Feb. 5, 2009
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern held a commanding lead early and held off Michigan the final minutes for a 60-57 victory Thursday evening at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Junior Kristin Cartwright (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) led all scorers with 16 points on 6-of-8 from the field and 4-of-4 from the line. Sophomore Meshia Reed (Country Club Hills, Ill./Stockbridge (Ga.)) also came up big for the 'Cats, contributing 12 points.
"Meshia Reed and Kristin Cartwright picked up the slack and gave us some points," Northwestern head coach Joe McKeown said after the game. "They made plays when they had to."
Northwestern jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the first four minutes, knocking down two-out-of their first three attempts from the field. Two minutes later, the 'Cats strung together a 13-0 run, fueled by back-to-back treys from Jenny Eckhart (Libertyville, Ill./Carmel) and Maggie Mocchi (Wheeling, Ill./Buffalo Grove), to inflate their lead to 15, 20-5, with 13:06 on the clock.
Northwestern knocked down 88.9 percent (8-of-9) of its looks through the first eight minutes, while limiting the Wolverines to just 18.2 percent from the field and a inducing scoring drought of a little over five minutes.
Michigan slowly began to come to life, stringing together a 5-0 run to pull the score to 22-10 mid-way through the half. Northwestern built a 29-14 lead at the 4:23 mark before the Wolverines ran off 12 unanswered points to pull the game to end the half and set the score at 29-26 heading into the locker room.
Northwestern finished the half shooting 54 percent (12-of-22) from the field, including 40 percent (4-of-10) from beyond the arc. Brittany Orban, Mocchi and Cartwright led the Wildcats with six points. Amy Jaeschke (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) pulled down six rebounds to lead the home team.
Michigan outscored Northwestern 7-2 to open the half and take its first lead of the game on a baseline jumper from Jessica Minnfield. The Wildcats ran off eight unanswered points to take a six-point lead with 13:08 remaining.
Northwestern built up a nine-point lead, 49-40, with 8:49 left. The Wolverines responded with an 8-0 run to pull the contest to within a point, 49-48 with 6:18 remaining. NU dug in and threw up five quick points but Michigan's Carly Benson scored five points of her own to pull the Wolverines to within 56-55 with 2:40 left.
With the score at 58-55, Jessica Minnfield fouled Cartwright on a drive, sending her to the line for a one-and-one. The junior sunk both to give NU a five-point lead with just under a minute left. Michigan's Veronica Hicks hit two free-throws with :42 on the clock to make it a one-possession affair, 60-57.
With only seconds left in the game, the Wolverines drove into the lane and kicked the ball out to a wide-open Krista Philips behind the arc. Her shot glanced off the rim however, and it appeared the `Cats came down with the rebound. But Benson wrestled the ball away from Erin Dickerson (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young) and Michigan was able to call timeout with less than two seconds to go. On the ensuing inbounds pass the Maize and Blue threw the ball out of bounds, and the Wildcats were able to hang on to earn the much-deserved `W'.
Jaeschke turned in a solid game, just shy of a double-double, with nine points and eight rebounds. Eckhart also contributed nine points, five rebounds and a game-high five assists.
Northwestern shot an outstanding 50 percent from the field and 90 percent from the free throw line. With the victory, the Wildcats surpassed their win total from all of last season.
The Wildcats are next in action next Thursday, Feb. 12 when they travel to Champaign to battle the Illini in a 7 p.m. contest. Following that, NU heads to Ohio State for a 10 a.m. CT match up on Sunday, Feb. 15. That game will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network.