Northwestern snuck past Abilene Christian 62-59 in its first game of the Elevance Health Fort Myers Tip-Off, maintaining its perfect start to the season in an affair that was far too close for comfort.
The midwest-based Wildcats (6-0, 0-0 Big Ten) barely scraped by their southern Wildcat (4-2, 0-0 WAC) counterparts, riding a 22-point effort from senior forward Grace Sullivan on an afternoon when she needed time to find her shooting touch.
NU got off to a hot start, taking a 9-2 lead through a pair of Sullivan buckets and a 3-pointer from junior guard Casey Harter. Abilene Christian quickly responded with an 8-0 run to jump ahead, and the game remained tightly contested for the remainder of the half.
NU outscored the Texas outfit 8-6 in a low-scoring second quarter defined by turnovers and missed opportunities, taking a 29-24 lead into halftime after Sullivan hit a jumper at the buzzer.
The ’Cats started the second half in similar fashion to the first, opening up an 8-point advantage before being quickly pegged back. Offensive struggles allowed Abilene Christian to take its first lead of the half with under a minute remaining in the third quarter on a 3-pointer.
When the game appeared to be slipping away from them, coach Joe McKeown’s squad righted the ship. Harter made a crucial three, Sullivan knocked down a mid-range jumper and the ’Cats led 58-52 with under 90 seconds remaining.
A foul, a turnover, a missed shot and another foul later, and NU’s lead had been cut to one. But graduate student guard Tate Lash hit four clutch free throws, Abilene Christian ran too much time off the clock and settled for a 2-pointer when it needed a three, and the ’Cats escaped.
Here are three takeaways from NU’s Black Friday win over Abilene Christian:
1. Sullivan continues to produce despite early inefficiency
Sullivan’s first five performances of the season were nothing short of spectacular. The post player in her second year with the program after transferring Bucknell came into Friday’s contest averaging 21.0 points per game, a top-20 mark in the nation.
But against Abilene Christian, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Sullivan during an inefficient first half. She failed to maintain her lights-out mid-range shooting early on, going 5-for-13 in the opening 20 minutes.
In one spell midway through the second quarter, Sullivan missed field goal attempts on three consecutive possessions before committing an offensive foul on the next trip up the floor.
While NU has understandably relied on Sullivan for offensive production given her stellar start, Friday’s uncharacteristically rocky second-quarter showing demonstrated the inevitable downside of that approach, as its No. 1 option won’t always be in tip-top form.
Yet examining the box score at the game’s conclusion, Sullivan still made a sizable impact, notching 22 points on 11-for-21 and grabbing nine rebounds. That was largely due to a strong fourth-quarter effort in which Sullivan was able to run the floor for a pair of open layups and knock down a crucial midrange shot to put NU ahead 58-52 at the 1:20 mark.
Even on a day when her signature shots weren’t always falling, No. 22 remained the focal point of the ’Cats’ offense.
2. ’Cats survive without hot hand
In last Friday’s win over Cleveland State, it was sophomore guard Claire Keswick who papered over an otherwise dismal 3-point-shooting day with six triples on a night when the rest of the team shot 2-for-16.
Against Maryland Eastern Shore, it was Harter who cashed in on five threes as her teammates went 3-for-16 from distance. In NU’s season-opening win over IU-Indianapolis, it was sophomore guard Xamiya Walton who made four 3-pointers as the other ’Cats shot 1-for-16.
In the season’s nascent stages, a clear pattern has emerged. The ’Cats have dealt with similar distance-shooting struggles that plagued them in past years, but have found different sparks to provide a 3-point touch from game-to-game.
On Friday, NU’s output from beyond the arc was more spread out, with no player making more than two threes.
Walton nailed two triples early but faded on a 2-for-7 night. Lash briefly caught fire early in the third quarter, sinking two catch-and-shoot threes in quick succession, her only two of the afternoon.
After connecting on a 3-pointer in the game’s opening minutes, Harter returned late on to splash a big one from the corner, putting the ’Cats ahead 54-50 with under four minutes remaining.
While NU didn’t have a hot hand to turn to when the going got tough, it found a way to win a game when it didn’t find a singular 3-point specialist.
3. Are the ’Cats back?
After going a combined 8-46 in Big Ten play over the last three seasons and failing to reach 10 wins in each of them, NU came into this campaign with no expectations.
The ’Cats admittedly haven’t faced the highest caliber of opponent yet and haven’t won in convincing fashion, but similar non-conference tests have tripped them up throughout the past three years. A 6-0 start is enough to beg the question: Has this team made a stride forward?
NU has now won its first six games for the first time since the 2019-20 season, a campaign when it finished 26-4 and won the Big Ten regular season title.
This iteration of McKeown’s team bears little resemblance to that championship-winning squad, but strong interior play from Sullivan and sophomore forward Tayla Thomas combined with flashes of 3-point shooting from Walton and Keswick give it the makings of a competitive outfit.
A Saturday test against Missouri, NU’s first power-conference opponent of the season, in the second leg of the Fort Myers Tip-Off, will provide a better barometer of its progress.
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