Northwestern women’s basketball opened its regular season with an 81-77 loss to Illinois State Wednesday. The game ended the Wildcats’ (0-1, 0-0 Big Ten) five-game winning streak against the Redbirds (1-0, 0-0 MVC) in Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Graduate student guard Kyla Jones led the ’Cats with a dominant 28-point performance in her NU debut, shooting 9-for-12 from the field.
“I run the floor hard, and I think that opens things up in transition a lot,” Jones said. “I’m able to find people on the perimeter, and we have a lot of strong 3-point shooters surrounding me as well.”
However, Jones’ efforts weren’t enough to secure a win for the ’Cats. NU trailed the Redbirds until the third quarter, when a 3-point shot from junior guard Caroline Lau put the ’Cats ahead 47-44.
The fourth quarter began with the two teams tied 55-55. Freshman forward Tayla Thomas pushed the ’Cats back into the lead with a layup less than a minute in.
“It’s her first game, and we saw flashes of what she’s capable of doing,” coach Joe McKeown said of Thomas.
Sophomore guard Casey Harter also delivered an impressive performance.
She scored 18 points, making two 3-pointers and shooting 7-for-13 from the field.
“Casey Harter is, to me, the most improved player in the Big Ten right now,” McKeown said. “She’s worked so hard, worked on her game, worked on all her skill sets … I think she’s going to have a big year for us.”
Junior forward Grace Sullivan joined Jones’ and Harter’s double-digit scoring with 10 points. Together, Sullivan, Jones and Harter combined for 56 points.
The ’Cats’ fatal flaw proved to be their 29 team fouls. Thomas, Sullivan and graduate student forward Taylor Williams all fouled out, leaving NU with five guards on the court.
“We couldn’t get any stops when we had to and defensively, we just broke down everywhere,” McKeown said.
With six seconds left in the game and the Redbirds up 79-77, freshman guard Xamiya Walton fired off two 3-point shots, missing both. Two free throws by ISU’s redshirt junior forward Addison Martin secured the Redbirds’ win.
“We played hard at the end, but we’ve got to play like that the whole game,” Harter said. “It can’t happen (in) just the last two minutes.”
The ’Cats will continue their season against Lehigh Sunday at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m.
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