With just 6 seconds left and time for one more play, Northwestern freshman A.J. Glasauer found herself with the ball. Freshman Alex Mueller, who had been Glasauer’s teammate on the German Junior National Team, was open at the top of the key.
After a quick pass by Glasauer, Mueller drained a 3-pointer, tying the game at 56 and sending the contest to overtime.
This capped off a night of ups and downs for the NU women’s basketball team, which showed a strong foundation but room to improve in a 68-62 overtime exhibition loss to the National Team of Holland.
But the Cats’ dramatic comeback was erased as NU stumbled through overtime, scoring just 6 points in five minutes, as Holland pulled ahead.
After blowing a 29-27 halftime lead, the Wildcats found themselves down 51-37 with less than 10 minutes to go in regulation.
NU suddenly found an offensive game, and just as the Cats started making shots, Holland’s shooting went downhill. The result was a 14-0 NU run to tie the game at 51 with 2:38 left in the half.
Playing large parts in the Cats’ comeback were Mueller and Glasauer, both freshmen from Germany playing in their first game at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Glasauer finished with 6 points and the team’s only two blocks, one of which came at a crucial point in the final minutes of the game to continue NU’s fantastic run. Mueller finished with 13 points, 10 of those coming after the first half.
NU junior Samantha McComb and senior Michelle Zylstra showed up strong in the first half, with McComb sneaking inside for 9 points and Zylstra going for 7 points from the field.
Zylstra later went down with a sprained ankle in the final seconds of the first half.
The Cats were helped in the first half by Holland’s 10 turnovers, which kept NU on offense and allowed for an NU lead at halftime.
But as soon as the second half got underway, the Cats crumbled.
“We didn’t play with the same sense of urgency,” coach June Olkowski said. “They scored early, and we panicked a little bit.”
Although Holland proved to be too much for the Cats to handle in the end, NU did find some promising performances in Mueller, who played 23 minutes, and Glasauer, who played 32 minutes.
“You had clutch shots that you wouldn’t expect from freshmen, but they were definitely expected,” McComb said.
“I’m expecting more from them, as I expect from everyone on the team,” Olkowski said.
Olkowski downplayed many of the positive aspects of the game, calling for improvement in most areas.
“This game was an alarm set as a wakeup call,” Olkowski said. “Our zone defense looked better, but I didn’t like our man (-to-man defense).
“We had a delay in our decision making, and the offense didn’t flow as well as it should have.”
The players agreed that a lot needs to happen before the season opener, a home game against Creighton Nov. 21. Notably, the Cats will need stronger performances from junior center Sarah Kwasinski, a preseason All Big Ten honorable mention, who only had 4 points in 32 minutes.
“We need to improve our man-to-man defense,” Mueller said. “On offense, we have to get to know each other better. As freshmen, A.J. and I, we’re not yet confident with the offenses.”
