Another game, another leading scorer for the Wildcats.
This time, senior guard Samantha McComb led Northwestern with 14 points in Sunday’s 62-60 loss to Wisconsin at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Six different players have paced the team in scoring this season.
“On any given day, somebody else on this team steps up,” coach Beth Combs said.
Of this season’s high scorers — McComb, senior Sarah Kwasinski, junior Suzanne Morrison, junior Ifeoma Okonkwo, sophomore A.J. Glasauer and freshman Kelly Rae Finley — none has led the team in more than five of its 15 games. Kwasinski and Morrison both have been the high scorer five times.
McComb’s performance so far is a long way from last season, when she topped the team in scoring average with 11.2 points per game.
“I’m accepting my role this year,” McComb said. “I’m taking shots when I have the shots. Tonight I happened to have more shots, open looks.”
McComb, who averages 6.4 points, powered NU’s offense with a season-high 14 points.
McComb tallied as many points as two of NU’s top scorers combined. Kwasinski, who had averaged 12.6 points per game, scored only five points, and Okonkwo, who averaged 10.8 coming in, finished with nine points.
McComb sizzled from behind the arc, hitting all four of her 3-point attempts.
Wisconsin coach Lisa Stone said she saw this balance coming, especially with injuries to Morrison (knee) and Finley (leg), who also sat out.
“(When) eight players are dressing, and they’re all playing, you’re going to get different people stepping up and scoring,” Stone said.
Combs also said she wasn’t surprised by the variety of top scorers, but for different reasons than Stone.
“I think our players are getting more and more comfortable with some things, so people are able to play within themselves and recognize when their opportunities are happening,” Combs said.
McComb, though, said she’d like the scoring balance more if everybody got into the mix more consistently.
“We need balanced scoring on the same night,” she said, “rather than game-to-game.”
Reach Patrick Dorsey at [email protected]
