Nov. 1, 2009
Box Score
EVANSTON, Ill. --Sophomore Brittany Orban (North Canton, Ohio/Hoover) and junior Amy Jaeschke (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) paced Northwestern with 25 and 23 points, respectively, as the Wildcats dominated Robert Morris, 119-66, Sunday afternoon in their first and only exhibition game of the 2009-10 season. All Wildcats got into the scoring column as Northwestern shot an outstanding 54 percent from the field en route to the victory.
Northwestern withstood an early first-half three-point flurry from the Eagles as they knocked down three in a two-minute span to take a 13-9 advantage after four minutes of play. The Wildcats remained poised thanks to the help of Orban, who tallied seven of NU's first 11 points.
Another trey from Robert Morris' Ashley Williams gave the visitors a four-point lead, 18-14, with 11:46 remaining in the half. The Wildcats made several key defensive stops while running off 15 unanswered points on the contributions of five different players to gain a 29-20 lead with 7:24 left. Northwestern continued to build its lead, extending the advantage to 21 heading into the halftime break.
Orban led all scorers with 21 points, followed by 11 from both Jaeschke and freshman Dannielle Diamant (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman). Senior Kristin Cartwright (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) led the way with six rebounds. Northwestern's height advantage was evident as it outscored Robert Morris 26-4 in the paint. The Wildcats got it done on the defensive end as well, forcing 13 Eagle miscues and limiting them to just four second-chance points.
Northwestern continued to light up the scoreboard after halftime, never letting the difference shrink below 20 points after the first four minutes of the second stanza. The Wildcats took a total of 40 free-throw attempts and knocked down 72 percent of those opportunities. Led by sophomore Allison Mocchi (Wheeling, Ill./Buffalo Grove), the Wildcats extended their sharp shooting from downtown as well, as NU connected on 47 percent of their attempts from beyond the arc.
Six players finished in double-figures for the 'Cats, including Orban (25), Jaeschke (23), Diamant (18), Mocchi (11), Meshia Reed (12) (Country Club Hills, Ill./Stockbridge (Ga.)) and Kaitlin McInerney (11) (Oak Brook, Ill./Benet). It was a team effort on the boards as well, as Northwestern pulled down 49 rebounds.
The Wildcats officially begin the 2009-10 season at Toledo on Nov. 13 in a 6 p.m. CT contest.