Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Iowa
Northwestern Falls To No. 21 Iowa, 81-76
1/16/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 16, 2005
Box Score
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Junior Ifeoma Okonkwo set a career high with 30 points as Northwestern put on a basketball clinic in the first half Sunday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, but No. 21 Iowa showed why it was the nation's last remaining unbeaten squad with a second-half run to defeat the Wildcats, 81-76.
Joining Okonkwo in double-figures for NU were senior Sarah Kwasinski (Chicago, Ill./Fenwick) with 17 points and freshman Sara Stutz (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South) with 15 points.
Okonkwo's 30 points is the highest career total for any active Wildcat and the most for NU in a single-game since Kristina Divjak poured in 35 on Feb. 27, 1998, against Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament. Okonkwo is the seventh Big Ten player to reach the 30-point mark this season.
For one half of play, it seemed the top-25 team on the court was wearing purple. An Okonkwo jumper with 7:22 left in the period put the game into a tie for the seventh time and sparked a Wildcat 22-6 run to end the half.
Okonkwo scored nine points during the run, including a 3-pointer while Stutz contributed seven points to the spurt including a 3-ball of her own. Kwasinski hit a bucket with 57 seconds left to play before sophomore A.J. Glasauer (Freiburg, Germany/Theodor-Heuss-Gymnasium) earned a layup with 17 seconds to go to give NU a 41-27 halftime advantage and its biggest lead of the game.
"They left Ifeoma open and we hit some early shots and got some confidence," NU Head Coach Beth Combs said. "We were able to execute our gameplan and that is a credit to our kids. It was just a matter of trusting in ourselves."
Some staggering first-half numbers from the `Cats:
Northwestern forced 15 Iowa turnovers while committing just four.
NU had 11 steals to just a pair for the Hawkeyes.
NU's 41 points came without the benefit of a single free-throw attempt.
NU scored 42 points in the entire game during its last outing at Indiana.
NU led at the half by 14 points despite being out-rebounded by the same number (22-8).
NU hit 19-of-33 shots - including 3-of-4 from behind the arc - for a percentage of 57.6.
In the second half, Northwestern briefly extended its advantage to 17 points, 50-33, after senior Samantha McComb (Farmington Hills, Mich./North Farmington) hit her second 3-pointer of the game with 15:58 left.
But then Iowa (14-3, 3-3 Big Ten) showed why it has a number next to its name, reeling off a 15-2 run including three consecutive 3-pointers to cut the Wildcat lead to 52-50 with 10:56 remaining.
The two teams played mostly even for the next five minutes with Northwestern not allowing the Hawkeyes to take the lead until a jumper from Crystal Smith made the score 64-63 in favor of the home squad with 5:29 to go.
Northwestern would tie the game three more times down the stretch, the last of which made the score 70-70 at the 3:06 mark after a pair of Kwasinski free-throws.
With 56 seconds remaining in the game, Smith put Iowa up six with a pair of free throws, but Okonkwo hit two of her own, then nailed a jumper after a Hawkeye turnover to pull the `Cats to within two with 23 seconds left.
The Hawkeyes would hit their free throws, though, to hold on for the victory.
The two teams combined to shoot 32 free-throws in the second half, making 30 of them. Northwestern (4-15, 1-5 Big Ten) was a perfect 12-for-12 from the charity stripe.
"I am very proud of this team," Combs said. "We have had our ups and downs, but today we came out and competed for 40 minutes against a heck of a ball club in Iowa. We took it to them, but you knew Iowa would make a run on their home floor and that is what they did."
McComb finished with eight assists, tying her career-high set this season against Charlotte at the San Juan Shootout.
Northwestern now has a week off before returning to action at 1 p.m. CT on Jan. 23 at No. 5 Ohio State.
