Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Illinois-Chicago
Flames Douse Northwestern, 71-64
12/14/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 14, 2004
Box Score
EVANSTON, Ill. -- On a day when three Wildcats set or matched career highs and four scored in double-digits, Northwestern could not overcome a late run by Illinois-Chicago, falling 71-64 to the Flames Tuesday afternoon in Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Junior Ifeoma Okonkwo (Spring, Texas/Klein Oak) scored a career-best 21 points, freshman Melissa Miller (Bloomington, Minn./The Breck School) pulled down a career-high 15 rebounds and senior Samantha McComb (Farmington Hills, Mich./North Farmington) matched her career-best with seven assists for Northwestern.
"We had some very good efforts out there today," NU Head Coach Beth Combs said. "I am proud of the way we fought and battled but we needed someone to make a play at the end and that did not happen."
Down 35-32 early in the second half, freshman Sara Stutz (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South) scored six straight points to spur a 12-2 Northwestern run. Okonkwo capped the spurt with a layup with 11:29 to play to give NU a 44-36 advantage.
UIC (2-7) battled back and eventually took the lead for good at the 8:11 mark. NU got within one with 5:14 to play after a pair of Sarah Kwasinski (Chicago, Ill./Fenwick) free throws, and to within two with 1:28 to play after a layup by Miller, but the Wildcats could not complete the comeback.
Stutz finished with 12 points while Kwasinski added 11 and McComb chipped in with 10. The last time four Wildcats reached double-figures in the same game was in a 58-45 win against Hampton on Dec. 29, 2003.
Miller's 15 rebounds ties Kwasinski, a senior, for the highest single-game total by an active Wildcat. Kwasinski twice has pulled down 15 boards, most recently on Jan. 19, 2003, against Ohio State.
Northwestern was without its leading scorer, senior Suzanne Morrison (Franklin, Mich./Detroit Country Day), who hurt her knee in the final minutes of the Wildcats' last game at UW-Milwaukee. Morrison is averaging 11.9 points per game this season.
For the second consecutive game, NU shot better than its opponent (44.8-40.6), but also got beat on the offense glass (20-10).
Northwestern (1-8) returns to action at 6 p.m. Thursday at Florida International before traveling to San Juan, Puerto Rico, for the San Juan Shootout Dec. 20-22.
