After beating No. 4 Michigan to start the week, Northwestern strode into Bloomington today looking to beat No. 5 Indiana

Freshman guard Jillian Brown played well last game, raining 18 points on Michigan, and opened up scoring this evening with a left-handed layup and a 3-pointer from her office in the left corner. However, Indiana’s star forward Mackenzie Holmes stormed back from an eight-game layoff due to a knee injury. In a low-scoring first quarter, Holmes finished the first period with four points and three rebounds.

Coach Joe McKeown had seen enough early in the second quarter. After just under two minutes and two 3-pointers from Indiana guard Nicole Cardaño-Hillary, McKeown called a timeout. Trying to prove herself as the superior graduate guard, Northwestern’s Lauryn Satterwhite put in a pair of threes as well. Brown knocked in another corner three, Veronica Burton finished an and-one lay-up, and soon enough, it was a one-point game halfway through the second.

With a dash of threes, a pinch of layups, and a drop of free throws, the two teams cooked up a four-point game at halftime. The Hoosiers led 32-28.

After falling to a six-point differential, Northwestern’s three first-half leading scorers kept chipping away. Satterwhite hit a short jump shot, Brown finished a driving layup, and Burton completed another three-point play to bring the game to one. It appeared Indiana would grow its lead amid the ebb and flow of the game, but the three-headed Wildcat monster managed to regain the lead with 1:44 left in the third. Nevertheless, the ebb and flow prevailed with the Hoosiers finishing the quarter on an 8-0 run. 

Shots stopped falling for Northwestern and started dropping for Indiana. With 83% of NU’s points coming from Burton, Brown, and Satterwhite and 75% of the Hoosiers’ falling on Aleksa Gulbe, Grace Berger, and Cardaño-Hillary, it felt like a three-on-three game. Ultimately, Indiana’s trio emerged victorious, 69-58.

Despite the loss, NU can be positive about a performance against another top-five program, proving that they can hang with the best. And with several teams in the Big Ten representing the best, the Wildcats will have to continue this level of play down the final stretch of the season and into the postseason.

Takeaways

•  Jillian Brown, Lauryn Satterwhite help Northwestern hang around

The freshman guard from Grand Rapids, Mich., had a career day on Sunday against Michigan with highs in points, rebounds, steals, and blocks. Brown showed today that she is in no way, shape, or form going away. She jump-started the team with five points in the first four minutes of the game and continued on to finish with 14. Announced as the Big Ten Freshman of the Week, Brown has been a key component to this team’s success in the past couple weeks.

On the opposite end of the team’s age range, Lauryn Satterwhite was able to put up more than double her season average of 5.8 points per game with 14 points and a career-high four 3-pointers. It was her third double-digit scoring game in the past five.

• Courtney Shaw continues to battle down low

With Indiana’s Mackenzie Holmes returning to action today, Courtney Shaw came ready to scrap in the post once more. She had shut downMichigan’s Naz Hillmon on Sunday (as much as one can do so) and was able to hold Holmes to six points, below her average of 17.9. Burton had referred to Shaw as “one of the most overlooked players in the Big Ten,” but Shaw’s defensive rigor shone bright in today’s battle against Indiana.

• Fouls affect the flow of the game

The Wildcats fell into foul trouble early in the second half, and it ended up costing them. Satterwhite, Courtney Shaw, and Paige Mott (two of NU’s forwards) all found themselves on the bench in the fourth quarter with four fouls each. With a number of ticky-tacky pushing calls in the paint called on the Wildcats, the foul differential between the two games ended at 11. Indiana shot 19 free throws. Northwestern shot five.

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