Who was this team in the purple and white?
One week after a 43-point home loss to Penn State, an A.J. Glasauer layup drew Northwestern even with No. 8 Purdue on the Boilermakers’ home court three seconds into the second half.
The 16-2 Boilermakers. The team that had not lost in 12 games.
Sunday’s game was following nearly the same script as Thursday’s game against Michigan, when the Wildcats pulled ahead at the end of the first half and coasted to a 20-point win.
“It was a good push right from the start,” Glasauer said. “That’s how we come into every game: we want to win. And it was right there.”
Unfortunately for the Cats, the top team in the Big Ten had an answer.
A short jumper by Purdue forward Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton capped a 9-2 Boliermakers run at the beginning of the second half, putting the home team up by seven.
The teams treaded water for the rest of the game, with the Cats going on short spurts that the Boilermakers (17-2, 9-0 Big Ten) were able to match. Purdue eventually won 71-63.
“That’s the difference between a team that’s undefeated in our conference and ranked in the top 10 in the country and (a team) trying to rebuild a program,” NU coach Beth Combs said. “They knew times and places and situations where they really needed to make a stop. They were able to take wind out of our sails. They turned up the defensive intensity, they were able to make a couple of shots, and there was really a four-minute span where that happened.”
Glasauer led the way for the Cats (5-15, 1-8), tying her career high with 26 points. Aside from her game-tying layup out of the break, the junior forward repeatedly made big buckets to counter the Boilermakers’ runs and keep the Cats in the game.
Glasauer’s performance followed a 29-point outing by senior Ifeoma Okonkwo against Michigan. Glasauer said the two upperclassmen try to find different ways to lead their team every game.
“It depends on how the matchups are,” she said. “It’s the game, the players who guard us, the whole situation. But of course (Okonkwo) and me are always trying to contribute on the offensive end, as well as on the defensive end.”
NU players not named Glasauer and Okonkwo scored only 20 of the team’s 63 points.
Combs said the team could not expect its two scoring leaders to shoulder all of the offensive duties.
“I think that’s a problem. We can’t get stuck in that. We can’t just rely on two people,” she said. “We need them to be consistent for us, but they don’t have to score the majority of our points.”
The Cats were the first Big Ten team to score more than 60 points against Purdue and only the third team all season.
Even so, the Purdue defense caused the Cats’ offense to stagnate at points in the second half. The Boilermakers forced 22 turnovers on the game and held the Cats without a field goal for 3:44 in the second half.
“We had a little trouble with their press,” Glasauer said. “(The game) slipped away.”
Purdue’s lead reached as much as 16 in the second half before the Cats were able to tighten the game up again and secure the single-digit defeat.
Okonkwo said the team’s strong performances against Michigan and Purdue could mean good things for the second half of the conference schedule.
“I feel like we’re getting a lot more respect from a lot of other teams,” she said. “Because we’ve started working harder and we’ve started working well together.
“It adds a lot of confidence. Sooner or later it’s going to turn into a win- or wins.”
Reach David Morrison at [email protected].
