Women’s Basketball

With seven games left in the season, it’s crunch time for Northwestern.

The Wildcats (9-14, 2-7 Big Ten) are heading east to Bloomington on Sunday to take on Indiana (11-12, 4-6), which currently sits directly above NU in the conference standings. Last season, the Cats faced the Hoosiers twice and split the series.

Adding a win over Indiana to their resume could do the Cats some good. Last year, NU finished with a 20-11 overall record, but with seven games left, the team already has more losses than it had all of last season. Coach Joe McKeown said the Cats are less focused on winning now and more focused on improving for the future.

“We’ve been more focused on us than our record,” McKeown said. “Where a lot of teams would be frustrated, I think we’re still in that learning period. They want it to be their team, their identity over the next couple years. You’re seeing that right now. You’re seeing the growth every day.”

Coming off two tough home losses to No. 11 Maryland and No. 13 Michigan, NU is looking for success against the Hoosiers. Sophomore forward Abi Scheid said the game against the Terrapins proved that the team is capable of competing with the best.

Freshman guard Lindsey Pulliam said simply seeing improvement from game to game is the team’s major goal.

“Coach says we just have to keep getting better, so we just have to keep working every day and getting better,” Pulliam said. “For me personally, just keep giving everything I have and improving in every area of the game. I want my defense to get better and also my 3-point percentage.”

In the midst of a four-game losing streak, NU will have to pull out all its tricks to break the Hoosiers’ three-game winning streak. McKeown said Indiana and the Cats have a history of playing well against each other and that the team’s biggest weakness at the moment is experience.

Similar to NU, Indiana is a young team with five freshmen on its roster, while the Cats have four. Even though the Hoosiers are youthful, they have two all-conference seniors in guard Tyra Buss and forward Amanda Cahill. McKeown said playing against them will be the team’s toughest challenge.

Scheid said if NU applies all it has learned from its previous matchups, she is optimistic about its chances.

“They’re a decent team,” Scheid said. “They’re very disciplined, and I know they have a few good players like Buss and Cahill. But they lost their big post (player), so I think that’s where we’ll have a big advantage. Just got to play hard and the outcome will be good.”

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