After Northwestern hammered Minnesota with 20 minutes of spot-on shooting, the Gophers dug themselves out of their 11-point halftime hole and emerged with a 73-65 victory.”It was a tale of two halves,” coach Joe McKeown said. “We played great in the first half, and Minnesota played great in the second half. They took it to us and we didn’t respond.”NU (11-5, 2-3 Big Ten) got off to a hot start, opening the game with an 11-for-14 mark from the floor. Once again, the Wildcats went to the 3-pointer early and often. Nine of their first 11 points came from beyond the arc, and NU drained seven first-half treys. Junior guard Beth Marshall led all scorers with 14 points, and the Cats ended the half shooting just shy of 60 percent from the field.But Minnesota (10-5, 3-1) kicked off the second half with a 9-2 run. The Cats committed eight turnovers and shot 2-for-12 from the floor in the first 10 minutes after the break.”Defensively they picked it up,” guard Meshia Reed said. “They started trapping and we didn’t adjust our offense well.”One of the team’s bright spots on the night, the junior sub scored 11 points, including a 3-pointer to put the Cats ahead 46-43 with 13 minutes left.”I just wanted to be a spark,” Reed said. “I wanted to come off the bench with a lot of energy and keep the game rolling.”NU took a five-point lead after senior guard Kristin Cartwright sunk two free throws, but the Cats couldn’t keep the Gophers down. Minnesota stormed back, going on a 14-1 run to take a commanding 57-49 lead with six minutes remaining.”Once we went down in the second half, we may have been rushing some shots,” Cartwright said. “We weren’t getting the best shots because we were trying to play catch-up.”The Cats pulled within three points in the final minute, but Minnesota guard Kiara Buford iced the win with a trey in the waning seconds. NU shot 7-for-25 in the second half, while the Gophers made more than half of their attempts.Cartwright and Marshall led NU with 14 points apiece, while freshmen Kendall Hackney and Dannielle Diamant each tallied seven rebounds. Junior center Amy Jaeschke had an unusually quiet night, taking just five shots. Her nine points against the Gophers ended an eight-game streak of scoring in double figures.After starting the year 2-0 in Big Ten play for the first time in 14 years, NU has slipped in its last three games. The schedule does not get much easier as the Cats travel to West Lafayette, Ind., to take on the Boilermakers. When the teams first met this season, NU fought back from a 16-point defecit to stun Purdue 60-58. It was the Cats’ first victory over the Boilermakers in more than a decade.While NU has played well on the road, Purdue’s Mackey Arena is one of the toughest places to play in the country. The Boilermakers lead the conference with an average attendance of 6,700 fans per game.”You’ve got to keep your composure,” McKeown said. “(Purdue) is going to be a tough game there, but we’ll be ready for it.”[email protected]