Dec. 20, 2004
Box Score
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Three Wildcats scored in double figures and Northwestern hit 22-of-26 second-half free throws to defeat Northern Iowa Monday night in the first round of the San Juan Shootout.
The Wildcats (2-9) advance to face Charlotte in the tournament semifinals at 7 p.m. CT (9 p.m. AT) Tuesday night.
Senior Sarah Kwasinski (Chicago, Ill./Fenwick) led all scorers with 17 points while junior Ifeoma Okonkwo (Spring, Texas/Klein Oak) added 16 and sophomore A.J. Glasauer (Freiburg, Germany/Theodor-Heuss-Gynasium) also scored 16 points -- a career high.
After falling behind early, Northwestern fought back to build itself a lead at the break. Up by five at the 3:54 mark of the first half, Glasauer scored six consecutive points to give NU a 26-15 advantage.
The Wildcats held a 30-23 lead at the half, but UNI (4-4) was able to tie the score at 44-44 with 9:42 to play. At that point, Okonkwo went on an 8-0 run, nailing six free throws and a layup to stake NU to a 52-44 lead.
The closest the Panthers would get was within three points with 47 seconds remaining, but Kwasinski hit a pair of free throws and a jumper in addition to two free throws from senior Samantha McComb (Farmington Hills, Mich./North Farmington) to ice the game.
Glasauer's career high 16 points mark the third consecutive game a Wildcat has set a career-best point total -- Okonkwo (21) raised her personal bar against UIC while Kwasinski (28) turned in a personal best at Florida International.
Okonkwo and freshman Melissa Miller (Bloomington, Minn./The Breck School) each pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.
Northwestern shot just 38.8 percent from the field, but more than made up for it by going 27-31 from the line (87 percent). NU came into the game shooting just .632 from the charity stripe on the season.
Defensively, the 'Cats hassled Northern Iowa into 24 turnovers (10 steals) while holding UNI to 38.5 percent shooting.