Northwestern University Athletics
'Cats Welcome Hawkeyes
1/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 13, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern hosts Iowa in the second game of a four-game home stand at 2 p.m. Sunday at Welsh-Ryan Arena. After facing the Hawkeyes on Sunday, the Wildcats (4-11, 0-5) welcome UW-Milwaukee on Wednesday before facing Penn State next Sunday.
Iowa is a great team coming off a tough loss and will be ready for us," head coach Beth Combs said. "We need to regroup and refocus, concentrate on our defensive pressure, boxing out, and come into Sunday's game with a lot of intensity and emotion."
Last Time Out
Three Wildcats scored in double-figures, but it was not enough as Indiana bested Northwestern, 69-56 Thursday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena. A.J. Glasauer (Freiburg, Germany/Theodor-Heuss Gymnasium), Ifeoma Okonkwo (Spring, Texas/Klein Oak) and Sara Stutz (Glenbrook, Ill./Glenbrook South) all gave double-digit performances as Northwestern pulled to 4-11, 0-5 on the season.
Okonkwo registered her second-consecutive double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. That is her fifth this season and eighth on her career. Stutz eclipsed a season-high point total set last time out against Illinois. The Glenbrook native tallied 16 points and added three rebounds and three assists. Glasauer recorded her ninth double-digit performance of the season, shooting 5-of-7 from the field for 11 points. Freshman Kristin Cartwright (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) continued to shine, recording a career-high seven assists.
NU came out off of the tip looking to score from deep, connecting on 3-of-4 treys in the first six minutes to jump out to a 13-10 advantage. Indiana came back to mount a 37-21 lead at the half.
The Wildcats came out of halftime with renewed enthusiasm, outscoring the Hoosiers in the second half, 35-32.
Northwestern exchanged baskets with IU for the first part of the second stanza before outscoring the Hoosiers, 17-8 in the last eight minutes. Stutz, who scored all of her team-high 16 points in the second stanza, spearheaded the run with seven points.
NU out-shot the Hoosiers from beyond the arc, nailing almost 43 percent (6-of-14) and bested them at the free-throw line, hitting 8-of-12 (66.7 percent).
Scouting the Hawkeyes
Crystal Smith became the 22nd Iowa player to amass 1,000 career points when the senior netted 26 points in the Hawkeyes' 72-62 loss to No. 8 Ohio State to put her over the 1,000-point plateau. Smith is leading the Big Ten in scoring, averaging 20.0 ppg. Megan Skouby and Krista VandeVenter join Smith in double-figures averaging 14.8 and 10.4 ppg, respectively. Vandeventer is Iowa's leading rebounder, pulling down 7.0 rpg. Iowa ranks 11th nationally in field goal percentage and assists, 25th in scoring and 26th in fewest fouls per game through games played Jan. 9.
The Series
Today's game will be the 48th meeting between these two teams. Iowa holds a 35-12 series advantage. Iowa won both showdowns last season, defeating the 'Cats 81-76 in Iowa City on Jan. 16 and 60-40 in Evanston on Feb. 10. Ifeoma Okonkwo recorded a career-high 30 points in last year's first meeting at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Double-It-Up
Senior Ifeoma Okonkwo is coming off back-to-back double-double performances. She recorded 16 points and 11 rebounds against Illinois on Jan. 8 and followed that up with a 14 point, 12 rebound performance against Indiana.
