Women’s Basketball

Northwestern didn’t take well to being unranked for the first time since last February.

Three days after falling out of the AP Top 25, the Wildcats (13-4, 2-3 Big Ten) snapped a two-game losing streak in stunning fashion, beating No. 5 Ohio State (12-4, 4-1) 86-82 on Thursday night. Senior guard Maggie Lyon led the way with 24 points and junior forward Nia Coffey added 23 for the Cats in a victory that quieted talk of the team’s demise in a big way.

“We were disappointed with how we performed against Purdue and Michigan State, and we knew that wasn’t who we are as a team,” Lyon said. “Our coaches challenged us this week in practice, and we responded.”

Freshman forward Pallas Kunaiyi-Akpanah took full advantage of just the second start of her career. She finished with 14 points and 14 rebounds, seven of which came on the offensive end. She consistently used her height and athleticism to give NU important second chance opportunities.

“Our team puts a lot of emphasis on rebounding,” Kunaiyi-Akpanah said. “Just by playing hard I’m going to get rebounds.”

Yet, Kunaiyi-Akpanah’s rebounding wasn’t shocking. Despite averaging just 9.3 minutes per game before Thursday’s game, she came in as the team’s third leading rebounder. What was different was her ability to score, as she more than tripled her previous career high of four points.

NU began the season as the No. 19 team and spent nine weeks in the poll, climbing as high as 12th. However, after winning just one of its first four conference games, the Cats fell out of Monday’s poll. The last time they had been unranked was week 15 of the 2014-15 season.

“We brought in (women’s lacrosse coach Kelly Amonte Hiller), a great coach who has won seven national championships, to talk to our team this week,” coach Joe McKeown said. “She gave a great message and I think that really inspired us.”

Sure enough, the Cats came out inspired and full of energy from the jump. Lyon swishing from long range became a theme early on, as the senior knocked down four 3s on her way to an 11 point first quarter and 14 point first half. After two consecutive double digit losses, the Cats found themselves up 48-30 at the break against the No. 5 team in the country.

“I thought we handled (Ohio State’s pressure) well in the first half, and that gave us some shots that we knocked down,” McKeown said.

The rest of the game was about holding off Ohio State’s high-powered offense. The Buckeyes came into the game averaging 86.5 per contest, good for fourth-best in the country, and did not go quietly into the night.

With a 10-4 run at the end of the third quarter, Ohio State trimmed its deficit to 12 points heading into the final period. They continued to turn up the gas in the fourth, cutting the Cats’ lead to as little as six points on a 3 by senior guard Ameryst Alston. To make matters worse, Coffey went down with a left ankle injury on the play after falling awkwardly while chasing a loose ball, and was unable to return.

With NU’s situation looking bleak, two players stepped up and willed the Cats to victory. Junior guard Christen Inman and Kunaiyi-Akpanah, showing poise beyond their years, scored nine of the Cats’ final 14 points as NU hung on by a thread.

“I just tried to bring up the spirits because it seemed as though because Nia had gone out that we might lose some energy,” Kunaiyi-Akpanah said. “But I think we kept it together.”

Now rejuvenated by its biggest win of the season, NU will head to No. 8 Maryland on Sunday for another top-10 showdown.

For now, the Cats can enjoy a signature win over a top-5 team.

“Winning on our home court after a two-game losing streak in the Big Ten, that was huge for us,” Lyon said.

This story was updated at 10:55 p.m. with postgame quotes.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @WillRagatz