When Northwestern defeated No. 24 Penn State in Evanston 59-48, the Lady Lions were without point guard Jess Strom, who did not make the trip due to illness. In the Lady Lions’ 83-56 win against the Wildcats on Sunday, Strom had 15 points, six assists and five steals.
“She’s one of the best point guards in the country,” coach Beth Combs said. “A team goes with its point guard, and I think Penn State learned that when we played before.”
For the Cats (5-22, 2-12 Big Ten) this was the sixth straight loss, four of which were decided by 20 or more points. It was the fourth win in a row for the Lady Lions (18-8, 13-2), who face No. 2 Ohio State (25-4, 12-2) next Sunday with the Big Ten regular season title on the line.
Senior center Sarah Kwasinksi did not make the trip for NU, as she stayed home ill.
Senior forward Suzanne Morrison took her spot in the starting lineup and had a team-high 16 points and collected five rebounds.
“Basically, I’m just ready to go whenever,” said Morrison, who hadn’t started since Nov. 22.
After two free throws by Sara Stutz with 7:32 left, Penn State’s lead was cut to 12 at 62-50. But the Lady Lions ended the game on a 21-6 run.
More than 15,000 fans saw the Lady Lions win their 12th home game and finish the season undefeated at the Bryce Jordan Center.
“It’s just a tough environment to play in,” Morrison said. “Overall it wasn’t a great game, and we competed for most of it. But with me fouling out it turned from a tight, 12-point game to a 20-point blowout.”
The Lady Lions had 39 rebounds, with 20 on the offensive end. They also forced 21 turnovers, and the Lady Lions took 13 more shots then NU.
Penn State scored 28 points off NU’s 21 turnovers.
“It was senior night, and they wanted to get back at us,” senior guard Samantha McComb said. “They wanted it a little more in the beginning.”
McComb had seven points, four rebounds, four steals and three assists.
Junior Ifeoma Okonkwo led the team with five assists to go with 11 points and five rebounds.
But it was the Cats’ defense that hurt them the most.
“They got a lot of points on the free throw line, so we obviously weren’t moving our feet well,” McComb said.
Penn State was 22 of 32 from the free throw line, while NU made nine of its 12 attempts.
“I was pleased with our effort because we have not played well the last four games” Combs said. “I don’t think the score is indicative of how well we went for it.”
Reach Abe Rakov at [email protected].
