Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Wake Forest
Demon Deacons Best Wildcats, 60-45
11/28/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 28, 2007
Box Score
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Freshman Meshia Reed (Country Club Hills, Ill./Stockbridge (Ga.)) turned in a career night, but it was not enough as Wake Forest downed Northwestern 60-45 Wednesday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena as part of the inaugural Big Ten/ACC Women's Basketball Challenge.
"Meisha is a great player," head coach Beth Combs said. "She's really starting to establish herself as someone who is going to get more and more playing time as the season goes on. We need to get back out on the court tomorrow, work hard and prepare for our tournament."
Wake Forest found the scoring column initially, rattling off the first four points of the game before Kaitlin McInerney (Oak Brook, Ill./Benet Academy) and Melissa Miller (Bloomington, Minn./The Breck School) answered with two buckets of their own and Ellen Jaeschke (Cary, Ill./Cary-Grove/Air Force) added a jumper to put the Wildcats ahead. Shortly after, McInerney came down awkwardly on her leg and twisted her knee. She did not see action the rest of the game. Her status is being evaluated.
Northwestern (2-6) led only one time after that, holding an 8-7 advantage at the 12:17 mark.
Wake Forest inflated the difference to nine before a jumper by Miller spurred a six-point run, slashing the Demon Deacon's lead to three with just under 4:30. Back-to-back buckets by Wake put the halftime lead at seven, 24-17.
The Demon Deacons strung together four treys in the first three minutes of the second half to inflate its lead to 18 and it never looked back. Wake's Alex Tchangoue spearheaded the offensive onslaught, connecting on 4-of-5 treys. The Demon Deacons shot 50 percent in the second stanza.
Senior Nadia Bibbs (Chicago, Ill./Hillcrest) led NU on the glass, pulling down nine rebounds. It is the fourth time this season the guard has been Northwestern's leading rebounder. Sophomore Jenny Eckhart (Libertyville, Ill./Carmel/Syracuse) added nine points.
Reed's 13 points came on a 5-of-7 effort from the field, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.
The Wildcats are next in action at home Friday when they take on Central Michigan in the second game of the Mildred and Roger L. White Invitational presented by Doubletree. Northwestern's game follows a matchup between Boston College and Wagner. The losers of Friday's games will meet at 2 p.m. Saturday, with the championship game to follow.
