Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Iowa
'Cats Drop Hard-Fought Battle To Hawkeyes, 70-55
1/31/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 31, 2008
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern out-played Iowa in the second half, but came up short, falling to the Hawkeyes 70-55 Thursday evening at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Freshman Amy Jaeschke (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) and sophomore Jenny Eckhart (Libertyville, Ill./Carmel/Syracuse) fueled the Wildcats with 16 and 13 points, respectively. Eckhart's effort tied a career-high and Jaeschke's performance marks the seventh time this season she has hit the double-digit plateau.
"I'm proud of the second-half effort," head coach Beth Combs said. "The spirit, emotion and heart we played with is how we need to play all the time. We fought hard and gave it all we had. That said, we need to do a better job of not putting ourselves in such a deep hole in the first half."
Northwestern scored the first points of the contest but Iowa answered with a 15-point run over the next five minutes to take control of the game. The Hawkeyes continued to stymie the Wildcats' offense and built a 23-point advantage with 1:37 remaining. A three-pointer by Eckhart pulled the halftime score to 34-14.
Eckhart led Northwestern with eight points at the break.
Northwestern came out of the locker room with renewed determination and exploded for a 15-5 run to pull within 12 with 12:14 left in the game. Back-to-back buckets by Jaeschke and a free throw from Eckhart cut the Hawkeye lead to just seven at the 10:35 mark.
Iowa, who after tonight's game is tied for first place in the conference, would not give in, however. The Hawks answered with a five-point shift of their own, pushing the lead back to 12 with just over nine minutes remaining.
A three-point play by Nadia Bibbs (Chicago, Ill./Hillcrest) pulled the Wildcats to within 48-40 with 8:37 left to play.
Iowa regained its footing and out-scored Northwestern 22-15 the rest of the way to claim a deceiving 15-point victory. The Wildcats held Iowa to just 35 percent shooting in the second half, while knocking down 17-of-27 (63 percent) from the field in the same frame.
The Hawkeyes received a huge boost from their bench, which contributed 29 points. Northwestern, riddled with injuries all season, did not have any bench points.
Jaeschke stepped up her game in the second half, hitting 6-of-9 from the field. She finished with a team-best nine rebounds and two blocks. Bibbs contributed 12 points, and was 3-of-4 from the field and 4-of-7 from the line, recording a 10-point second frame.
Eckhart did not take many shots, but when she did, she knocked them down. The sophomore was 5-of-6 from the field and a perfect 2-of-2 from three-point range. She also added six rebounds.
The Wildcats are next in action on Sunday, Feb. 3 when they host Purdue in a 1 p.m. contest.
