Looking to dig its way out of the Big Ten basement and snap a three-game losing skid, Northwestern hosted Indiana Wednesday.
The Wildcats (7-9, 0-5 Big Ten) got off to a promising start, as senior forward Caileigh Walsh drained a three-pointer to open scoring and give them an early lead over the Hoosiers (11-3, 3-1 Big Ten)
Despite the early momentum, NU couldn’t pull away with its first conference victory and fell to 68-64. Junior guard Melannie Daley led all scorers with 17 points.
After Walsh’s three-pointer, Daley hit a mid-range jumper to put the Wildcats up 5-3. However, the Hoosiers regained the lead shortly after and maintained it for the rest of the half.
Despite being down after the first few minutes, coach Joe McKeown’s squad kept the contest within reach, never trailing by more than a few points in the game’s opening 20 minutes. NU went to the breakdown 31-26.
Back from halftime, NU surged back, rattling off five straight points—including a fast break by Daley and a three-pointer from Walsh—to tie the game at 37.
The ‘Cats then had multiple opportunities to take the lead, cutting the deficit to a single possession several times in the third quarter. However, Indiana responded each time with timely three-pointers to push the margin back to five.
The fourth quarter saw more of the same. When Daley connected with sophomore guard Casey Harter in the corner to make the game 51-49 with six minutes to play, the Hoosiers immediately responded with a three of their own.
With 1:34 left to play, Daley pulled up for a jumper to give NU a 59-58 lead — its first since the opening minutes.
With six seconds left to play, freshman guard Xamiya Walton drained a three, but it wasn’t enough to give the ‘Cats their first conference win.
Here are three takeaways from NU’s to Indiana:
1. Lau’s slow shooting saga continues
Known more for her playmaking ability than being a sharp-shooter, sophomore guard had a career-best scoring season last year, when she shot 40.6 from the field and averaged 7.8 points per game.
This year she’s shooting just 24.5%.
Of the 158 players in the Big Ten who have played in more than 75% of their team’s games this year, Lau ranks 120th in field goal percentage and averages just 4.6 points per game in 31.1 minutes of play.
Against Indiana, Lau scored zero points on a 0-of-5 scoring clip and turned the ball over four times.
2. Keeping things within reach
In its previous three Big Ten contests against Oregon, Washington and Ohio State, NU was outscored by 19, 20 and 30 points. In Wednesday’s contest against Indiana, the ‘Cats held their own.
Down by five points at halftime, McKeown’s group quickly tied it up in the third quarter after a fastbreak layup from Daley and Lau connected with Walsh for her second trey of the day. Prior to Wednesday’s contest, Walsh had just eight three pointers on 40 attempts this season.
Against Indiana, the ‘Cats never let the game get out of hand — even briefly regaining a one-point lead in the game’s closing minutes.
NU couldn’t capitalize on its late trips to the charity stripe, shooting 9-of-15 from the line compared to the Hoosiers’ 16-of-18.
3. Westward bound
After suffering their fourth straight defeat, the ‘Cats face another tough stretch as they travel to California to take on two teams ranked in the national top 5.
In their debut seasons in the Big Ten, No. 1 UCLA and No. 4 USC have been dominant, with the two teams combining for only one loss in 21 games.
UCLA has already won eight games by 30 points or more this season and handed South Carolina its first and only loss since falling to Iowa in the 2023 National Championship game. NU will face UCLA on Sunday.
USC, led by the 2023-24 unanimous All-American and WBCA Freshman of the Year, JuJu Watkins, has only been defeated once this year—by then-No. 6 Notre Dame.
The ‘Cats are still looking for their first conference win this season.
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Twitter: @AudreyPachuta
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— Women’s Basketball: Northwestern falls behind early in blowout loss to No. 10 Ohio State
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