For coach Joe McKeown and the Wildcats, bigger is better in 2009-2010.
On Saturday Northwestern boasted a starting lineup with all but one player taller than 5’10”. On the other hand, Robert Morris started only one player taller than 5’9″.
The Wildcats used their new size to dominate the Eagles 119-66 in their only exhibition game of the season. NU used the game, which did not count towards its record, as a measurement of its progress.
“We definitely have some things to work on,” sophomore Brittany Orban said. “But it’s our first game and we’re excited about where things are headed.”
McKeown’s first recruiting class focused on size: The second-year coach brought in two recruits taller than six feet. The Cats also welcome back 6’2″ junior Kaitlin McInerney, who missed most of last season with an ACL injury. Add that to 6’5″ All-Big Ten center Amy Jaeschke, and NU has one of its biggest teams in recent memory.
“It takes a lot of pressure off Amy now,” McKeown said. “She doesn’t have to feel like she’s playing in a league where everybody else is 6’5″ and everybody on our team is 5’7″ or 5’8″.”
Jaeschke and the Cats dominated the battle for the boards, grabbing 49 rebounds while limiting the Eagles to 38. However, rebounding wasn’t the only advantage to a bigger lineup.
“Even though we had a size advantage, it was important to get our post players up and down the floor defending smaller players,” McKeown said. “I thought Amy and Danielle (Diamont) did a good job of establishing themselves in the paint.”
NU scored 56 points down low while holding Robert Morris to just 12 points.
But the Cats were not controlling the paint for the entire game. NU committed six turnovers in the first eight minutes and the Eagles jumped out to an 18-14 lead with 11:46 left in the half. Then NU went on a 15-0 run and never looked back.
Orban and Jaeschke led the Cats with 25 and 23 points, respectively. Freshman Diamont, sophomore Allison Mocchi, junior Meshia Reed and McInerney all finished in double digits as well.
The balanced and bountiful scoring bodes well for NU, as the squad struggled to put points on the board last season.
“Last year scoring was our biggest problem,” McKeown said. “We defended pretty well and competed really hard, but we didn’t score. That’s a good sign for us.”
Orban also pointed to the team’s increased conditioning as a factor in its opening day blowout.
“We’re in better shape coming into the season,” she said. “We don’t need two or three games to feel like we’re in shape. Starting out we feel like we’re able to run and just continue going.”
McKeown credited much of the team’s improved conditioning to its first full year under the new coaching staff.
“We just got here late last year so we never had a postseason with this team as a coaching staff until this past April and May,” he said. “Our coaches did a great job individually making players better, demanding more, expecting more. Hopefully that’ll carry over to the Big Ten.”[email protected]
