When looking for an indication this Northwestern team has put last year behind it, look no further than the start of the second half of Monday night’s heartbreaking 57-52 defeat to Kansas State. NU held a 21-13 advantage with slightly less than eight minutes left in the first half before Kansas State reeled off 12 straight points to claim a 25-21 lead.
Though NU closed the deficit to one point on sophomore guard Meshia Reed’s basket and a free throw by sophomore center Amy Jaeschke, the momentum was clearly with Kansas State.
NU’s shooters had gone cold, making just one of their last eight shots after hitting nine of their first 12. Meanwhile, Kansas State had started to wear down NU’s defense, grabbing four offensive rebounds in the last eight minutes to aid the comeback effort.
This was a situation NU knew all too well. Last season, the team was close at intermission multiple times. In home games against conference foes Illinois and Michigan State, for example, NU trailed by just two points at the half. But NU could not keep it up, falling in both contests by double digits.
In this game, considering how Kansas State played until the half, it would have been easy for NU to fold like it had in the past.
Instead, the team scored the first eight points when play resumed and stayed in command until the last two minutes. When Kansas State took a 35-34 lead behind back-to-back 3-pointers, senior guard Erin Dickerson responded with a 3-pointer of her own for NU and Reed followed with a layup on the next possession.
NU was able to jump ahead 48-42 on Jaeschke’s bucket with 4:15 remaining, but ultimately the team was unable to hang on.
Kansas State coach Deb Patterson credited the win to her team’s familiarity with playing in tight games. But she gave credit to NU for controling the pace of play throughout most of the game.
“They dictated the tempo and they dictated the rhythm,” she said of NU’s defense.
The defense was much improved from the opener last Friday. NU coach Joe McKeown said Kansas State had to work for every basket tonight, while Chicago State got a lot of open looks.
Now that NU has played a top opponent down to the wire, McKeown said the next step is for his players to learn to play the full 40 minutes and close out games.
“They want so hard to prove they can win these tight games,” he said. “We just need more time.”
Losing a game after leading by six with four minutes to go obviously hurts. NU’s offense broke down at the end, and McKeown said it came down to Kansas State making a couple of big plays.
NU has rarely been as close to an upset in the past few seasons as it was tonight. The team learned it has to adjust to the idea that it can be competitive with the best and continue to attack
“It’s just a mentality thing,” Jaeschke said. “We have to, at every moment, go after it on defense.”
A key factor for NU was its perimeter defense. The team changed looks and frustrated Kansas State’s outside shooters, holding them to just 28 percent from beyond the arc.
Patterson was impressed with NU’s effort and thinks it is capable of creating problems for other teams down the line.
“Northwestern will continue to be a handful if they can continue to dictate the tempo at which the game is played defensively throughout the season,” she said.
Even though NU was not able to come out with a victory, the team did not fade and gave a team that made the NCAA tournament last year all it could handle. That looks like a good sign for NU’s chances the rest of this season.
