With coach Joe McKeown not making the trip to Bowling Green for personal reasons, Northwestern (3-0) narrowly escaped with the victory over Western Kentucky (0-2), 61-54.
Assistant coach Ali Jaques took over the coaching duties for the Wildcats for the night, and the team expects McKeown to return in time for Sunday’s game.
“Amy and I were telling everyone that we have to take everything we learned this season and that coach instilled in us and put it on the floor tonight,” senior guard Beth Marshall said.
Junior forward Brittany Orban led all scorers with 20 points, while senior center Amy Jaeschke had 13 in just 18 minutes.
It was a tale of two runs in the first half. NU surged to a 24-7 lead in the opening 13 minutes. But Western Kentucky came back to end the half on a 21-5 run, giving the Cats a slim 29-28 lead. The Lady Toppers almost had a lead at the break on a three-pointer by forward Janae Howard, but the shot was deemed to have been released too late.
“When everyone got in the locker room,” Marshall said, “we knew we had to go back to what was working for us in the start of the first half.”
The Lady Toppers had no match for Jaeschke on the interior, who had her way while scoring nine points in the first half despite limited minutes due to foul trouble.
“I think it is really important (we were able to win without Amy),” Jaques said. “Hopefully, we don’t have to have any more games like this though.”
The second half failed to provide a whole lot of fireworks. The teams traded buckets for most of the half until a small 7-0 run gave NU a nine-point lead. Western Kentucky answered back by slowly bringing the lead back to within two, but the Cats prevailed on the back of their free throws.
NU shot 69 percent at the charity stripe including a perfect 11-for-11 from Orban, while the Lady Toppers shot 54 percent.
“I think free throws were a big game changer tonight,” Orban said. “(I) took it on myself to do all that I could to push the team.”
Fouls put a big wrinkle in the NU game plan as Jaeschke picked up her fourth foul with 12 minutes to go in the game. NU had three players with four fouls, and junior guard Tailor Jones fouled out.
“I think it was a physical game, and we were not doing a good job at moving our feet in the post,” Jaques said.
The Cats were out-rebounded45-34 in the game, uncharacteristic for a team that prides itself on rebounding.
“It is never a lack of effort on our part,” Marshall said. “We know it is not Amy’s sole responsibility to rebound for us, and we knew before the game they were going to be physical on the glass.”
The Cats will next be in action Sunday afternoon against Chicago State at home.
