In its first game away from the Chicago area this season, Northwestern failed to generate anything offensively in a 60-44 loss at Arkansas.
The Wildcats (1-3) finished with 25 turnovers for the second consecutive game and shot 28.7 percent from the field. Arkansas (4-0) took advantage of NU’s miscues, converting them into 22 points. Meanwhile, the Cats scored just three points off of the Razorbacks’ 14 turnovers.
“We didn’t force as many turnovers as they did,” said junior forward Kristin Cartwright, who led all scorers with a career-high 16 points. “We need to work on our defensive pressure as well as taking care of the ball on offense.”
Though the offense sputtered, NU’s defense was stifling for the majority of the contest.
Not a single Arkansas player made at least 50 percent of her shots – in fact, NU forward Shantina Boyd was the only player on either team to accomplish that feat, sinking a layup on her only field goal attempt. Arkansas shot 33.3 percent as a team and no player topped 10 points.
The Cats’ defense kept the game competitive despite their scoring woes.
“I thought we had a great game plan,” NU coach Joe McKeown said. “They didn’t shoot very well, either. Our defense was good, it was just a couple of bad plays.”
Scoring was at a premium for the entire game, but both teams especially struggled in the first half and collectively shot 14 of 55 from the field. The Cats were held scoreless for nearly nine minutes after junior Jenny Eckhart’s 3-pointer with 9:58 left. Yet NU trailed only 21-19 going into the break.
No one could get anything to fall. Sophomore guard Meshia Reed’s string of three games with at least 10 points came to an end, as she scored merely two points to go along with seven turnovers. Freshmen Maggie Mocchi and Brittany Orban shot 3 of 13 combined, though all three makes were from downtown.
One of the reasons NU never got into an offensive rhythm was Arkansas’ full court press. Cartwright thought the Cats’ inability to handle the press after intermission allowed the game to slip away from them.
“The first half we handled it pretty well,” she said. “In the second half we came apart under the pressure and started making rushed passes, not taking our time and getting to the gaps.”
Sophomore center Amy Jaeschke had a tough first half for the second game in a row. She committed three turnovers and was held scoreless, attempting just two shots and missing them both. Jaeschke finished with only five points.
On the boards she was still a force, pulling down 13 rebounds.
According to McKeown, the Cats’ first four opponents have been a challenge for Jaeschke because none of them featured a traditional center for her to match up against. As a result Jaeschke has been forced to play away from the basket more than she is accustomed to, and offensively McKeown said she has been double-teamed everywhere.
The coach was not happy that more than half of his team’s shots were from long range. The Cats put up 27 shots beyond the arc, which was one fewer 3-point try than they had amassed during their first three games combined. NU connected on just one-third of those attempts against Arkansas.
“We took way too many 3-pointers,” McKeown said. “If we made shots, we would have won by 20. We just didn’t shoot the ball very well.”
The theme of playing hard for 40 minutes again played a major role, although this time the Cats broke down in the middle of the second half rather than at the end of it.
Boyd’s basket cut the deficit to two points with less than 13 minutes remaining in regulation, but the Razorbacks responded with a 20-6 run to put the game out of reach. They hit enough of their free throws down the stretch to thwart NU’s comeback attempt and preserve the 16-point margin of victory.
“All the games that we’ve lost so far we’ve only played 38 or 36 minutes,” Jaeschke said. “And in those four or two minutes that we haven’t played is really what’s killed us.”
