Northwestern
Indiana
Women's Basketball Edged by Indiana, 63-62
1/27/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 27, 2000
EVANSTON, Ill. - Despite an outstanding night from junior Tami Sears, the Northwestern women's basketball team fell to Indiana in a wild Big Ten battle Wednesday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena, 63-62.
Heather Cassady provided the winning points for the Hoosiers (8-11, 3-5 Big Ten), sinking a pair of free throws with seven seconds left to push them into the lead for good. Dana Leonard, who had put Northwestern (6-12, 3-5 Big Ten) in front with nine seconds to play on a conventional 3-point play, had one more chance to give NU the win but her last-second effort was no good.
The game was a nip-and-tuck affair from the get-go Wednesday night. Indiana -- who defeated Northwestern, 77-53, 10 days before -- held the lead throughout the first half, stretching it to as much as nine points. However, the Wildcats scored the last five points of the half, punctuated by a three-pointer from Emily Butler as the buzzer sounded, making the score 28-24 as the teams went to the locker room.
That set the stage for a wild second half, as an 11-2 NU run catapulted the 'Cats into the lead for the first time with 12 minutes left. The Wildcats' largest lead was six (50-44) and came with seven minutes to play. Indiana responded with a 5-0 run, cutting the NU lead to one, then scored the next four minutes after a Natalie Will layup to regain the lead at 53-52 with 4:10 on the clock.
Following a timeout, Tami Sears dropped in a layup, and then after a turnover by IU's Jill Hartman, Leslie Schock hit a layup with to give the 'Cats a 56-53 lead with 2:13 left. Indiana got two back when Jill Chapman hit a layup, and then Heather Cassady made NU pay for a turnover with another layup and a free throw to give the Hoosiers a 58-56 lead with exactly 1:00 to play.
Leonard cut the lead in half on a foul shot with 42 seconds to play, and then Sears rebounded her miss on the next shot and put it back in to give NU a 59-58 lead. Indiana worked the shot clock, and when Hartman drained a trey to make it 61-59 just 18 seconds were left.
Leonard tied it up with a running layup and was fouled. She hit the freebie with nine seconds to play, but when the Wildcats set up a full-court press on IU's inbounds they were called for a foul. That allowed Cassady to don the hero's crown.
Sears ended up having a big night for Northwestern, hitting 10-of-15 shots from the field and scoring a game-high 24 points. Leonard added 13 points and dished out five assists. For IU, Chapman had 22 points, Hartman added 15 and Cassady scored 13.
Northwestern is back in action Sunday, meeting 19th-ranked Purdue at 1 p.m. in West Lafayette, Ind.
