Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern Hopes to Warm Up at Florida International
12/14/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 14, 2004
Game Notes vs. FIU in PDF Format
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- Suffering through a six-game winless skid, Northwestern flies south to Miami, Fla., to take on Florida International at 6 p.m. Thursday. After getting several strong individual efforts in their last game and coming close to victory in their last two contests, the Wildcats are looking to put the pieces together in a much warmer climate.
The Wildcats are coming off a 71-64 defeat at the hands of the UIC Flames Tuesday afternoon. In the game, junior Ifeoma Okonkwo (Spring, Texas/Klein Oak) netted a career-best 21 points, senior Samantha McComb (Farmington, Hills, Mich./North Farmington) tied her career mark by dishing out seven assists and freshman Melissa Miller (Bloomington, Minn./The Breck School) set a career-high and tied the active Wildcat record with 15 rebounds.
Four 'Cats scored in double-digits in that game (Okonkwo, McComb, freshman Sara Stutz (Glenview, Ill./Glenview South) and senior Sarah Kwasinski (Chicago, Ill./Fenwick)). It was the first time since Dec. 29, 2003, against Hampton that four players all reached double-figures in the same contest for NU.
Miller is now averaging 7.9 rebounds per contest to lead the 'Cats while senior Suzanne Morrison (Franklin, Mich./Detroit Country Day)--who did not play versus UIC due to a knee injury--still leads NU with 11.9 points per game.
Northwestern faces a Golden Panther squad in the midst of a three-game winning streak, most recently knocking off Florida Atlantic, 82-55. Previous to reeling off its three consecutives victories, FIU fell to West Virginia on Nov. 27. NU has also faced and dropped a contest with the Moutaineers this season.
Milena Tomova paces the Golden Panther offense with a whopping 18.9 points per game while also averaging 7.3 rebounds--FIU's second-best total. Lasma Jekabsone is pulling down 9.1 boards per game to lead Florida International in that category.
Despite hanging 82 points on FAU, the Golden Panthers are averaging just under 60 points per game as a team, same as Northwestern.
Looking Ahead
The Wildcats round out the nonconference schedule Dec. 20-22 at the San Juan Shootout in Puerto Rico. NU will open the tournament against Northern Iowa at 3 p.m. CT on Dec. 20. Northwestern will start the Big Ten slate Dec. 30 at Minnesota in its final tilt of 2004.
