Northwestern University Athletics
'Cats Suffer Heart-Breaking Loss to Hawks, 63-61
1/7/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 7, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill. -- The Wildcats gave the Welsh-Ryan season-high crowd of 3,121 a competitive contest, but Iowa edged NU, 63-61, Sunday afternoon. Senior captain A.J. Glasauer (Frieburg, Germany/Theodor-Heuss Gymnasium) scored a team-high 17 points and Melissa Miller (Bloomington, Minn./The Breck School) matched her season-high 16 points to lead Northwestern.
"Obviously, we're always disappointed when you don't win a game, but we've come a long way in the last two weeks," head coach Beth Combs said. "We did not play well on the road to open the season and for us to come out for our home conference opener and play the way we did is very promising for our future. I'm proud of the way we fought back. We were down 10 but we were able to tie the game up and put ourselves in the ball game to win it."
Northwestern (6-10, 0-3) was down by 10 with 9:20 remaining in the game when Beth Marshall (Fishers, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern) hit a three-pointer at the 8:30 mark to pull the Wildcats to within seven, 46-39.
After exchanging baskets, Miller converted on a fast-break pass from Glasauer to cut the lead to five with 4:30 remaining. Less than :30 seconds later, Kristin Cartwright converted on a 3-point play to pull NU to within three with 4:12 remaining.
The record-setting crowd, mostly wearing purple wigs to mirror Combs' purple-dyed hair, exploded when Glasauer hit a jumper from the free-throw line at the 3:20 mark to give the 'Cats a 56-55 advantage. It was Northwestern's first lead of the half.
Megan Scouby hit a bucket to put Iowa up four with 1:12 remaining. Miller answered on the following possession, cutting the lead to two, 63-61, with less than a minute remaining.
The 'Cats held Iowa on the next possession and called timeout with :20 seconds left to set up a play, but could not execute.
Both teams got out to a slow start to begin the game, shooting less than 35 percent for the first part of the opening stanza. Senior A.J. Glasauer scored 10 of the Wildcats' first 14 points.
The two teams picked up the pace and mirrored each other's baskets for the rest of the half, as no squad led by more than five points. The Hawkeyes held a slight 29-25 lead at the break. Glasauer led all scorers with 12 points on a 5-of-9 shooting effort.
Glasauer added four assists to go with her team-high 17 points, and Miller pulled down eight rebounds to compliment her 16 points.
Marshall chipped in a career-high eight points, thanks largely to two timely 3-pointers.
Kaitlin McInerney (Oak Brook, Ill./Benet Academy) dished out a career-high seven assists, while leading the 'Cats on the glass with 10 rebounds.
The Wildcats are next in action at 7 p.m. on Thursday when they host Minnesota.
