CHICAGO -- In a game that featured 188 combined points, 23 lead changes, 13 tie scores and two overtime periods, it was the Northwestern Wildcats that were left standing as 97-91 winners over the No. 18/18 DePaul Blue Demons Saturday night in Lincoln Park.
The Wildcats had a slim two-point lead, 38-36, at the half, but DePaul outscored NU 37-35 in the final 20 minutes of regulation. Both teams scored nine points in the first overtime session before Northwestern scored 15 points in the final five minutes to secure their fifth win of the season.
Saturday's triumph marked the ninth victory over a top-25 team in the Joe McKeown era and the fourth since the start of the 2013-14 season. DePaul has been the most victimized team on that list, falling three times to the Wildcats since the 2009-10 season while appearing in the polls. It was also NU's first double-overtime victory under McKeown and it's first victory that took at least 50 minutes on the court since a 78-77 triple-overtime win against UIC on December 18, 2003.
"It was a great game with a lot of ebbs and flows," said McKeown. "DePaul played great, we played great, but both of us struggled at times. It was like a 12-round scheduled fight that went 15 rounds. We just made a couple more plays in the second overtime."
NU's Lauren Douglas opened the scoring in the second overtime with a layup just 17 seconds in to put the Wildcats ahead, 84-82. DePaul would never catch the 'Cats from that point forward. The deciding sequence proved to be six-point run for the visiting team that covered 58 seconds and featured four points from Ashley Deary and two more from Douglas, giving Northwestern a sizable 96-89 lead with under 14 seconds left to play.
Douglas' effort was critical in the two overtime sessions. The junior reserve collected eight of her 15 points and grabbed two pivotal rebounds. Coffey and Deary had seven points each during the 10 minutes of extra time.
The two teams were never separated by more than three points during the first overtime period. DePaul went up by three after Brittany Hrynko converted a three-point play the hard way with 1:54 left. On the very next possession however, NU's Deary drilled a cold-blooded three-pointer from the top of the key to even the ledger at 82 points apiece. That would prove to be the final bucket of the first extra session with 1:29 remaining.
The 'Cats appeared to have the game won in regulation, however Hrynko went coast-to-coast with 5.4 seconds to go, draining a lay-up with 0.3 left to force overtime. Earlier, DePaul's Centrese McGee dove to the basket and put a layup through that gave her team a 71-69 edge with 46.1 seconds left, however she received a technical foul for not allowing the ball hit the floor. NU's Maggie Lyon turned her team's two-point deficit into a two-point lead by draining two free throws and a mid-range jumper from the left side with 17.3 seconds to go. Hrynko missed a layup on DePaul's ensuing possession, but Douglas missed the front end of a one-and-one to set up the Blue Demon guard's late heroics.
After shooting at a clip of 53.1 percent in the first half, NU was able to maintain that clip for the most part in the second half. The Wildcats made 14 of their 27 attempts (51.9 percent), while limiting DePaul to a mark of 40.5 percent (15-of-37). Lyon led NU with 11 second-half points.
The game began with a frenetic pace. The Blue Demons scored the game's first five points, but the Wildcats responded with a seven-point run that featured a pair of baskets from Deary and a three-pointer from Alex Cohen. Northwestern later built a five-point lead at 15-10 after Lyon found Karly Roser for an easy deuce.
The teams traded brief runs and a 5-0 surge from the 'Cats that was capped on a jumper from the right baseline by Coffey gave the visiting team its largest lead of the frame, 24-18, with 8:01 to go. The ledger was even with under a minute to play before NU's Douglas netted her only two points of the first with a layup with 10 seconds to go. DePaul was unable to get off a clean look and Northwestern took a 38-36 lead into the locker room at the half.
Lyon, after being held to just seven points last time out against UIC, was one of two Wildcats with nine points in the first half on 4-of-6 shooting from the floor. Deary also poured in nine points with a steal and an assist. Coffey had six points, seven rebounds and two blocks despite being limited to 13 minutes by a pair of fouls.
Coffey finished with 23 points to lead all players Saturday night, just ahead of Lyon who netted 22. Both numbers marked a season high for those respective Wildcats. Coffey also added a season-high 17 rebounds, one shy of her career-high 18, which she accomplished twice as a freshman a year ago. Douglas' 10 rebounds matched her own career-best mark, which has done twice before.
"[Coffey and Douglas] did a great job of playing in the paint," said McKeown. "They did a good job of not fouling, the whole team was that way in overtime. DePaul made some really tough shots, but getting the ball inside and finding each other was big. Lauren and Nia both played with a lot of poise."
Deary finished with a season-high 19 points and three steals in 41 minutes. Roser and Lyon led the squad with four assists each.
Northwestern will leave the state of Illinois for the first time this season on Thursday, Dec. 4 when it visits Blacksburg, Va. for a game against the Virginia Tech Hokies as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT from Cassell Coliseum. The Wildcats have not faced the Hokies since Dec. 20, 1986, a game that NU won, 70-64.
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