Northwestern University Athletics
Women's Basketball Takes on Wisconsin Friday
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
January 20, 1999
Northwestern Wildcats (8-8, 2-4)
at
Wisconsin Badgers (8-9, 3-4)
Northwestern will look to carry its momentum from the win over Ohio State into this Friday's game at Wisconsin. The Wildcats are 8-8, 2-4 in the Big Ten after handing No. 17 Ohio State its first conference loss of the season, 48-41. The win snapped a four-game losing streak for NU. It also marked the first NU victory over a ranked opponent since Feb. 2, 1997, when it knocked off then No. 10 Wisconsin (93-62 in Evanston). That was the last time Northwestern beat Wisconsin.
The Badgers enter this contest with an 8-9 overall record, 3-4 mark in the Big Ten. They have dropped four of their last five games, including last Sunday's 78-62 loss to nationally-ranked Rutgers in Madison.
The Wisconsin Series
Northwestern leads Wisconsin 27-11 in the all-time series that
began during the 1976-77 season. Last year the Badgers won both meetings,
a 70-65 victory in Evanston and a 95-64 win in Madison. Northwestern has
lost its last three visits to Madison.
Today's Tips
NU's Last Game: Northwestern 48, Ohio State 41
Junior forward Leslie Schock recorded game-highs of 16 points and
10 rebounds to lead Northwestern to a 48-41 victory over No. 17-ranked Ohio
State in front of a Welsh-Ryan Arena record crowd of 3,779.
The NU defense held OSU to a .294 shooting percentage in the first half (10-of-34). OSU senior forward Marrita Porter led all scorers with 10 points in the first 20 minutes and the two teams were knotted at the break, 22-22.
The Buckeyes still had trouble shooting in the second half and Northwestern took advantage. The Wildcats opened up their largest margin of the game (nine points), when Schock hit a layup to push the score to 35-26 with 12:28 remaining. NU held onto a six-point lead (43-37) with 3:12 remaining after sophomore center Tami Sears powered in a layup. Ohio State narrowed the gap to two points (43-41) with 2:22 left, but the Wildcats canned five-of-six foul shots down the stretch to seal the win.
Schock, playing on a sprained right ankle suffered in practice last Thursday, recorded her second double-double of the season. Porter paced OSU with 14 points and six rebounds. Sears and senior guard Megan Chawansky each scored nine points for the Wildcats.
Defensive Improvement
NU is coming off its best defensive effort of the season as it
limited Ohio State to just 41 points, the fewest amount of points allowed
an opponent since an 82-38 victory over Morgan State in the 1996 Roger L.
White Invitational. Other defensive highlights from the Ohio State game
included:
- Limiting OSU to a season-low 18 field goals
- Holding OSU to a season-low .290 FG% (18-of-62)
- Only allowing the Buckeyes four points from the free- throw line and only sending them there five times
- Recording a season-high four blocked shots
Sophomore center Tami Sears owns a team-high five double-doubles this season. She is tied for sixth among other Big Ten players in this category. Her double-doubles have come against: DePaul (14 points, 11 rebounds), Stanford (11 points, 12 rebounds), California (14 points, 14 rebounds), Illinois (13 points, 14 rebounds) and Minnesota (21 points, 11 rebounds).
Junior forward Leslie Schock registered her second double-double of the season against Ohio State with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Her first one was a 25-point, 11-rebound effort in the Dec. 30 win over Indiana.
Schock Starts New Streak
Junior forward Leslie Schock has reached double figures in scoring
in all but two of the games she's played in this season (13 of 15 games).
Prior to being held to nine points by Illinois, Schock reached double
figures 10-straight times, the longest streak for any Wildcat this season.
Earlier this year, she recorded three-straight 20+ scoring efforts. She
scored 22 points and had nine rebounds at Cal. She tallied 25 points and
grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds in the win over Indiana. She then scored a
career-high 26 points, while shooting 11-of-13 from the field in the win
over UW-Milwaukee.
Schock is NU's second-leading scorer and rebounder this year with 15.5 ppg and 6.8 rpg. She leads the team with a .561 field goal percentage, having hit 97-of-173 shots from the floor.
Moving Up the Career Scoring Chart
With 10 points against Minnesota, senior guard Megan Chawansky
moved into seventh place on the school's career scoring chart. She
surpassed Amy Prichard, who now does women's basketball color commentary
for the Big Ten on Fox Sports Chicago. Prichard tallied 1,533 points
during her four-year career with the Wildcats (1982-85).
Chawansky now has 1,543 career points to her credit.
Gettin' to the Line
At Stanford, Chawansky made eight free throws to move into second
place on the school's all-time free throws attempted chart. She surpassed
Michele Ratay ('97) and has gone to the line 586 times during her career.
This season, Chawansky has gone to the line more than any other Wildcat
(107 times). She averages just under seven trips to the line a game.
Injury Report
New Face
The Wildcats had a new player join the team on Jan. 4. Freshman
Ashley Messenger, a 5-10 guard, hails from Scottsdale, Ariz., and is a
product of Sagurao High School. She averaged 22.4 ppg as a senior and was
twice named all-state in addition to being named Scottsdale's Player of the
Year last season.
"Take a Kid to the Game"
Northwestern is encouraging fans to "Take a Kid to the Game" for
the Sun., Feb. 7 women's basketball game versus nationally-ranked Penn
State. All students ages 18-and- under will be admitted for free! Tipoff
is at 2 p.m.
NU Career Record Book Update
Senior co-captain Megan Chawansky ranks among the all-time
Northwestern leaders in several categories. She recently moved into 10th
on the school's all-time rebounding chart when she grabbed nine caroms
against UW-Milwaukee. With 169 career steals, she is five thefts shy of
breaking into the top 10 in that category as well.
Against Minnesota, Chawansky moved into seventh place on the school's all-time scoring list.
Career Points Career Assists
5. Julie Calahan (1,648) 3. Amber DeWall (541)
6. Kristina Divjak (1,624) 4. Laura Wiesen (474)
7. M. Chawansky (1,543) 5. M. Chawansky (471)
8. Amy Prichard (1,533)
Career Three-Pointers Made Career Three-Point Att.
1. Michele Ratay (244)* 1. Michele Ratay (629)*
2. Kristina Divjak (218) 2. Kristina Divjak (533)
3. Moira Kennelly (173) 3. Moira Kennelly (454)
4. M. Chawansky (120) 4. M. Chawansky (338)
Career Free Throws Made Career Free Throw Att.
2. Michele Ratay (442) 1. Anucha Browne (719)
3. M. Chawansky (390) 2. M. Chawansky (586)
Katrina Hannaford (387)
4. Nancy Kennelly (385) Career Rebounding
9. Maureen Holohan (272) 8. Katrina Hannaford (652)
10. Kristina Divjak (264) 9. Nancy Kennelly (629)
10. M. Chawansky (601)
* Big Ten record
In the Big Ten (stats as of Jan. 19)Megan Chawansky is ranked sixth among the Big Ten scoring leaders with 15.9 points per game. She is second in assists (5.56 apg) behind Penn State's Helen Darling (6.94 apg), and also ranks sixth in steals (2.13 spg).
Leslie Schock is seventh in the conference in scoring (15.5 ppg) and fourth in field goal percentage (97-for-173, .561). In the rebounding category, Tami Sears is tied for third with Michigan's Stacey Thomas with 8.7 boards per game. Dana Leonard is fifth in three-point field goal percentage, having canned 40-of-112 treys for a .357 mark.
Knocking Down Threes
The Wildcats are third in the Big Ten in three-point field goals
made with an average of 4.56 threes a game. The top two teams are Indiana
(6.10 threes per game) and Purdue (5.80 threes per game). Sophomore point
guard Dana Leonard has been responsible for over 50 percent of
Northwestern's three pointers this year. She has made a team-high 40
threes. The team as a whole has made 73.
Attendance Mark Broken
Northwestern set a Welsh-Ryan Arena women's basketball attendance
record against Ohio State as 3,779 fans turned out for "Pack the Place
1999." The Wildcats broke the old single- game attendance record of 3,665
set on Jan. 16, 1998 for the NU-Wisconsin game.
Head Coach Don Perrelli
Don Perrelli (Southern Connecticut State, 1961) is in his 15th
season at the helm of the Wildcats and 23rd as a collegiate head coach. He
is approaching his 250th career victory at Northwestern. His overall
record now stands at
422-244, while he owns a 247-173 record with the Wildcats. NU has advanced
to postseason play six times during Perrelli's tenure.
NU Signs Four to Letters of Intent
NU snagged one of the top 20 classes in the country, according to
Joe Smith of the Women's Basketball News Service. Head coach Don Perrelli
announced the signing of four high school seniors to play at Northwestern
beginning in the fall of 1999:
Emily Butler (point guard, 5-8, Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove)
Nicole Daniels (guard/forward, 5-10, White Plains, N.Y./White Plains)
Leslie Dolland (center, 6-2, Bloomington, Minn./The Blake School)
Natalie Will (forward, 5-9, Nappanee, Ind./Northwood)
"It's a very, very good recruiting class for us," Perrelli enthused. "We hit all our areas of need. Butler is a very good point guard, Will is an excellent outside shooter, Daniels is a "3" player with athletic ability and Dolland is a strong "5" player in the post."
Northwestern on Television
The Wildcats already have had two televised games. Fox Sports Bay
Area broadcast NU's game vs. California on
Dec. 17, while Fox Sports Chicago broadcasted the Ohio State game last Sunday.
One more Northwestern game will air this month when the Fox Sports Chicago Game of the Week package begins. Jan. 31 - NU at Minnesota, 2 p.m. CST - FSC network
Dave Eanet and Amy Prichard are joined by Ann Werner for this season's Big Ten women's basketball coverage.
