Northwestern coach Joe McKeown walked into the Welsh-Ryan Arena locker room after his team’s 57-52 loss to Kansas State on Monday night and wrote “40 minutes” on the whiteboard.
NU only played well for 36.
“I’m trying to turn around the culture of women’s basketball at Northwestern, and we have to learn how to play 40 minutes,” said McKeown, in his first season with the team. “That’s the challenge I put out every day.”
After trailing by six points with 4:15 remaining in the game, Kansas State went on a 13-2 run, sparked by key baskets from forward Marlies Gipson and point guard Shalee Lehning. Gipson scored a layup off a pass from Lehning to cut the NU’s lead to four. Lehning followed with a 3-pointer and a layup to put Kansas State up by three with 45 seconds on the clock.
“It just came down to Kansas State making a couple big plays at the end of the game and that was the difference,” said McKeown, whose team had held Lehning, one of the best point guards in the country, to five points before her outburst at the end of the game. She finished with 12 points on 4-for-4 shooting and seven assists.
NU responded with a jump shot in the lane by guard Meshia Reed and then began fouling to stop the clock. But Kansas State was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line, including 4-for-4 in the last 30 seconds.
Staying close to a top team is uncharted territory for NU. But Kansas State, coming off a Big 12 title, had experience in spades.
“Eventually down the stretch I really feel our experience took over the game,” Kansas State coach Deb Patterson said. “The last two minutes of the basketball game really was the difference.”
Depsite the loss, McKeown said he was pleased with the way his team played, although letting the upset slip through their fingers stung.
“When you’re a coach like me who’s been a coach for 27 years, you also know you had a chance to steal that game tonight,” McKeown said. “That’s what hurts me.”
As crucial as the big shots from Lehning and Gipson were, just as important was NU’s inability to score in the final minutes. Up by two, NU had a hard time finding an open shot in their half-court set, resulting in a shot-clock violation with 2:10 remaining. On the next possession, point guard Jenny Eckhart’s shot barely beat the shot clock and clanged off the rim.
For much of the game, NU was able to work the ball into 6-foot-5 center Amy Jaeschke, who finished with 19 points, but had difficulty finding her toward the end of the game. The offense stagnated as a result.
“K-State did a much better job of staying between us and the basket the last minute-and-a-half,” McKeown said.
