Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
2-0
Hampton
0-1
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hampton | 10 | 26 | 36 |
| Northwestern | 27 | 35 | 62 |
Team Stats
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
Northwestern Stifles Hampton in Home Opener, 62-36
11/16/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern opened the home portion of its schedule Sunday afternoon with a superior defensive effort and a convincing 62-36 victory over the visiting Hampton Lady Pirates at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
The Wildcats held Hampton, which has won five consecutive MEAC championships, to 36 points on 14.1 percent shooting from the floor Sunday. Northwestern was able to come with 11 steals and six blocked shots, while holding its opponent which averaged over 70 points per game a year ago well below that average.
Nia Coffey registered her first double-double of the season behind a team-high 17 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, while Maggie Lyon added 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting and Karly Roser chipped in with 11 points off the bench for the Wildcats.
"We did a great job today against a team that was in the NCAA Tournament last season," said head coach Joe McKeown after the 599th victory of his storied career. "Offensively we got a little sloppy and a little out of control, but it gives us some things to work on. Overall I loved our effort and our energy and I loved that we got contributions form all over."
Neither team was able to find the bottom of the basket with regularity in the early going. Through the first 8:47 of play, the two teams combined to score only 16 points, but it was the 'Cats that held a six-point edge, 11-5, at that juncture after Lauren Douglas buried a jumper, netting two of her seven points on the afternoon.
After Douglas' bucket there was another scoring drought lasting until Hampton's Malia Tate-DeFreitas converted a three-point play the hard way with 7:15 left in the opening half. Maggie Lyon split a pair at the line with 5:30 to go, igniting a 16-2 run to end the half for Northwestern. The Wildcats swarming defensive effort held the Lady Pirates off the scoreboard entirely over the final 4:23 of the first half.
Northwestern shot only 38.5 percent in the first half, but Hampton couldn't buy a basket either. The visiting team shot 4-for-38 (10.5 percent) from the field, including 1-for-13 for three-point range in the opening 20 minutes.
Coffey was menace on the glass for the Wildcats in the first half by pulling down 10 of her 12 total rebounds. The Minneapolis native nearly outscored the Lady Pirates herself by pouring in nine points in 19 minutes of action.
The home team continued its momentum into the second half when Christen Inman and Coffey converted back-to-back lay-ups to open the stanza. The 'Cats pressed on and opened a 22-point cushion when Lyon buried one of her three triples off a feed from Inman, netting the largest lead of the game to that point.
NU was up by 21 points with 10:57 to go after another three-pointer from Lyon, but Hampton geared up for a surge. The Lady Pirates orchestrated a 9-1 run over the next 1:36 to slice their deficit to 13 points. The Wildcats dug in their heels defensively and they began to convert from the charity stripe at a better clip, ensuring that Hampton would come no closer the rest of the afternoon.
After being saddled with early foul trouble, Roser, a senior, made a strong impact in the second half. The team tri-captain scored nine of her 11 points in the final 20 minutes and she was a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line.
"I thought Karly Roser did a great job," said McKeown. "She's playing both [guard] positions for us now and I she was very solid in the second half. I was really proud of her."
The Wildcats will go for their third consecutive win, and McKeown the 600th of his career, on Friday night inside Welsh-Ryan Arena against the head coach's alma mater, Kent State at 7 p.m.
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