Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Loyola Maryland
Northwestern Opens Season Against Greyhounds Sunday
11/9/2019 9:15:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Sunday's game will be televised on BTN+ and broadcast over the air on WNUR Sports.
The Wildcats head into the weekend on a victorious note after a convincing 89-34 defeat of Lewis in Wednesday's exhibition game. The 'Cats never trailed in a game that included four double-digit scoring performances, including 15 points each from sophomore Lindsey Pulliam, senior Byrdy Galernik and sophomore Sydney Wood. Sophomore Courtney Shaw rounded out the bunch with 11 points.
Sophomore Veronica Burton headlined the 'Cats' defensive game with four steals, and first-year Kaylah Rainey notched two steals of her own in her first collegiate showing, bringing the team total to 16 for the game.
The Wildcats have won 10 season openers in a row, including an impressive road victory last year at Green Bay, a perennial Horizon League champion.
Loyola Maryland will head to Evanston after opening their season in South Bend against Notre Dame on Friday. The Greyhounds are coming off a 7-24 record last season, including just four road victories in 16 chances.
They return star senior guard Stephanie Karcz, who ranked number four in the nation for steals during the 2018-19 season, and welcome five first-years to their roster.
Sunday marks Northwestern's first matchup with Loyola Maryland in Head Coach Joe McKeown's 11-year tenure.
Quotables
Coach Joe McKeown
On the play of Abbie Wolf and Sydney Wood….
"Abbie Wolf has been here a long time. She's really had some great games for us and had some tough times, and she's been resilient. Really proud of her, and I expect a lot from her…. I just want her to relax, play hard, have fun, play to her strengths. I think we saw some of that tonight, and she had a great Big Ten season last year, so glad to see it carrying over. She gives us a presence defensively in the post, and offensively she's a really good screener, she's skilled so you can run things through her at the high post, she will reverse and screen. She does a lot of things that maybe don't show up in the stats sheet."
And then Sydney Wood, she is scratching the surface, and …. she wants to play defense. When you find someone like that you got to get her on the floor."
On the aspect of the game he was most encouraged by….
"Jordan didn't play who is a great player, and I liked our depth. I thought people came in and gave us a spark, and they came in and changed the game at times and the pace. You know to be able to play a lot of players kind of gives you hope that we don't lose a lot when we rotate people in, and I like what I saw tonight. Amber [Jamison] came in, gave us a good spark, Brianna Hopkins has done that her whole career, so you saw why we signed Kaylah Rainey… So I really like our depth"
On Lindsey Pulliam….
"She helps me coach the game, she's incredible. I made her captain as a sophomore and I think now as a Junior, she has embraced that role, and now also sees things other people don't see, and again, I agree with you, off the court she's always trying to do the right thing every day. She's fearless, and I think great leaders accept criticism and responsibility, and she doesn't shy away from either. And that's why I think she's going to do great things this year for us."
On his offensive takeways from the game…
"I thought we pushed the ball really well, I thought we got good shots. We did not shoot really great. Veronica Burton, every shot she takes, I think is going in. I don't care if it's from half court. She makes half-court shots too, saw that last year. I like the shots that we got, we had the right players getting the right shots, and that's what you want as a coach. I thought offensively we were a little bit more patient than we have been, got the ball reversed, tried to use the whole court in transition too. A lot of positives, but we have to get a post-up game where we are finishing everything around the basket, and you know I thought we got on the offensive glass too. For us we gotta score in transition, and we gotta grind halfcourt, but I thought we had the right shots, and we screened pretty well. That's what we're asking them to do in practice.
On scoring a career-high 15 points….
"Yeah, this year I'm just looking to take what's given to me, so I'm trying to push the ball in transition, and trying to create more offensively. I'm going to take what's given to me… I'm looking to attack a lot more."
On the bench's performance…
"Our bench definitely came in with a lot of energy so that's always really fun to watch from the bench too, when they come in and they carry over what we started tonight, and yeah it was really exciting to see Kaylah and Laya score their first baskets, and to see Lauren back out on the court again."
On the team's chemistry…
"We're such a tight-knit team that we're always excited to see our teammates score, especially when Kaylah came in and made such an explosive play right off the jump. We were really excited to see that."
On her performance…
"I just wanted to be aggressive out there… and rebound run and defend, that was my mentality tonight...No one can stop Sydney."
On the bench's performance…
"Everybody tonight scored, it was great to see our first-years out there being aggressive. Kaylah Rainey, man, I think was the play of the night, and-1 rolled by the bench, super exciting, and Laya can score, she can blow by anybody. Courtney came in, nobody can stop her. I have to go up against her in practice everyday. She's tough to contend with.
On high-low chemistry with Abi Scheid…
"Abbie (Abi) double trouble! We've been playing together for our fourth year and we know each other pretty well, inside-out game. If she passes it in to me, she'll probably be open for the three. It's always fun playing with her and everybody on the team."
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