New Season, New Hope, Same Old Result
Sunday, November 18, 2001
By: Frank Tormey

The Northwestern women’s basketball team kicked off its season at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Sunday afternoon with a disappointing 68-63 loss to the Northern Illinois Huskies. It was the first time since 1989 that the Wildcats had lost to their in-state rival.

Coming off a season when the Wildcats only won 4 games, and were winless in the Big Ten, it’s easy to become accustomed to losing, but this loss was an extremely frustrating one. Northwestern had a three-point lead with just over four minutes to go, but Northern Illinois closed out the game with a 12-4 run. “It’s hard to be happy right now, it’s hard,” said Northwestern head coach June Olkowski.

The Wildcats got off to a hot start as the game began. Junior guard Natalie Will drained a three-pointer to begin a 12-2 opening run by Northwestern. Northern Illinois responded with an 11-1 run of their own to even things up at 13 apiece with 13:39 to go. Both teams went back and forth the rest of the first half, as the Wildcats took a 35-31 lead into the locker room.

The second half saw more close action as neither team could build up much of a lead. With 1:11 to play, junior guard Anya Walker gave the Wildcats a 63-62 lead with her layup. Forward Lindsay Secrest hit four free throws in the final minute for Northern Illinois, and center Jessica Shattuck tacked on a layup to close out the game for the Huskies.

A season guaranteed to be full of new faces for Northwestern saw freshman center Sarah Kwasinski score 13 points and block two shots. Freshman Suzanne Morrison started at center and scored 5 points in 28 minutes of action. Morrison and Kwasinski each had chances to put the Wildcats ahead in the final 30 seconds but neither could connect. Coach Olkowski never doubted either player’s ability to come through in the clutch. “They would not be on the floor if I did not expect them to perform,” the head coach said.

Junior guard Emily Butler led Northwestern in scoring with 18 points, to go along with a career-high five steals. Walker had four steals of her own as the Wildcat guards played some great hustle defense. Northwestern’s defense in the paint was not as impressive, however. Northern Illinois had 43 combined points from center Shattuck and forwards Jennifer Youngblood and Secrest. “I was truly disappointed, our post has to get better,” said Olkowski, who also added, “Our ball pressure has to get better.”

“We never should have been in that position,” Butler said, “We’re gonna have to be smarter.” “Turnovers, defense, rebounding: if we don’t fix those problems it’s gonna be tough for us to get wins.”

The women will try to start fixing those problems on Wednesday night when they take on the Miami Hurricanes before competing in the Florida International Invitational on Friday and Saturday. The Wildcats return home on Tuesday, November 27 to take on DePaul. That game can be heard on WNUR 89.3 FM at 7pm.

Frank can be reached at f-tormey@northwestern.edu.