On Senior Day at Welsh-Ryan Arena, it was a sophomore and a senior who helped lift Northwestern to a 62-55 victory over Minnesota.
The sophomore, Kendall Hackney, made her presence known throughout the afternoon, whether it was performing the National Anthem before the game, or scoring 13 points in the final stanza to help the Wildcats break a three-game losing streak.
“She made some big buckets, some big drives when we needed a basket,” coach Joe McKeown said. “It’s a good time of year to start doing that.”
The senior, Amy Jaeschke, put in her usual workmanlike effort, leading all scorers with 21 points.
“We just kept attacking the rim,” Hackney said. “That was one of our focuses to keep attacking because all they can do is foul, especially going inside to Amy because they can’t stop her.”
Overall, Hackney and Jaeschke contributed 41 points – accounting for two-thirds of NU’s offensive output.
The Cats (17-11, 6-9 Big Ten) used two media timeouts to help launch their second-half push.
The first media timeout came with 11:43 remaining and NU trailing by six. The Cats went on a 6-0 run following the timeout to tie the contest at 43.
Minnesota guard China Antoine broke the run with a 3-pointer to give the Golden Gophers a 46-43 lead, but junior guard Allison Mocchi answered with a three of her own to help spark a 14-3 NU run.
After Mocchi’s three, Jaeschke and Hackney took the offensive reins. The duo combined for 11 points during a six-minute span to give the Cats a lead that would withstand the test of time.
NU’s game-winning run was propelled by a defensive resurgence. After allowing Minnesota’s Brianna Mastey to hit a jumper with 8:03 remaining, McKeown challenged his team to step up its defensive game during a media timeout.
“We said you have to get five stops in a row starting in the last eight minutes of the game,” McKeown said. “It gives them a goal. It gives them a focus.”
The Cats responded to the challenge, holding the Golden Gophers without a field goal for the next seven and a half minutes.
“We contested the ball better down the stretch, got through screens,” McKeown said. “We didn’t let them break out in the second half.”
Of course, NU was fortunate to even be in the game with ten minutes remaining, especially considering its lackadaisical first-half performance. In the opening 20 minutes, the Golden Gophers (11-16, 3-11) out-shot, out-rebounded and outplayed the Cats, but were only able to bring a 26-24 lead into the locker room.
Junior forward Brittany Orban had four offensive rebounds in the first half to help keep NU in the game early on. She finished with eight points and 10 rebounds.
For the most part, however, NU’s offense was silent in the first half, hitting just 32 percent of its shots. While Jaeschke hit four-of-eight attempts, her teammates combined to go just 4-for-17 from the field.
McKeown said his team’s early struggles may have been caused by the absence of senior point guard Beth Marshall, who sat out Sunday’s game with an eye injury.
“We stood around a lot in the first half, waiting for (Marshall) to get us going because that’s what she does,” McKeown said. “In the second half, we did a much better job of saying, ‘we’re going to play basketball now.”
In the final stanza the Cats were far more aggressive, driving to the hoop with flair and earning 20 foul shots in the second half as a result.
“The past couple games, we’ve been passive on offense,” Hackney said, “So, I’m like, ‘let’s take it to the hole and see what happens.’ It worked out pretty well today.”
The final outcome left McKeown plenty proud of his team, particularly the Cats’ three seniors – Beth Marshall, Meshia Reed and Jaeschke.
“I’m very proud of our team, the way we handled adversity today and the way we stepped up in the second half,” McKeown said. “I’m really proud of those three. I can’t even tell you what they mean to Northwestern basketball.”
