battle of this season against Michigan — this time in the friendly confines of Welsh-Ryan Arena at 2 p.m. Sunday.
