The Northwestern women's basketball team did something
Friday night that it hadn't done for nearly a year.
It won a ballgame.
Suzanne Morrison and Sarah Kwasinski each posted
double-doubles and Melissa Culver dished out a career-high eight assists to lead the
Wildcats to an inspired 61-42 victory over Hofstra. The game was a first round matchup in
the Roger L. White Invitational, held at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
"It's huge for us to get the monkey off our
back," head coach June Olkowski said after the game. "We're very proud of [the
players'] performance and how they came in and handled themselves."
Ending a losing streak that dated back to last Dec. 21's
win over Eastern Illinois proved surprisingly easy for the Wildcats (1-5). Trailing 14-11
with 10:23 to go in the first half, Northwestern went on a 20-0 run to end the half and
scored the first eight points after the break to lead 39-14 before the Pride could get
back on the board. All in all, the Cats held Hofstra scoreless for a whopping 14:57.
"We really had help [defensively]," Olkowski
said. "We knew who their shooters were [and] we took them out of the game."
During the run, Northwestern were on fire from behind the
arc. Michelle Zylstra, Anya Walker, Morrison and Culver all drained threes. The Cats
forced seven turnovers in the last 10 minutes of the first half, and at halftime had nine
offensive rebounds.
"Even when we weren't making our shots, we were
getting offensive rebounds and we were getting second and third chances," said junior
forward Natalie Will. "When your shots fall, you do better. Your confidence builds,
and the next one goes in, too."
"We took care of the ball," explained Morrison, a
freshman forward, whose 15 points and 10 rebounds were her first collegiate double-double.
"We made a lot of good decisions. We were really patient on offense, and we
controlled the boards."
With junior point guard and last year's leading scorer
Emily Butler out with a torn ACL, Culver has become the squad's starting point guard
– and her coach has been impressed with the way she's played.
"The person who really ran the ballclub was Mo
Culver," Olkowski said. "As a freshman, she really handled herself very, very
well. I think she did a nice job of just settling and having a presence on the
floor."
Culver was aided by classmates Morrison and Kwasinski, who
give the Cats a presence in the paint that they've missed in past years. The two freshmen
post players combined with junior forward Leslie Dolland for 28 of Northwestern's 55
rebounds.
"We weren't letting them get the offensive rebounds
and let them get the extra chances," Will said.
Now, having gotten that first win, the Cats face an equally
difficult challenge: getting win number two. Their first opportunity will come Saturday
evening in the tournament's championship game against the University of Houston (7:40
p.m., WNUR), which defeated LaSalle 65-49 in the other first round matchup.
Northwestern hasn't won their own tourney since 1998, and
Will is determined that this time, the Cats will come out victorious.
"This is our home floor," she said, guaranteeing
a win. "This is where we need to put our foot down, dig it in and say, 'We're not
gonna lose.'"
But for one night, at least, all was well in Evanston.
"We really needed [tonight's win]," Culver said.
"Our confidence was a little low, so that's just gonna give us a lot of momentum
going into tomorrow and the rest of the season."
"Now we know what it feels like," Morrison added.
"We want that. We want more."
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