Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Minnesota
Northwestern Locks Down Minnesota, 70-49
2/1/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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Northwestern 70, Minnesota 49 Welsh-Ryan Arena • Evanston, Ill. Box Score | Box Score 
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- The weather outside was frightful, but inside Northwestern was delightful as it toppled the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Big Ten action Sunday, 70-49.
Sunday's win marked the 10th time this season that the Wildcats held the opposition under 50 points. The Gophers entered the weekend averaging 76 points per game and NU was able to keep them 27 points below that mark. Minnesota shot below 30 percent and it committed 22 turnovers, including 13 in the second half as the Wildcats pulled away.
Reminiscent to Northwestern's game against Iowa on Thursday, Minnesota used a barrage of 3-pointers to pull ahead early Sunday. The Gophers took a 17-12 lead 7:07 in to the game when Carlie Wagner hit her team's fourth 3-pointer. Northwestern began to close out on the UM shooters while clogging the lane as it surged back toward the lead. Christen Inman scored five unanswered points to tie the game at the 10:49 mark in the first half.
Minnesota briefly took the lead again, but a triple off the hands of Northwestern's Maggie Lyon off a feed from Ashley Deary put her team ahead, 22-20, with 9:13 left in the opening stanza. NU would never trail again.
Both teams experience a scoring drought of 4:43 until Alex Cohen broke through with a baseline jumper. The senior's basket ignited a seven-point flurry that also included points from Deary and Nia Coffey. Northwestern's swarming defensive effort held the Gophers without a point over the final 1:45 of the half as it took a 37-27 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The Wildcats shot 41 percent in the first half, while adding seven blocks and four steals on the defensive end. Coffey and Cohen each blocked three shots in the opening frame, while Cohen tallied two thefts. NU owned the paint, outscoring Minnesota 18-4 in that area, while also collecting 11 points on the fast break.
Chicago's Big Ten Team came out firing in the second half. Northwestern scored the first eight points with Cohen, Coffey and Inman each getting in the mix. The surge helped NU build up an 18-point lead with 15:54 to go, its largest of the day.
The Purple and White pressed on and the squad gained an even larger lead a little bit over seven minutes later. Lauren Douglas, who returned to the court after missing three games, nailed a baseline jumper to put her team ahead, 60-40, with 8:33 to go.
The scoring slowed after Douglas' basket, as Northwestern outscored the Gophers, 10-9, over the final eight and a half minutes.
Northwestern moved to 15-1 this season when leading at the half and 8-2 at Welsh-Ryan Arena. The 'Cats cruised to 9-0 when holding the opposition to an overall shooting percentage below 30 percent.
Minnesota entered the game as the Big Ten's top rebounding team, but Northwestern won the battle of the boards, 45-43. Coffey led the way with 12 rebounds and combined those with 12 points to secure her team-high eighth double-double of the season. NU also pressured the Golden Gophers into 22 turnovers, twice as many as the home team.
Inman led all players with a season-high 20 points. She also added five assists and a pair of steals in 34 minutes. Deary handed out a game-high nine assists, including seven in the first half. Cohen just missed her double-double, finishing with 14 points and nine rebounds to go along with four steals, which matched a career high.
Northwestern will travel to Bloomington, Ind. on Thursday night to face the Indiana Hoosiers. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. CST.
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