Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Wisconsin
Northwestern Falls to Wisconsin On The Road
1/25/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 25, 2004
MADISON, Wis. - Melissa Culver scored 17 points and two other 'Cats were in double-digit points on Sunday, but Northwestern fell by a 16-point margin to host Wisconsin. NU shot just 26% from the field in the first half -- 20-of-50 -- while the Badgers hit close to 50% to lead by 19 at the half.
An opening jumper by junior Sarah Kwasinski and a 3-pointer by Culver -- one of her four total in the contest -- gave Northwestern an early 5-2 lead, but the Badgers held NU scoreless for over six minutes in an 11-0 run for the lead. Wisconsin would never relinquish that lead.
"I thought (Jordan) Wilson and (Emily) Ashbaugh did us in the first half," said head coach June Olkowski. "They did a nice job of pounding the ball inside. We lost to (Ashley) Josephson, too. They were scoring and we struggled finding the basket. In the second half we played a little more aggressive and went to the line and did some inside-out stuff. But in the first half, they did a nice job of putting us on our heels and pounding the ball inside."
Culver chipped in two more 3's in the second and Kwasinski scored nine of her 11 points to bring the 'Cats to within 13, but Wisconsin kept NU at a distance. The Badgers, who led by as many as 21 in the game, looked to Josephson (16 points, eight boards) and Wilson (15 points, 12 boards) for the win.
"I felt we had open looks, but we were five-for-19 shooting 26 percent," said Olkowski. "A couple of those go in and now you have a different feel offensively. You have a little bounce in your step. And then they're coming out maybe having to overplay in someway. [Give] credit [to] their defense. They did a nice job to get us to shoot 26 percent in the half. We allowed them to shoot 48 percent and that's a huge difference."
Ifeoma Okonkwo was the other Wildcat who was in double-digit scoring, coming in second with 12 points and a team-leading eight rebounds.
Northwestern returns home for Thursday's game vs. the Iowa Hawkeyes. Game time is 7 p.m. CST.
