Box Score
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Northwestern 63, Michigan 62 Crisler Center Ann Arbor, Mich. Box Score | Box Score 
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Northwestern led one time Saturday, and it came when it mattered most, as the Wildcats knocked off the Michigan Wolverines, 63-62, at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Mich. Nia Coffey's layup with 4.9 seconds left helped the 'Cats overcome a 13-point deficit and pick up their 19th win of the season.
With her team in the double bonus, Michigan's leading scorer Cyesha Goree had two free-throw attempts with 10.4 seconds left and her team clinging to a one-point lead. The senior missed both of them and Coffey hauled in the rebound from the second effort. NU's standout sophomore took the ball the length of the floor, crossed up Goree, stepped across and converted from in close to give the Wildcats a 63-62 lead with 4.9 seconds to go.
The Wolverines' Shannon Smith got a look from inside the 3-point line, but her shot fell way short and the 'Cats celebrated their fifth consecutive victory.
"We just hung in there so well," said Northwestern head coach Joe McKeown after the victory. "Even when we got down by three and four near the end, we kept making shots. Nia [Coffey] made a great play and that's really what it came down. We made one more than Michigan did today. We're a resilient team and it's a great win on the road."
It was a long road to get to that point. Northwestern trailed by as many as 12 points with 15:31 remaining, but a furious 15-3 rally by the visitors over the span of 4:17 knotted the game at 51-51. Five different players contributed during the surge with Coffey pouring in six points in that span.
Northwestern had opportunities to take the lead, but the Wolverines denied their guests, taking a four-point lead with 6:59 remaining. Back-to-back scores by Coffey knotted it at 55 just over a minute later.
Michigan went back up by five points with 2:26 remaining after Goree hit a pair from the charity stripe. Maggie Lyon then hit 2-of-2 from the free throw line with just over two minutes to go, but then neither team found the basket for more than a minute.
The Wildcats came up with a big defensive stop with 25 seconds left when Lyon hauled in a rebound, one of four on the day. McKeown called a timeout and out of the stoppage, Lauren Douglas got a quick layup with 18.6 seconds to go that made it a one-point game, 62-61.
With Douglas on the ball, Michigan had trouble getting it in play and it used a couple of timeouts. The Wolverines eventually got the ball in and Madison Ristovski was fouled. Ristovski, an 80-percent free-throw shooter, missed both attempts, but Goree was fouled on the rebound.
Goree, a 69-percent free-throw shooter who made her first three attempts Saturday, missed both with 10.4 seconds to go and Coffey corralled the carom that set up her game-winning shot.
Coffey finished with her fifth consecutive double-double behind a game-high 25 points and 11 rebounds. The Minneapolis, Minn., native shot 55 percent from the field (11-of-20) while adding three steals and a game-high three blocks.
"When you have [Coffey] on your team, you know you have a chance," said McKeown. "A lot of people like to win and she hates to lose. She has that competitive edge that carries through our entire team."
NU did not get off to an ideal start during its third game of the week. When the two teams met at Welsh-Ryan Arena in January, Northwestern got out to a 9-0 lead, but this time at the Crisler Center, the Wolverines flipped the script by scoring the first nine points Saturday. Karly Roser, making her third consecutive start in the backcourt, ended the run with a 3-pointer from the left wing.
The Wolverines were ahead 15-5 when Ashley Deary sparked a 7-2 run with a 3-pointer that cut the deficit in half with 13:20 to go in the opening half.
Later, the Wildcats were within five points with 3:36 remaining when Deary collected a steal and took it the length for another bucket that made the score . Following a media timeout, the Wolverines went on an 8-0 run of their own to take a 13-point lead with 1:02 to go. Northwestern's Douglas stopped the bleeding with just over 10 seconds to play with her second 3-pointer of the half.
Northwestern shot well in the first half, converting at a clip of 42.9 percent, but it was hampered by eight turnovers. Michigan was a bit better in both categories, however. The home team shot 46.9 percent and only gave the ball away five times.
Lyon opened the scoring in the second half 12 seconds into the frame with a 3-pointer, her first basket of the game. The junior has made at least one triple in 30 consecutive games and in 51 of 58 contests since the start of the 2013-14 season.
The Wildcats fell behind by 12 points again before the aforementioned 15-3 run that gave them new life through the closing minutes of the second half.
Lyon and Douglas joined Coffey in double figures with 12 points apiece. Roser added seven points, seven assists and four rebounds, including two on the offensive end.
The victory was 10th away from home this season and the fourth in the last five chances. The 10 wins outside of Welsh-Ryan Arena are the most since the 1996-97 squad won as many during its run to the NCAA Tournament. Nineteen wins on the season is the most since 2010-11, McKeown's third year at the helm. Finally, it snapped a nine-game skid against the Wolverines going back to March 4, 2010.
Northwestern will return home on Wednesday, Feb. 18 to host the nationally-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers. The last time the two teams met inside Welsh-Ryan Arena, the Wildcats emerged with a 63-59 victory over the 18th-ranked Huskers on Jan. 26, 2014.
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