Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Wisconsin
Wisconsin Ekes Past Wildcats, 62-60
1/2/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 2, 2005
Box Score
Head Coach Beth Combs' Postgame Quotes in PDF Format
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- In its first home game in more than three weeks, Northwestern took Big Ten rival Wisconsin down to the wire Sunday afternoon at Welsh-Ryan Arena, but a running 40-foot 3-pointer from Wildcat senior Melissa Culver (Littleton, Colo./Heritage) banked into the cylinder and spun down and around the rim before falling out at the buzzer to give the Badgers a 62-60 victory.
With the game tied 58-58, junior Ifeoma Okonkwo (Spring, Texas/Klein Oak) grabbed her game-high 12th rebound off a Melissa Miller (Bloomington, Minn./The Breck School) miss and put it back to give the 'Cats a 60-58 lead with 59 seconds to play.
Wisconsin (6-5, 1-1 Big Ten) countered with a 3-point play to take a one-point lead with 34 seconds left. The Wildcats turned the ball over on their ensuing possession, and UW's Jolene Anderson missed the back-end of a 1-and-1 to set the stage for Culver's near heroics.
"I'm very proud of the way we played today," NU Head Coach Beth Combs said. "The team made the decision at halftime to up the ante and play with heart and finish the game. That is what we did today."
Down by nine at the break, the 'Cats came out and dominated the second period, taking a six-point lead at the 8:22 mark after a 20-5 run spanning more than eight minutes. NU put together a 9-0 spurt at the tail end of the run, ignited by five points from freshman Sara Stutz (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South), including a 3-point play.
Three Wildcats finished the game in double-figures, led by Samantha McComb (Farmington Hills, Mich./North Farmington) with 14 points. The senior was unconscious from behind the arc, hitting all four of her attempts. Stutz contributed 13 points and eight boards while sophomore A.J. Glasauer (Freiburg, Germany/Theodor-Heuss-Gymnasium) netted 10 points.
Okonkwo fell just one point shy of a double-double, scoring nine to go along with her 12 rebounds.
"On any given day, somebody else seems to step up," Combs said. "We don't have just one player. Sometimes it's eight to 10, or even 11 people stepping up and making things happen."
Coming into the game with a rebounding margin of -7.1 and playing against a Wisconsin squad which outboards its opponents by nearly the same amount, Northwestern snared a season-best 46 rebounds to equal the Badgers' total.
"We've put a huge emphasis on rebounding the past few weeks," Combs said. "We've been working on it everyday in practice, doing different drills to try and strengthen that area of our game. We still have to get better there though, and in every other facet of our game."
Northwestern (3-12, 0-2 Big Ten) returns to the Welsh-Ryan Arena floor at 7 p.m. Jan. 6 to host Michigan.
