Jan. 8, 2003
EVANSTON, Ill. -
Indiana WBK Game Notes in PDF Format
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Date/Time: Thursday, Jan. 10, 2003
Site: Bloomington, Ind./Indiana University
Arena/Capacity: Assembly Hall/17,357
Series: vs. Indiana-NU leads 26-21
Radio/TV: WNUR 89.3 FM/none
Internet: www.wnur.com (sports page)
Back to the Big Ten
After a quick departure from the conference schedule, Northwestern is ready to pick up where it left off ... winning. The last time NU took the court in a league matchup, they won a 52-46 decision at Welsh-Ryan Arena over Michigan State. Now that's not a big deal to the average fan, but when you are talking recent NU women's basketball history, the win was monumental. Not only did it stop a 43-game regular-season Big Ten losing streak, but it showed the strides the program has made. The evidence is in Michigan State, which followed the loss to NU with a 67-62 upset of sixth-ranked Purdue in East Lansing, Mich.
After battling No. 24 DePaul last Saturday, NU hits the road for the second time in conference play. The Wildcats opened the 2002-03 Big Ten season with an 82-49 loss at Ohio State.
While most of the offensive numbers are similar between IU and NU, the Hoosiers hold the upper hand in rebounding. According to the latest Big Ten stats, Indiana (43.8) is atop the Big Ten in rebounding, while the 'Cats (34.2) are last in the league.
The two biggest keys to the game for Northwestern are its ability to rebound and control the tempo of the game.
Wildcat Quickies
* Melissa Culver and Leslie Dolland teamed up with Indiana for-
ward Jill Hartman over the summer as the trio were part of the
Big Ten Women's Basketball Foreign Tour team. The squad went
5-0 traveling through the Netherlands and Belgium.
* The Wildcats are 5-5 in their last 10 meetings with Indiana.
* Head coach June Olkowski is 0-4 vs. Indiana since her hiring in
1999. The teams have played at Welsh-Ryan and Assembly Hall
two times each in that span.
* Indiana's senior guard Kristen Bodine spent the first two years of
her collegiate career at Butler, playing her freshman year
under the tutelage of NU's current head coach June Olkowski.
* Indiana has 482 rebounds compared to 444 for Northwestern.
* The Hoosiers have 727 total points in 11 games, NU has 722 in
13 contests.
* The Hooseris are undefeated at home this season (4-0) and are
riding a six-game home winning streak. They have not lost a
game at Assembly Hall since Feb. 7, 2002, when they fell to
Penn State, 67-59.
* Both Indiana and Northwestern enter tonight's matchup losing its
last contest. NU fell to 24th-ranked DePaul (70-51) while, the
Hoosiers fell to Illinois (63-58).
* Sarah Kwasinski, a sophomore, reached 500 career points when
she scored 18 against Morehead State in the first round of the
Denver Classic. She now has 552 all-time points.
* Leslie Dolland was voted team captain.
* Eleven of NU's 14 players hail from different states.
* Three of NU's four coaches have Div. I head coaching experience.
-Olkowski at Arizona, Butler and Northwestern
-Darling at the Air Force Academy
-Grennan at St. Joseph's (Pa.)
* Sue Darling spent two years (1996-97) working for the Seattle
Reign (ABL) as an assistant coach.
* Samantha McComb and Sarah Kwasinski are the only two
Wildcats to start every game this season.
* The eight three-pointers NU hit against Michigan State is a
season high.
* The Wildcat defense held Michigan State to season lows in
points (46), field goals made (16), field goal percentage (.281),
free throws made (seven) and free throw percentage (.500).
* Northwestern has held three of its 13 opponents under 30 per-
cent shooting from the field and nine teams under 40 percent.
* Prior to last week's win over MSU, NU's last Big Ten win was
against Minnesota (50-44) on Jan. 20, 2000.