With a 16-point lead in its pocket, Northwestern was eight minutes away from snapping its four-game losing streak in Sunday’s showdown against No. 24 Minnesota.
The Wildcats (7-10, 0-6 Big Ten) saw their convincing double-digit lead evaporate in the final quarter as the Golden Gophers (17-2, 5-2 Big Ten) stormed back for an 87-82 win. With the loss, coach Joe McKeown’s squad is still searching for its first conference victory of the season.
“We got to finish,” McKeown said postgame. “We got to be better than that.”
Despite the loss, NU saw four players amass double-digit scoring totals. Junior forward Grace Sullivan led the team with 18 points, while both senior forward Caileigh Walsh and graduate student guard Kyla Jones collected 17 points. Graduate student forward Taylor Williams posted a double-double with 11 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.
NU struck first Sunday with a 3-pointer by Walsh. The ’Cats went on to make three of their first four 3-point attempts, paving the way for a five-point lead over the Golden Gophers less than three minutes into the first quarter.
For the next three minutes, Minnesota dismantled its early deficit, as a layup by Minnesota guard Grace Grocholski tied it up at 13 apiece with 4:31 remaining in the opening frame. Grocholski led all Minnesota scorers with 27 points and 10 rebounds.
Coming off the bench after five minutes of game-time, Sullivan scored NU’s final eight points of the first quarter, but the Golden Gophers still led 23-21 heading into the second quarter.
A back-and-forth affair ensued as the clock trickled closer to halftime, but an and-one layup by Walsh in the quarter’s final seconds gave NU a 44-40 advantage at the break.
The ’Cats slowly built their lead throughout the third quarter and entered the final frame up 69-58. With just over eight minutes left to play, they led by a game-high 16 points.
But the Golden Gophers refused to quit.
As NU’s shots stopped falling, Minnesota heated up with a 21-6 run over five and a half minutes, tying the game at 80 with two minutes remaining.
After back-to-back buckets gave the Golden Gophers a four-point lead, Walsh responded with a layup to make it a one-possession game with 26 seconds on the clock. Following a 1-of-2 trip to the free-throw line for Minnesota, NU pushed the ball down the court. But junior guard Caroline Lau’s 3-point attempt fell short to seal the 87-82 loss.
“When you have a team in that situation, you got to play like you’re down 10 and not up by 10,” McKeown said. “You got to play with a sense of urgency.”
Following another defeat, NU will look to snap its five-game losing streak against in-state foe Illinois at home Thursday.
“There’s a process to learning how to win again,” McKeown said. “You got to take some things like today … to where you’re learning from it, but you’re not repeating it.”
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