Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Charlotte (San Juan Shootout)
49ers Outrun Ailing Wildcats, 72-64
12/21/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 21, 2004
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- For the second consecutive night, sophomore A.J. Glasauer (Freiburg, Germany/Theodor-Heuss-Gymnasium) set a career-high for points, but an ailing Northwestern squad faded late after holding the early advantage in a 72-64 loss to Charlotte in the semifinals of the San Juan Shootout.
NU (2-10) will face Towson in the third-place game of the eight-team tournament beginning at 5 p.m. CT (7 p.m. AT) Wednesday night.
Glasauer finished with 20 points one night after setting a career-high with 16 in the Wildcats' win over Northern Iowa. She went 8-of-11 from the field including 4-of-5 from behind the arc -- the best 3-point performance by a 'Cat this season.
With Northwestern down by seven and 18:05 to go in the game, Glasauer hit a 3-ball and a layup to start and cap an 8-0 NU run to put the Wildcats up 42-41 with 15:18 to play.
The lead would prove to be Northwestern's last as undefeated Charlotte (10-0) cranked up the defensive pressure and NU -- with several players suffering from a stomach bug -- simply ran out of gas.
The 49ers forced 32 Northwestern turnovers (committing only 16 themselves) and built a double-digit lead with 8:48 remaining that they would not relinquish until senior Samantha McComb (Farmington Hills, Mich./North Farmington) hit a 3-pointer as time expired.
Glasauer kept the 49ers from running away with the game by scoring 17 of her 20 points in the second half.
The Wildcats outshot Charlotte 44 percent to 41 percent, outrebounded the 49ers, 39-35, and hit a season-best seven 3-pointers to Charlotte's one, but could not overcome the turnover margin.
NU was also whistled for 22 fouls to only 15 for the 49ers, who attempted a whopping 30 free throws (making 19) to NU's 13 shots from the charity stripe.
At the beginning of the game, it looked as if senior Sarah Kwasinski (Chicago, Ill./Fenwick) was the Wildcat on pace for a career high. The 6-foot-4 center scored the Wildcats' first 10 points to stake NU to a 10-1 lead out of the gate.
Kwasinski finished with 15 points and a game-high nine rebounds while junior Ifeoma Okonkwo (Spring, Texas/Klein Oak) pitched in with 11 points. McComb dished out a career-best eight assists in the game.
NU dominated most of the first half, eventually building a 24-14 lead with 6:32 to play. Charlotte began chipping away and eventually took the lead back just over three minutes later.
Northwestern entered the half down 34-32 thanks to a last-second steal and bucket by freshman Sara Stutz (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South).
