It was Battle of the Maggies, round two.
Northwestern sophomore guard Maggie Lyon put up 17 points and six rebounds, but Penn State guard Maggie Lucas and her 26 points, three assists and four steals were too much to overcome as the Wildcats fell to the Nittany Lions, 82-73.
“(It was) a hard fought game,” coach Joe McKeown said. “We battled back. We had chances … but the times when we had to make a bucket, we couldn’t, and they did.”
It was the second time this season NU suffered a close loss to Penn State. In their first contest on Feb. 2, the Cats made a furious comeback in the second half but came up short in a 79-75 defeat.
Both Maggies starred in that game as well.
During that matchup, Lyon led NU with 26 points, six assists and four rebounds, but Lucas’ more modest 19 points, three assists and six rebounds were enough to secure a Penn State victory.
In this game, despite Lucas padding the stat sheet more, the Nittany Lions’ better overall team effort prevailed.
“We knew it was going to be a battle,” Lyon said. “The end of the second half, it just kind of slipped away from us.”
Nittany Lions’ forward Tori Waldner contributed 14 points, nine rebounds and five blocks, and forward Ariel Edwards posted 15 points and six rebounds of her own.
“Would’ve been better if she came to Northwestern,” McKeown said, on Edwards. “I think she’s one of the most underrated players in the Big Ten. … They probably appreciate her because she does all the little things.”
As a team, Penn State also took much better care of the ball, committing 13 turnovers to NU’s 18.
“First half tonight, we got sloppy,” McKeown said. “We’re a very young team. And sometimes we get excited, and we don’t take care of the basketball. Tonight it came at the wrong time.”
Lyon lacked the support Lucas had. Freshman forward Nia Coffey, the Cats’ overall leading scorer, put up 14 points but fouled out of the game with 12 minutes remaining in the second half.
“(Coffey’s) a great player,” McKeown said. “When we get into the Big Ten tournament, we need to be on a little bit of a run and get her going.”
Sophomore forward Lauren Douglas had 16 points and eight rebounds off the bench, and junior forward Alex Cohen chipped in 14 points and six rebounds. But it just wasn’t enough against a deeper, more experienced Nittany Lions squad.
“We’re a streaky shooting team,” McKeown said. “We’re capable of hitting 10 or 12 3’s in a game. But that’s the problem when you’re streaky, you’ve also got a chance to have stretches where you don’t finish.”
NU has now lost five in a row. Once NCAA tournament hopefuls, the postseason has been slowly slipping out of the team’s grasp over the past three weeks.
McKeown wants more from his once promising squad.
“We’re a good team,” he said. “Hanging in there is not our goal.”
The Cats have just three games remaining, and only one at home to right the ship and make their case before the Big Ten tournament begins.
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