Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Illinois State
Wildcats Grit Out 69-62 Victory Over Illinois State
11/17/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 17, 2011
Site: Evanston, Ill. (Welsh-Ryan Arena)
Score: Northwestern 69, Illinois State 62
Records: NU (3-0, 0-0 Big Ten), Illinois State (1-1, 0-0 Missouri Valley)
Next NU Event: Nov. 22 -- at LSU (Baton Rouge, La.), 7 p.m.
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern used a combination of 48 points in the paint and 14 transition points to down Illinois State, 69-62, Thursday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena. The Wildcats received outstanding double-figure performances from Dannielle Diamant, Kendall Hackney, Brittany Orban and Morgan Jones while freshman Karly Roser dished out a Big Ten-high 13 assists. With the victory, Northwestern improves to 3-0 on the season.
"I was really proud of the team, especially having to play three games in six days," head coach Joe McKeown said. "I thought we hung in there pretty well tonight. I liked how we finished the first half, and I liked how we finished the game. Those are two things that we were focusing on."
The opening seven minutes saw a back-and-forth game with three ties, but Northwestern finally broke the trend, scoring 11 of the game's next 14 points to build an eight-point lead, 21-13, with eight minutes on the clock. Illinois State responded with a 10-point swing to seize the upper hand for the first time, pulling ahead, 23-21.
A huge three-point play from Diamant prompted a seven-point swing in NU's favor to close out the half and set the halftime score at 32-25. Diamant led the 'Cats with nine points, while Orban and Hackney added eight. Northwestern dominated in the paint, finding nearly half of its production down low.
Illinois State opened the half on a 7-0 run to even the score at 32 and eventually pulled ahead by one, just two minutes into the frame. Every time the Wildcats would sneak ahead, the Redbirds had an answer. In total, there were seven ties and five lead changes. Northwestern finally mustered a double-digit lead, thanks to four points from Roser and a layup from Diamant with 5:14 remaining in the contest. Four more points from Hackney extended the lead to 12 and forced the visitors to take a timeout two minutes later.
The Redbirds stayed within single-digits the rest of the way, but Northwestern converted when it needed to in order to remain unbeaten and improve to 3-0 on the season.
Northwestern travels to Baton Rouge for a 7 p.m. battle against No. 20/21 LSU on Tuesday, Nov. 22.
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