Northwestern women’s basketball, after trailing for most of the game, stormed back and beat Utah 71-69 to pick up its first win of the season Thursday.
Senior guard Melannie Daley poured in 23 points on 10-of-16 shooting to lead the Wildcats (1-2, 0-0 Big Ten) past the Utes (2-1, 0-0 Big 12). Senior forward Caileigh Walsh, making her season debut, scored a game-winning layup with three seconds left.
Jones buried a driving layup to start the game, putting NU up 2-0 before graduate student forward Taylor Williams scored another to put NU up 4-0 early.
Utah claimed the lead on a quick 5-0 run, buoyed by a three-pointer from 6-foot-3 forward Mayè Tourè before extending the score to 12-6 on a Tourè layup.
Walsh checked in for the first time this season with 5:05 remaining in the first quarter. Walsh, who missed the first two games of the season due to injury, played 10 minutes and scored five points.
NU cut the lead to 14-12 before Utah’s Matyson Wilke made a layup with three seconds remaining in the first quarter – the second last-second shot NU has allowed in as many games.
In the second quarter, Daley got going, knocking down a pair of midrange jumpers to trim the Utah lead to three points. Daley scored 11 points in the second quarter.
Daley made a three-pointer before finding freshman forward Tayla Thomas in transition to snip the Utes lead to just one point with four minutes left in the first half.
But by halftime, the Utes extended their lead to 37-27.
The ’Cats sprinted out to a 6-1 run to begin the second half, but the Utes regained control, maintaining a double-digit lead for most of the quarter.
Walsh converted an and-one opportunity to cut the Utes lead to single digits, sparking a 6-0 run and bringing the Utah lead to 52-48.
Daley hit a stepback midrange at the third-quarter buzzer to cut Utah’s lead to 54-52 before tying the game shortly into the fourth quarter with a pair of free throws.
The fire alarms went off at Welsh-Ryan Arena shortly into the fourth quarter, causing a ten-minute delay of play.
Once the game resumed, Daley nailed a bucket to give NU its first lead since 6:41 in the first quarter. Tayla Thomas then banged a triple to make the score 59-56 with 6:30 left in the game.
The teams traded buckets down the stretch, with junior forward Grace Sullivan making a contested bucket before sophomore guard Casey Harter drove to the rim, earning an and-one opportunity to give the ’Cats a 69-63 lead with 1:55 remaining. Sullivan scored 16 points on 5-for-8 shooting Thursday.
With just 8.3 seconds remaining, Daley committed a foul on Utah’s Gianna Kneepkens, allowing Utah to tie the game at the free-throw line.
Walsh hit a game-winning layup with three seconds left to earn NU its first notch in the win column.
Here are three takeaways from Thursday’s tilt.
1. Melannie Daley, how do you do?
Entering the 2024-25 season, Daley told The Daily she had aspirations of entering the WNBA draft, should she have a promising season.
If Daley shoots like she did against Utah for the rest of the season, that dream could be closer within reach.
Daley shot 10-for-16 Thursday, demonstrating a shooting ability far beyond her traditional midrange game. She sunk the one three-pointer she attempted and drove toward the basket with higher frequency. The shots kept falling.
The Hastings, New York, native played meaningful minutes for the first time this year Thursday, running the court for 28 minutes. She logged limited minutes in the first two games of the season because of an undisclosed injury.
Daley led the ’Cats in scoring last year with 13.3 points per game. If she keeps up this pace, she’ll likely do that again.
2. Turnover, foul, turnover, foul
NU surrendered 13 turnovers in the first half, committing five offensive fouls down that stretch. The ’Cats finished with 21 turnovers.
Meanwhile, the ’Cats were whistled for 22 fouls in the game. Four NU players had two fouls by halftime. By the end of the third quarter, four had three fouls. Sullivan committed her fourth foul late in the third frame before fouling out with a minute and a half left in the game.
Sloppy errors doomed the ’Cats from start to finish. Even when NU made the game close, it surrendered points off turnovers and spent far too much time in foul trouble.
3. How about that second half?
In the final twenty minutes of Thursday’s contest, the ’Cats flipped just about every narrative they had created for themselves through the first two games of the year.
NU stood strong defensively, forcing nine Utah turnovers in the second half. It put together a cohesive offense.
The ’Cats erased a ten-point lead and starred while playing from behind. They were spurred by Sullivan, who scored 14 second-half points.
The NU defense held the Utes to just 8-for-30 from the field in the second half. The offense capitalized on Utah’s mistakes, going 13-for-14 from the stripe.
NU is next back in action against Harvard on Nov. 23 at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
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