There is very little Northwestern center Amy Jaeschke can’t do, but carrying a team is difficult for anyone, even the best of players. Fortunately for the Wildcats, the senior is getting significant help this season from her teammates.
NU (12-3, 1-1 Big Ten) will need to be at its collaborative best Thursday night when it hosts Penn State (12-4, 1-1), one of the conference’s top teams.
The Cats didn’t get crushed very often last year, but one of the rare routs came against the Nittany Lions, who clobbered NU 88-68 at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
In that game Jaeschke scored 22, then-senior guard Meshia Reed scored 13 and the rest of the Cats were able to rack up only 33 more points.
At times last year, it seemed like NU’s fate rested solely on Jaeschke’s shoulders. She led the team with 16.9 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.
Jaeschke still leads the team in scoring and rebounding but is doing so with far more help from her teammates this season. While Jaeschke was the only member of the team to average double digits in scoring last season, three additional Cats are averaging more than 11 points per game this time around: sophomore forward Kendall Hackney, junior forward Brittany Orban and senior point guard Beth Marshall.
Orban has been getting more minutes this year and has been making the most of them. The Ohio native is averaging 12.9 points per game, up from 8.3 last year. And although forwards aren’t usually known for their outside shooting abilities, Orban leads the Big Ten in three-point accuracy, with a 58 percent success rate on shots taken from behind the arc. Orban has also performed well in various hustle categories. Thus far this season, she’s accrued 18 steals after recording just 19 all of last year. She has taken care of business on the boards as well, bringing down nearly seven rebounds per game, up from last season’s average of 4.3.
“I love playing with Brittany Orban because she hustles so hard on either end,” Jaeschke said. “She’s our hardest worker. You always need a player like that on your team. I can’t say enough good things about her.”
Most impressive was Orban’s performance against LSU, in which she contributed 18 points and 17 rebounds in a 71-62 win over the Tigers. Last season no NU player except Jaeschke recorded more than 10 rebounds in a game.
Despite Orban’s substantial growth, Marshall may have shown the most statistical improvement of anyone thus far. She is averaging 12.1 points per game this season, up from 7.6 last season, and is second in the Big Ten in assists-to-turnover ratio.
Hackney has also shown tremendous improvement this season. In her second year of collegiate basketball, she has 12 blocks, approaching last year’s total of 14. She is averaging 11.9 points per game, another increase, but is quick to attribute her success to Jaeschke.
“Having her as a teammate is a huge confidence booster,” Hackney said. “She’s consistent, she’s strong, always fights. It’s good for me. I feed off her completely. She has to do all the work.”
Regardless of who is feeding off whom, the Cats will need all their stars to shine on both sides of the court on Thursday against the Nittany Lions and their offensive behemoth.
Penn State is leading the Big Ten with 83.1 points per game, more than nine points more than the next-best team, Ohio State. The Nittany Lions have already reached usually-rare triple digit point totals twice and have scored in the nineties five times this season.
In particular, the Cats will have to keep a defender on freshman Maggie Lucas, who is averaging 16.1 points per game for the Nittany Lions. Lucas also leads the Big Ten in three-point field goals per match.
NU will also keep a close eye on point guard Alex Bentley, who leads the Big Ten in assist-to-turnover ratio, with 5.4 assists per game compared to just 2.1 turnovers per game. Bentley scored 15 in last season’s matchup with the Cats.
Cats coach Joe McKeown has not forgotten how well Bentley played the last time she entered Welsh-Ryan Arena and has a realistic view of the challenge his team is about to face.
“They’re a talented team that can really push the ball at you hard,” McKeown said. “They just have a lot of weapons, outside and inside. (They’re) a dangerous team. That’s why their record is (12-4).”
