Northwestern University Athletics
'Cats Topple Iowa, 72-66
2/21/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 21, 2010
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern used a balanced inside-outside offensive attack and a 63 percent second half shooting effort to cool off a red-hot Iowa team, 72-66, Sunday afternoon at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Amy Jaeschke poured in 27 points and Beth Marshall contributed 15 to lead the Wildcats (16-11, 7-9) to their first victory over Iowa in 10 years.
The Hawkeyes, sitting at third place in the Big Ten standings, entered Sunday's game as one of the league's hottest teams, having won seven out of its last eight contests. Northwestern came into the contest on the heels of a thrilling 78-73 overtime victory at home against Indiana Thursday evening.
NU used a 7-0 spurt to erase an early 6-2 Iowa lead to pull ahead 9-6 five minutes into the contest. After a Hawkeye triple tied the game at nine, Northwestern looked to capitalize on the size mismatch down low, feeding the ball to Jaeschke whenever possible. The junior responded with eight points, spearheading an 11-4 lead, and gave NU a seven-point upper hand, 18-11, at the 10:47 mark.
The Hawkeyes cut the lead to three on a lay-in by Gabby Machado, but Northwestern responded with five quick points to once again push its lead to eight with 7:24 remaining in the stanza.
Iowa, second in the conference in both scoring and three-point production, would inevitably have an answer.
"You can't let up on them or give them an inch," Head Coach Joe McKeown said of the Hawks. "They are the best team offensively in the league and can score from deep with great accuracy."
Another Iowa barrage over the next the next five minutes once again slashed into the Wildcat lead. A three-pointer by Kachine Alexander pulled the Hawkeyes to within three, 27-24, but Brittany Orban answered on the other end with a triple of her own to once again give NU a two-possession lead with just over two minutes to play in the opening frame.
Iowa ran off the next four points of the half to pull the intermission tally to 30-28 in favor of Northwestern. Jaeschke led all scorers with 12 points at the break.
The Wildcats opened the second half with a 10-2 run to build an eight-point cushion, 40-32, in the first five minutes. But back-to-back treys from Iowa quickly slimmed Northwestern's lead to a bucket with just under 13 minutes remaining.
Scoring was fast and furious over the next four minutes, but Northwestern never relinquished the lead, allowing Iowa to come to within the slimmest of margins twice over the next three minutes, but always coming up with an answer on the other end.
Back-to-back lay-ins by Meshia Reed sparked a 12-4 Wildcat spurt and gave Northwestern its largest lead of the game, a 10-point margin, with 5:10 on the clock.
But Iowa stormed back once again, cutting the lead to a bucket, 66-64, with just over two minutes remaining. Jaeschke was fouled and made both free-throws, putting NU up once again by four, but a layup by Kachine Alexander once again made it a two-point affair. Jaeschke came up with a huge defensive rebound following three consecutive missed layup attempts on the Hawks' ensuing possession, returning the ball to the Wildcats with :13 left.
Marshall calmly hit four free-throws over the remaining time to seal the deal for Northwestern.
The Wildcats finished the game with a 49 percent shooting clip and connected on 9-of-15 from deep. NU limited freshman Jaime Printy, who tallied 23 against the Wildcats in Iowa City back in January, to just eight points and held Iowa to just 8-of-22 from deep.
Jaeschke added 11 rebounds to accompany her 27 points and register her fifth double-double of the season. Marshall added a game-high seven assists. Marshall's three triples now gives her 50 on the year, which ties her for ninth in the Wildcats single-season record book for three-pointers made.
Northwestern returns to action on Thursday when it battles Ohio State in a 5:30 CT contest in Columbus. The game will be carried live on the Big Ten Network.
