Women’s Basketball

Northwestern held Idaho State to below 27 percent shooting from the field in its best defensive performance in almost a year as it cruised to a 72-36 win at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Thursday night.

Allowing their fewest points since topping Loyola 70-33 on Dec. 7 last season, the Wildcats (2-0) rode balance to success on both ends of the court. Eleven different players recorded either at least one point or rebound on the box score.

“We’re really trying to focus on keeping our intensity up and … being really aggressive on the defensive end,” junior forward Nia Coffey said.

Coffey, on a night in which she was honored before tip-off for scoring her 1,000th career point this past Sunday, scored 16 points and tied a career high with 18 rebounds as NU dominated the Bengals (1-1) 53-37 on the boards.

But Coffey was also aided by standout showings by a number of her teammates.

Senior guard Maggie Lyon led the team with 18 points. Sophomore guard Maya Jonas and freshman forward Pallas Kunaiyi-Akpanah both came off the bench to record nine and six rebounds, respectively, making their presences felt in the paint.

And junior guard Ashley Deary hounded Idaho State all game long, recording 17 points, seven steals — her most since last season’s opening game — and five rebounds despite often being the shortest player on the court.

“She has great basketball instincts, she anticipates where the ball is coming and she runs down long rebounds,” coach Joe McKeown said of Deary. “Ashley showed why … at times she can dominate a game.”

The 5-foot-4 guard sparked a run of 15 unanswered points to help the Cats leap to an early 18-3 edge, hitting a 3-pointer to go along with two assists and a steal within an 80-second span in the game’s opening five minutes.

NU led 20-5 after a first quarter in which Idaho State made just one field goal in 13 attempts. That lead extended to 34-16 by halftime as Lyon added 7 points in the second frame.

From the 9:23 to the 4:22 mark of the third quarter, NU’s defense held the Bengals without a single point and stretched the lead to a fully decisive 28-point margin. McKeown shuffled around playing time during the remainder of the out-of-reach contest.

A 3-pointer by Idaho State’s Isabel Vara de Rey was not only the Bengals’ first converted attempt from behind the arc — they were 0-for-14 until that point — but also the first 3-pointer the Cats have allowed this season, ending a streak of 32 consecutive tries that their opponents had missed to start the season.

McKeown was less pleased with the offensive performance, saying that they must play in “less of a hurry.” NU’s shooting efficiency dropped from 50.7 percent in its first game, down to 38.4 percent Thursday.

He quickly added, however, that the thorough defensive performance will allow the team to focus on areas that need more important in the coming weeks.

“We’ve been focusing so much on defense, I think over the next two or three weeks our offense will get better (and) our shooting will get better,” McKeown said.

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