Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Rutgers
#B1GCats Bury Rutgers in Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals
3/6/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Box Score
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No. 4 Northwestern 62, No. 5 Rutgers 57 Sears Centre • Hoffman Estates, Ill. Box Score | Box Score 
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HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. -- Fourth-seeded Northwestern displayed its relentless drive once again Friday by erasing a 15-point deficit to topple fifth-seeded Rutgers in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament at the Sears Centre, 62-57.
With the win, Northwestern advances to the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament for the first time in program history. The Wildcats will take on top-seeded Maryland in the semifinals at 6 p.m. on Saturday night at the Sears Centre.
The second win over Rutgers since Feb. 26 was the 23rd of the season for head coach Joe McKeown and the Wildcats. That moves Northwestern to within two games of matching the school record for wins set in 1978-79. The squad's current total is the most since the 1995-96 group won as many games.
Friday marked Northwestern's 20th victory over a top-25 team under McKeown and the fifth this season. The Wildcats have won three of their last four games against ranked foes dating back to Feb. 18 against No. 20/18 Nebraska.
To get to through a tough quarterfinal test, the 'Cats displayed their trademark balance as five players scored in double figures for the seventh time this season, and the second time in eight days against the Scarlet Knights. Maggie Lyon scored a game-high 15 points, while Ashley Deary scored 12, including 10 during NU's ferocious second-half comeback. Nia Coffey and Alex Cohen both scored 12 points, while Lauren Douglas added 10 in 19 minutes off the bench. Lyon also secured a game-high 10 rebounds to earn her second collegiate double-double. It was the junior's first in Big Ten play and the first since Nov. 20, 2013 against Hofstra.
After trailing by 15 points with 4:53 to go in the first half, Chicago's Big Ten Team turned up the jets in its own backyard. With Lyon and Douglas doing the bulk of the heavy lifting, NU orchestrated a 12-3 run to make it a six-point deficit with about 43 seconds to go in the opening half. Rutgers scored the final four points of the frame to take a 37-27 lead into the locker room at the half.
After trailing by double-digits in three of its last five wins entering play Friday, the 'Cats were not afraid of a little adversity. Deary and Cohen were the driving forces behind a 13-2 run that opened the second half and gave Northwestern its first lead of the afternoon, 40-39, with 15:19 to go.
Deary gave her team the lead with a layup that sparked a personal streak of four unanswered buckets, including three in 55 seconds that gave the Wildcats a 44-39 advantage with 14:14 to go. Lyon scored the next four points and eight of the next 10 to give the Wildcats an eight-point lead with 8:54 to go. The lead soon reached double-digits when Deary scored again with 7:57 left in the contest.
Rutgers would not come closer than within seven points until a late 3-pointer from Betnijah Laney set the final margin at 62-57.
Northwestern trailed at the half for only the 10th time this season, but for the fourth time in the last five of those contests, the Purple and White pulled out a victory. NU also improved to 12-2 when shooting above 45 percent (46.2 percent Friday) and 18-2 when shooting a higher percentage than the opposition. McKeown's squad is also 12-0 now when holding the opposition to fewer than 60 points.
The 'Cats will be back at the Sears Centre on Saturday for their first-ever semifinal appearance. It will be only the second meeting ever against the Terrapins, but the second in less than a week. Maryland, which is unbeaten in Big Ten play since joining the league, won the regular-season finale at Welsh-Ryan Arena on March 1.
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