The Northwestern women’s basketball team’s injury report currently looks like that of a football team.
Even with the return of junior center Sarah Kwasinski, who was out over the break with a finger injury, three key players for the Wildcats are currently on the disabled list.
Junior point guard Samantha McComb is out of the lineup for three weeks with an unspecified injury, senior guard Kristin Ambrose also has an unspecified injury, and junior forward Suzanne Morrison is out indefinitely due to ankle surgery.
“It’s an opportunity for someone else to step up,” NU coach June Olkowski said. “We can’t look at what we don’t have. We have to look at what we have, and we have to take advantage of what we have.”
The loss of McComb, who is averaging a team-high 12.1 points per game, may hurt the Cats most. She especially will be missed tonight at 7 p.m. when the Cats (7-5, 0-1 Big Ten) take on No. 6 Minnesota (12-0, 1-0) at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
No one has been able to stop the Golden Gophers yet this season. Thus far they have knocked off No. 14 Colorado and beat Michigan by 20 points. The Wolverines beat the Cats by 19 on Jan. 4. Olkowski said that with the absence of McComb, ball-handling duties now will be shared by junior Melissa Culver, sophomore Ifeoma Okonkwo, and freshman A.J. Glasauer.
“You always felt secure when Sam was on the court,” Glasauer said. “We three have to takeover now, and we really have to work together.”
While working together on offense, the Cats also will have to work together on defense in order to slow down Minnesota’s two leading scorers — Lindsay Whalen, the Big Ten preseason Player of the Year, and Janel McCarville, a 2002-2003 First Team All-Big Ten selection. The tandem averages 39.2 points per game along with 15.6 rebounds per game.
“We have to make it as difficult as possible for them to touch the ball,” Olkowski said. “It’s going to be a team effort. Not one person is going to be able to defend either one of them.”
As was evident in the recent contest with Michigan, the Cats cannot focus on one player and allow someone else to shine. Although the NU defense held Michigan’s leading scorer, Jennifer Smith, under her average, the Cats allowed Stephanie Gandy to score 10 points more than her average.
“We can’t let the other players have a great day because we totally ignored them,” Glasauer said. “We have to prepare for the whole team.”
When asked how likely it is that NU would be able to hand Minnesota its first loss of the season, Olkowski remained modestly confident.
“I’m not a betting woman,” Olkowski said. “But I think we can beat anybody in the league if we play together, if we limit easy points, if we execute our offense, and we make shots.
“Thursday is as good a day as any.”
