Fresh off a win in their season opener against Creighton on Saturday, the Wildcats head to Columbia, Mo., tonight to start their longest road trip of the season. After its contest at Missouri, Northwestern will visit Illinois-Chicago on Saturday and Valparaiso on Nov. 30.
The Cats are coming off their best offensive performance in nearly seven years, but NU (1-0) has been reluctant to indulge in its victory.
“You can’t over-celebrate,” senior forward Ifeoma Okonkwo said. “You have to keep on playing hard and you have to carry on the win. We don’t want to be one-hit wonders. We celebrated, but it wasn’t as if we’d never won a game in our lives.”
The Cats will be walking into the Tigers’ home opener tonight for the 7:00 p.m. tipoff. Missouri (1-2) is currently mired in a two-game losing streak. While the Tigers finished 11-18 last season, they received an NCAA Tournament bid in 2004 and still have a number of players from that squad.
Missouri returns all five starters from a year ago on a roster that features only four underclassmen. Senior guard LaToya Bond is averaging 16.0 points per game and has 11 steals this season.
“They’re a much better ball club than their history indicates,” NU coach Beth Combs said. “Experience and seniors tend to win more ball games. I know that we have the team and the ability to match up with them.
“We’re really going to have to execute well.”
NU only has had two days of practice between Saturday’s victory and tonight’s game but has spent the practice trying to work out defensive switching and boxing out.
Rebounding plagued the Cats throughout their exhibition loss last week against the Chicago Challengers. In an otherwise dominating performance, Creighton out-rebounded NU 47-38, as the Cats gave up 26 offensive boards.
“We’re going to need to be really active with our defense,” Combs said. “Our weakness has been – our offensive rebounds that we’re giving up.”
The Cats also plan to continue to work their freshmen into the lineup. While center Julie Bielawski and guard Erin Dickerson both had impressive debuts, guard Kristin Cartwright had difficulty adjusting to the officiating. She fouled out in a total of eight minutes.
“She just couldn’t get into a rhythm Saturday, ” Combs said. “Foul trouble kept her out, and we’re hoping to get her in obviously a lot more.
“Heading into our first road game with a young team it’s going to be interesting to see how we respond. We’re not going to be able to get away with the mistakes that we could make at home.”
Reach David Kalan at [email protected].
