After 20 games of inconsistency, the Wildcats played a “perfect” first half in handing Big Ten leader and No. 22 Penn State its first conference loss of this season in a 59-48 win Thursday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
It was the first time the Cats (5-16, 2-6 Big Ten) defeated a ranked opponent since 1999, when NU knocked off No. 17 Ohio State 48-41 at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
“Everything they did was perfect and I don’t think we did anything different,” Penn State coach Rene Portland said.
After building a 26-point second-half lead, Northwestern managed to weather a 12-minute, 21-4 Penn State run midway through the second half. The Cats had four- and five-minute scoreless streaks in the period.
But with 1:36 left in the game, freshman guard Sara Stutz’s offensive rebound got senior guard Samantha McComb to the free throw line. McComb made both attempts, putting the Cats up 56-45 and sealing the game for NU.
McComb went 5 of 6 from the line in the last 1:32.
“I don’t know if the realization has hit of what we just did,” McComb said after the game. “They were sitting alone at the top of the Big Ten at 7-0. I think it will hit us a little later, but we just knocked off a very good team.”
McComb had 10 points, six rebounds and two assists.
Penn State (12-7, 7-1) played without All-America candidate senior point guard Jess Strom, who did not make the trip due to illness.
“It has to fall on the hands of the kids that were here,” Portland said. “They have to be able to step up and get the job done, and they didn’t get the job done.”
With Strom out of the lineup, NU dominated Penn State in the first half and held a 37-18 halftime lead. Prior to Thursday’s game, the Lady Lions had not scored less than 27 points in a half.
In the first period, the Wildcats shot 57 percent and outrebounded Penn State 25-9. NU went on scoring runs of 6-0, 10-0 and 8-0.
“It was amazing,” Combs said. “We passed, we scored, we defended, we rebounded, we did everything we needed to do for 20 minutes. You can’t ask for anything more then that.”
Junior forward Ifeoma Okonkwo led the Cats with 12 points in the first half, shooting 5 of 6 from the field and collecting five rebounds. She finished with a team-high 19 points to go with her six rebounds.
Freshman forward Melissa Miller totaled a team-high eight rebounds, with seven points and five assists.
“I think it was all about everyone boxing out,” Miller said. “It allowed the posts mainly, and some of the guards, to get free and get a hold of the ball. I think it was good that everyone made an effort to box out tonight.”
While this is the 11th game of the season in which NU had three players score in double figures, Penn State had one player score more than seven points — All American candidate senior Tanisha Wright, with 17.
“We just beat a fantastic team,” coach Beth Combs said. “All season we’ve talked about it’s about this team’s work ethic and what they do for 40 minutes. This team put it together tonight.”
Reach Abe Rakov at [email protected].
