By Philip Rossman-ReichThe Daily Northwestern
The Northwestern women’s basketball team was lucky to be tied. A 3 by sophomore Kristin Cartwright at the first-half buzzer tied the game, hiding the fact the Wildcats were being outworked on the boards and all over the court.
Loyola outrebounded the Cats 20-17, grabbing eight offensive rebounds, shot 40 percent from the field, including 5-of-15 from beyond the arc, and forced NU into seven turnovers in the first half.
Senior A.J. Glasauer, juniors Sara Stutz, Nadia Bibbs and Melissa Miller switched the momentum in the second half. Stutz scored 22 of her career-high 26 points in the second half and freshman Kaitlin McInerney along with Miller turned a three-rebound deficit into a 13-rebound advantage on the boards as the Wildcats (2-0) pulled away for a 78-60 victory over the Loyola Ramblers (0-1) Sunday.
The win gave the Cats their first 2-0 start since 2000 and their second win of the weekend – they defeated the Valparaiso Crusaders (0-1) 64-45 Friday.
The Cats used strong defense in their victories to force opponents into 19 turnovers each in both games. But, NU struggled in the first half to pull away from the Ramblers, giving up offensive rebounds and uncontested 3s.
The Cats opened the second half with a 10-2 run to distance themselves from the Ramblers. Loyola would get no closer than six points the rest of the game as the Cats forced ten turnovers in the second half.
NU coach Beth Combs credited her veteran leaders for keeping the team together and pushing them to such a strong second half.
“We have a great group of veteran players that just run this team,” Combs said. “And this is their team and they’ve made it their team. At some point it’s out of (the coaches’) hands and it becomes a matter of hustle plays and effort plays that make a team win or lose and get over that hump.”
On Friday, NU used strong defense in the first half to lead Valparaiso going into halftime after opening the game on a 22-4 run. Bibbs led the team with a game-high five steals Friday to go along with nine points and a career-high eight rebounds against Loyola.
“We get our energy from defense,” Glasauer said. “Defense is what we can control. Sometimes you can’t control your shot, it doesn’t fall. You can control defense. It’s easier when the defense goes well, the offense kicks in at some point.”
Glasauer led the team in scoring against the Crusaders with 17 points. She added seven assists and hit two 3-pointers to stop a Valparaiso run that cut NU’s 22-point lead to nine points. She also added 13 points in the victory over Loyola.
Despite the two wins, Combs said the team has to watch out for lulls in its defensive and offensive intensity which could keep NU from putting future opponents away.
“We cannot afford to let good teams get back into the ball game with us,” Combs said. “We have to play 40 minutes of basketball and we have to learn to do that day-by-day.”
Reach Philip Rossman-Reich at [email protected].
