Northwestern University Athletics
NU Hosts Howard in Season Opener
11/14/2015 1:18:00 PM | Women's Basketball
| NO. 19 NORTHWESTERN WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: GAME INFORMATION | ||||||
| DATE | OPPONENT | TIME | LOCATION | STREAM | LIVE STATS | |
| Sunday, Nov. 15 | Howard | 6 p.m. | Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, Ill. | Studio N | SideArm | |
| Social: Twitter (@NUWBBall and @NU_SportsLive) | Instagram (@NUWBBall) | Facebook | ||||||
EVANSTON, Ill. - The Northwestern women's basketball team tips off the 2015-16 season at 6 p.m. Sunday when it hosts Howard at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Tickets are available at NUsports.com or by calling 888-GO-PURPLE.
The first 250 fans will receive an NCAA tournament banner.
Our home opener is Sunday! We'd love to see #B1GCats fans in the stands at Welsh-Ryan! https://t.co/yYqmv5w0Uq pic.twitter.com/6PKRvyjFxH
— NU Women's Hoops (@nuwbball) November 12, 2015WILDCATS IN THE POLLS
Northwestern women's basketball will tip off the 2015-16 season ranked No. 19 in the Associated Press Preseason Top 25 Poll. Northwestern also ranks No. 24 in the USA Today Coaches' Preseason Poll and No. 12 in the early Athlon Sports Magazine poll.
COFFEY ROLLS ALONG
Nia Coffey is just five points shy of hitting 1,000 career points. The junior was named to the 2015-16 Preseason All-Big Ten team, and was named First-Team All-Big Ten in 2015. Coffey scored in double figures in 31 contests during the 2014-15 season and poured in 20-plus points on seven occasions. Coffey was one of just two Big Ten Players to rank among the league's top 10 in points (15.2 ppg), rebounds (9.7 rpg) and blocks (1.8 bpg), while recording a team-best 14 double-doubles on the year.
OH CAPTAIN(S), MY CAPTAIN(S)
The Wildcats have selected a trio of team captains to lead them into the new campaign. Seniors Maggie Lyon and Christen Johnson return for a second season as a team captain, while junior Nia Coffey will be a first-year captain this season.
20 & 10
With 23 wins to its credit during the 2014-15 season, Northwestern secured at least 20 victories for the first time in seven years under head coach Joe McKeown. In fact, it was the first season since 1995-96 that the 'Cats won at least 20 games. Chicago's Big Ten Team was also successful in conference play last year by earning 12 wins during the regular season. No Northwestern team had won 12 games in the league since the 1992-93 squad registered 13 victories in 18 games. The school record for the most wins in a season is 25, which happened in 1978-79, the program's fourth season of existence. The most Big Ten wins in NU history, 15, came in 1989-90. That team won the program's first Big Ten Championship.
PROTECT THIS HOUSE
The Wildcats went 11-3 at Welsh-Ryan Arena last season, beating opponents by an average of 12.4 points in Evanston. At home, NU averaged 68.4 points per game while shooting 42.9 percent from the field. Defensively, the Wildcats limited the opposition to 56.0 points per game at a clip of 34.3 percent while creating 18.1 turnovers per contest with a turnover margin of +3.9.
FRESH FACES
Three new Wildcats are in Evanston for the 2015-16 campaign. Guard Jordan Hankins (Indianapolis, Ind.), forward Pallas Kunaiyi-Akpanah (Abuja, Nigeria) and guard Amber Jamison (Rochester Hills, Mich.) are each getting their first experience of collegiate basketball this year. Northwestern also welcomed transfer Oceana Hamilton to the roster. Hamilton will be eligible for competition next season per NCAA legislation.
LYON LINES
Maggie Lyon has scored more than half (603) of her 1,197 career points from 3-point range. The junior has made at least one 3-pointer in 37 consecutive games, and in 58 of the last 65 contests dating back to the start of the 2013-14 campaign. Lyon ranks third in program history in 3-point field goals made with 201 and she's tied for third on NU's single-season record list with 83 triples during the 2014-15 season.
START FAST & FINISH STRONG
Northwestern won 23 games last season, in large part, by jumping ahead early. The Wildcats were 19-1 when leading at the half during their 2014-15 campaign, scored 1,058 first-half points, an average of 34.1 per game. The 'Cats scored 40 points or more in the first half seven times, most recently against Iowa on Jan. 29 (41). On the other side, opponents averaged 28.6 points during the first 20 minutes this season, while turning the ball over an average of 10.0 times during the first period alone. Five times last yaar the opposition committed at least 15 turnovers in the first half, most recently Wisconsin at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Jan. 1, 2015 (17).
SAYONARA, SENIORS
Northwestern will be without the likes of former Wildcats Alex Cohen and Karly Roser, who graduated last year. The duo combined to be part of 67 Northwestern victories since 2011, including 23 in 2014-15, the program's most since the 1995-96 season. The pair has also left a mark in the squad's record book. Cohen, from Bayside, Wisc., ranks fourth all-time at NU with 169 blocks, while Roser, who hails from Hamilton, Ontario, ranks sixth with 450 assists. Roser was a two-year captain and Cohen was selected to the Allstate WBCA Good Works Team last month, becoming one of only five Division I players to receive the honor.
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