In a dominating performance by Michigan’s upperclassmen, the Northwestern women’s basketball team concluded regular season Big Ten play the same way it began almost two months ago — with a loss to the Wolverines.
Michigan senior Jennifer Smith scored 27 points and junior Tabitha Pool grabbed 11 rebounds as the Wolverines held off a comeback from the Wildcats (8-19, 1-15 Big Ten) and won 73-55.
With 13:47 remaining in the second half, NU center Sarah Kwasinski converted two free throws to make the score 42-40. That was the closest the Cats had been since 12:53 remained in the first half.
But NU suffered several scoring droughts down the stretch, as the Wolverines (12-16, 5-10) went on a 31-15 run to close out the contest.
“We cut it to two points, but then they went on a run,” NU coach June Olkowski said. “We had to foul them to stretch out the game, and they made all of their free throws down the stretch.”
More than one-third of Michigan’s scoring came from Smith, a 6-foot-4 center. Smith created a lot of trouble for the Cats’ post defense, shooting 9 for 13 and making 8-of-9 free throws.
“We knew what they wanted to do, and they did it,” Olkowski said. “They just kept pounding the ball inside.”
The Wolverines also saw double digits from Pool, senior forward Stephanie Gandy and sophomore guard Rachel Carney.
Gandy had 13 points in the first half.
“We responded to that and held her to 13 for the entire game,” Olkowski said. “But then Pool stepped her game up. It’s hard to stop a team with four players in double figures.”
The Cats were tied with the Wolverines for 15 rebounds at the half. But by game’s end, all eight Michigan players who saw time on the court grabbed at least one rebound. The result was a Wolverines squad that dominated second-half boards, 21-9 (36-24 overall).
NU junior Samantha McComb stepped up on offense, going 8 for 14 from the field and matching a career-high 21 points. Kwasinski and freshman Alex Mueller each finished with 10 points.
“We had three people in double figures,” McComb said. “That’s more than usual, so people were definitely stepping up. There was not much else we could do. We just let little things slip by.”
The Cats last faced Michigan on Jan. 4 at Welsh-Ryan Arena. The Wolverines, led by Gandy’s 22 points and Smith’s 21, came back from a 25-24 halftime deficit to beat NU, 62-43.
McComb, who was forced to watch the first game from the sideline because of injury, said the matchups had two very different feels.
“In the last game, we were up by one point at halftime, and they came back in the second half and blew us out of the water,” McComb said. “This time we maintained our composure and fought hard the entire game.”
NU had already clinched a last-place finish in the conference before the loss to Michigan. The Cats will compete as the last seed in the Big Ten tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Thursday.
