Women’s Basketball

After Northwestern closed its non-conference season a week ago, coach Joe McKeown said every Big Ten game would be a grind and nothing would come easy.

Wednesday’s conference opener at Nebraska epitomized that.

The Wildcats (12-2, 1-0 Big Ten) shot just 25 percent in the first quarter and never led by more than 9 points, but clamped down defensively in crunch time and dispatched the struggling Cornhuskers (4-9, 0-1) 62-58 in Lincoln.

Senior forward Nia Coffey, who provided virtually all of NU’s early offense, finished with 22 points to lead all scorers. Senior guard Ashley Deary put up 11 points of her own.

“Give Nebraska credit. … They played inspired basketball,” McKeown said. “Just a hard fought Big Ten game is really the best way to describe it. I’m proud of how we found a way to win.”

On paper, it should have been an easy game for the Cats. Nebraska entered Wednesday with a 1-5 record in December and an 0-7 mark against major conference opponents. Sophomore Jessica Shepard is the only Cornhusker to average double-figure scoring and starting point guard Esther Ramacieri did not play because of a foot injury. NU, on the other hand, rolled through most of its non-conference slate, with just two losses — both to quality opponents.

But as McKeown predicted last week, little came easy for the Cats. NU trailed by 7 before the first media timeout and did not take its first lead until midway through the second quarter. The Cats committed six turnovers before the break and, excluding Coffey, shot 8-for-24 as a team in the first half.

Even in the second half, when NU led for all but a few minutes in the third quarter, the Cats still had to work. Nebraska hung around despite a four-plus minute scoreless stretch late in the third quarter, and the Cornhuskers cut NU’s lead to just 3 points with 3:57 left in the contest. The Cats failed to score for more than six minutes late in the fourth quarter.

Defensively, though, NU got the job done. Nebraska had its own lengthy scoring drought late in the fourth quarter, and the Cats held Shepard to 17 points on an inefficient 8-of-20 from the floor. NU also executed in crunch time, hitting four free throws in the final minute to extinguish any lingering hope for the Cornhuskers.

“Nebraska was playing really well at that time,” Coffey said of the fourth quarter. “We just had to make sure we kept up our defensive pressure. We rebounded on the defensive end and limited their possessions on offense.”

Before NU took the floor, fellow NCAA Tournament contender Iowa suffered a surprising and possibly damaging loss at cellar-dwelling Illinois. Though the Cats had to grind their way through a game against another bottom-table Big Ten team, they will enter Saturday’s game against Purdue without a bad loss on their résumé and one road test out of the way.

“I liked how we closed out the last two or three minutes,” McKeown said. “We had some hiccups, but in this league all these games are crazy. You have to make plays at the end of the game.”

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Twitter: @ckpaxton