Chicago's Big Ten Team when back and forth early with the team that came into the day with the nation's second longest winning streak. The Flames led 11-9 with 7:09 gone by before Nia Coffey sank a pair of free throws to knot the score once again. NU then finished off its 8-0 run with a la-up from Alex Cohen off a feed from Ashley Deary to go up by six with 8:28 left in the opening half.
UIC clawed to within four points a couple of times, including with 5:28 left in the half following a layup from Giselle Truiett. At that point Northwestern really put the clamps down defensively, holding UIC completely off the scoreboard for the remainder of the half. The home team scored nine points in the final 5-plus minutes and Lauren Douglas emphatically ended the stanza with her third block of the half, a rejection of Ruvanna Campbell.
Northwestern maintained a double-digit advantage through the duration of the ballgame. The cushion reached 20 points after Cohen completed an old fashioned three-point play, finished off a sweet dish from Maggie Lyon and draining the subsequent free throw after she was fouled with 12:41 left to play.
The Wildcats continued to wear the Flames down and they expanded their lead to a game-high 25 points with 4:23 left following a jumper from the top of the key by Douglas. Northwestern would go on to win by a final score of 61-40.
NU came into play Wednesday allowing its opponents to shoot 29.6 percent from the field through three games. UIC was better, but not by much. The 'Cats held the Flames to a mark of 31.5 percent from the floor, but Northwestern's scoring defense, which entered the day ranked fifth in the country (46.0 ppg) will receive a boost after allowing only 40 points today.
Northwestern's 12 blocks were a season high, led by Coffey who matched a career high with five rejections. Douglas added four and three of her teammates tallied one apiece. The Purple and White were also able to steal the ball 17 times, led by Deary, the NCAA leader, who had five. Christen Inman and Lyon had three apiece.
The home team also took significant advantage of its opportunities at the charity stripe. The Wildcats drained 17-of-19 free throws (89.5 percent) after entering the game averaging only 68 percent from the line. UIC struggled in that area, missing six of its nine attempts.
Coffey led the 'Cats in the scoring column with a game-high 14 points to go along with a team-best eight rebounds, five blocks and two steals. Inman was also in double figures for NU with 10 points. Douglas did a little bit of everything with eight points, six rebounds and four blocks in 25 minutes off the bench.
Northwestern will prep for its second road game of the season and its first against a nationally-ranked team on Saturday, Nov. 29. The Wildcats will make the short trip south to the Lincoln Park neighborhood in Chicago to take on No. 18 DePaul at 7 p.m. NU won last year's version of this crosstown classic, 82-79, on Dec. 1, 2013 at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
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