By Philip Rossman-ReichThe Daily Northwestern
Thirty seconds into the second half, coach Beth Combs pulled Northwestern’s top two scorers and its starting point guard from the game.
The No. 12 Boilermakers had stormed into the locker room on a 17-9 run, taking a 12-point lead into the half. At the start of the second half, Combs didn’t like what she was seeing.
“I’ve got a senior captain (and) an upperclassman that’s been starting here for three years and they threw two straight turnovers to start the (half),” Combs said. “At some point there’s got to be a change.”
The scene summed up the poor, unenergetic play from the starters throughout the game forcing Combs to go to her bench early and often.
The emergency plan worked in the first half, at least for a while. NU kept it close until Purdue rallied and took a lead that NU never threatened.
Freshman guard Beth Marshall scored a career high nine points on 3-of-4 shooting from beyond the arc and had three steals in the first half. Despite staying in for most of the second half, she was held scoreless.
“I think Beth Marshall stepped up big time especially in the first half,” Combs said. “I think she got tired in the second half and she didn’t have a whole lot of help around her. But, Beth Marshall did some great things tonight. I was very pleased with her performance.”
The freshman said she wasn’t scared by the nationally-ranked Boilermakers. She said she just wanted to play with no regrets and, hopefully, bring everyone else with her.
“I just went in and thought, ‘All right, I’ve got four other people on the floor with me and we’ve just got to make a win,” she said. “If I was open, I was going to shoot.'”
Marshall also added a team-high seven rebounds in 32 minutes off the bench.
Junior guard Nadia Bibbs started the game, but played only 12 minutes – four in the first half – scoring only four points, giving way to the energetic freshman guard early.
Sophomore forward Kristin Cartwright also came off the bench to finish the game with nine points, six in the second half.
The bench tandem of Cartwright and Marshall led the Cats in scoring. The bench had 22 of NU’s 41 points.
“The starters aren’t going to have the greatest game of their lives every game, but you gotta hang together as a team,” Cartwright said. “If they aren’t playing that great, they’ll pick it up on defense and other people on offense need to shoot.”
The starters went a combined 7-for-20 from the field and no starter made more than two field goals.
It was the first game this season that NU player failed to score at least ten points.
“If part of your team is in a slump, your whole team is in a slump,” Cartwright said. “We’ve got to try to work as a team to get out of it. If we kind of just go out there with a little energy and help them out, they do the same thing later in the game.”
Reach Philip Rossman-Reich at [email protected].
