Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Minnesota
No. 12 Minnesota Bests Northwestern, 62-44
12/31/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 31, 2004
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- With an injury-depleted lineup, Northwestern could not combat the size and inside game of No. 12 Minnesota Thursday night at Williams Arena, falling to the Golden Gophers, 62-44.
Only eight 'Cats suited up for the game after freshman Kelly Rae Finley (Edina, Minn./The Breck School) joined senior Suzanne Morrison (Franklin, Mich./Detroit Country Day) on the bench -- both with injuries.
Junior Ifeoma Okonkwo (Spring, Texas/Klein Oak) led Northwestern with 18 points while freshman and Minnesota native Melissa Miller (Bloomington, Minn./The Breck School) grabbed 13 rebounds for the Wildcats. Senior Samantha McComb (Farmington Hills, Mich./North Farmington) added 10 points for NU (3-11, 0-1 Big Ten).
"Minnesota is a heck of a ballclub," Northwestern Head Coach Beth Combs said. "They came out ready to play. We were undersized inside and they really took control of the game on us in the first 10 minutes. We had to play catchup and you will not win many games in this league that way."
The Gophers (10-2, 1-0 Big Ten) jumped out to leads of 5-0 and 10-4 in the early going. A Miller jumper and a 3-pointer from senior Melissa Culver (Littleton, Colo./Heritage) cut the Minnesota lead to 12-11 with 14 minutes remaining in the half, but Minnesota went on a 9-0 run and never looked back.
Led by a double-double from Preseason Big Ten Player of the Year Janel McCarville, the Gophers outscored NU 28-16 in the paint. Playing in front of her hometown crowd, NU's Miller gave McCarville all she could handle on the glass, falling just one rebound short of McCarville's game-high 14.
The Wildcats were able to force Minnesota into more turnovers (16-14), but NU shot just 30 percent from the field to seal its fate.
Northwestern returns to action at 2 p.m. Jan. 2 when it hosts Wisconsin at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
