When the Wildcats needed to hit their free throws, they did. Only a week after a missed free throw doomed Northwestern (6-17, 2-10 Big Ten) in a one-point home loss, NU held on to beat Michigan (10-13, 3-9) 60-57 to end a seven-game losing streak.
“One thing we talked about this whole week of practice was we needed an extra seven to eight points every game, because that’s how much we’re losing by,” said junior forward Kristin Cartwright, who tied her career high with 16 points. “Those points can come from free throws, from attacking the basket, so that’s what we tried to do.”
NU led by five with one minute left after Cartwright knocked down both shots of a one-and-one. Cartwright fouled Wolverines guard Veronica Hicks, who hit both free throw attempts to bring her team within three with 42 seconds remaining.
The Cats couldn’t convert on the other end, nor could they pull in a defensive rebound on the Wolverines’ next possession.
Michigan retained possession and had an opportunity to tie the game off an sideline inbounds pass with 1.3 seconds left. But Hicks threw the ball cross-court and out of bounds, and NU held on for the victory.
Midway through the first half, the game didn’t look like one that would go down to the wire. In a rare burst of offensive proficiency, the Cats jumped out to a 22-5 lead after less than nine minutes of play.
“Tonight was an offensive explosion for us,” coach Joe McKeown said. “I felt like we were the Phoenix Suns, scoring 120 or something.”
But NU’s hot hands cooled off, and Michigan battled back to trail only 29-26 at the half, going into the locker room on a 12-0 run. Four minutes into the second half, the Wolverines led by two, and it seemed as if the Cats had fallen back to earth.
“We can’t stand prosperity,” McKeown said. “When we make runs, we have a hard time getting stops and going for the jugular vein, and turning that 20-5 lead … instead of us being up 30-16 at halftime, or 40-20, we’re up three. We just don’t have enough firepower sometimes.”
As impressive as it was for the Cats to overcome the Wolverines’ comeback effort and win, even more impressive was playing the final three and a half minutes without their starting point guard. Junior Jenny Eckhart left the game after taking an elbow to the nose. Although Eckhart played only one minute fewer than her season average of 35 minutes per game, the Cats are not accustomed to directing the offense without her, especially during crunch time.
With Eckhart out, NU relied on guards Erin Dickerson and Meshia Reed to bring the ball up. Reed, who broke out for 12 points off the bench, had little experience playing the point but was able to get the job done despite the new territory.
“It did feel a little strange,” Reed said. “But you can’t tell the coach, ‘You know, Coach, I don’t feel comfortable, so I think I’m just going to stay at the two.'”
With no game this weekend, it’s unlikely Eckhart will miss any time. But the Cats have proven they can win with or without her.
“The coaches have really been on us, so everyone was just really ready for this game to just kind of prove it to ourselves, prove it to the coaches and everyone else that we can come out and beat teams,” Cartwright said.
