Northwestern
Indiana
Women's Basketball Done in by Indiana, 77-53
1/16/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 16, 2000
EVANSTON, Ill. - For the second straight game, the Northwestern women?s basketball team stayed close to its Big Ten opponent for a half, but a strong second half by the opponent ? in this case Indiana ? proved too much. As a result, the Hoosiers pulled out a 77-53 victory in Bloomington.
The Wildcats (5-10, 2-3 Big Ten) came out strong in the first half, and with seven minutes to play led, 20-13. However, at that point the Hoosiers (7-10, 2-4) went on a seven-point run to tie the game. NU?s Clarissa Flores stopped the streak with a layup, but Indiana responded with another seven-point streak to close out the half and take a 27-22 lead into the locker room.
Northwestern remained close through the first seven minutes of the second half, pulling to within one (38-37) when Tami Sears hit a layup with 13:23 to play. However, IU reeled off 12 of the next 13 points, making the score 50-38, and put the dagger in the heart by answering Dana Leonard?s three-pointer with the next 11 points. That made the score 61-41, and NU never got closer than 18 after that.
Leonard had another strong outing off the bench, scoring a team-high 17 points, while Sears had 14 points and nine rebounds. However, the Wildcats were plagued by 35 turnovers.
For Indiana, Heather Cassady had 22 points, while Jill Hartman added 16 and Rainey Alting had 10.
Northwestern will be back in action Thursday night, meeting Minnesota in Minneapolis at 7 p.m.
