Northwestern University Athletics
'Cats Battle Hard, Fall 43-40 at Minnesota
1/25/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 25, 2009
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Minnesota used its home court advantage and a crowd of 7,000-plus to escape with a 43-40 victory over Northwestern Sunday afternoon at Williams Arena. Freshman Brittany Orban (North Canton, Ohio/Hoover) tallied a team-best 13 points and seven rebounds, while sophomore Amy Jaeschke (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) and junior Kristin Cartwright (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) each chipped in eight points and six boards.
Despite forcing three Gopher turnovers through the first three minutes, Northwestern found itself down 5-0 in the early going. A triple from Orban made it a one-possession game with 16:47 left.
"I'm very proud of the way we played on defense," head coach Joe McKeown said after the game. "We played pretty much as perfect as you could get."
Minnesota built an 11-3 advantage but two consecutive buckets by the 'Cats--one from Cartwright and the other from Ellen Jaeschke--put the game to within four. The two teams exchanged baskets over the next 1:40 before a layup from Amy Jaeschke pulled NU to within two, 13-11, with 8:30 left.
Both squads exchanged scores over the next five minutes and Minnesota built as much as a five-point lead, but Northwestern consistently responded. The Wildcats hit the bonus and got it done the old-fashioned way, connecting on 8-of-8 from the line over the final 3:22 to pull the halftime score to 24-21.
It was truly a team effort offensively in the opening frame as five Wildcats tallied at least four points and seven grabbed at least one rebound. Northwestern out-rebounded Minnesota, a team which is out-rebounding its opponents by an average of 2.2 per game, 22-16 in the first half.
Two freebies by Orban to open the half pulled the game to the smallest of margins, 24-23. A layup in transition by the freshman gave Northwestern its first lead of the game with 17:47 remaining.
The Wildcats built a four-point advantage but Minnesota senior Emily Fox drove to the basket on back-to-back possessions for the Gophers to tie the game and give the crowd of 7,445 a reason to get back into the game.
Minnesota took a five-point lead midway through the half, its largest of the stanza. The Wildcats defense, largely due to Amy Jaeschke's looming presence in the paint, paralyzed the Gophers over the next five minutes, while allowing NU to claw back to tie the game at 36 with under five minutes remaining.
The Gophers held a three-point advantage with 2:38 to play before mid-range jumper from Jaeschke at the 2:13 mark pulled NU to within one, 39-38. Orban tallied a layup with 1:33 on the clock to give Northwestern the one-point lead. Minnesota's Ashley Ellis-Milan converted on a layup with 1:02 left and gave the advantage back to the home team.
In the final minute, a three-pointer by Erin Dickerson (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young) rimmed out with 47 seconds on the clock. The Gophers ran down the shot clock on the ensuing possession and a desperation shot by Fox was off the mark, but Ellis-Milan grabbed the rebound and Northwestern was forced to foul. Jackie Voight converted on both free-throws, giving Minnesota a 43-40 advantage with 14.1 seconds on the clock.
Northwestern could not find the basket in the final seconds and Minnesota escaped with the three-point victory.
The Wildcats are next in action when they host intra-state rival Illinois at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29. The game is being carried live on the Big Ten Network.
