Women’s Hoops: Marquette’s star shines at end
By Danny Daly
Entering Tuesday night’s game, both Marquette and Northwestern had been led by offenses that featured one dominant player.
Amy Jaeschke, the Wildcats’ sophomore center, had averaged 16.3 points and 11.5 rebounds in NU’s first six games and topped the team in both categories by substantial margins. For the Golden Eagles, senior guard Krystal Ellis had scored 16.0 points per game in Marquette’s first seven contests, including 23 points in her last two outings. She also led the team with 1.86 steals per game.
So it is not hard to see why Marquette circled Jaeschke as the player they needed to contain to stop NU’s attack, and why the Cats did the same to Ellis. The key to the Golden Eagles’ 55-54 win was that Ellis turned it on when it counted, scoring her team’s last nine points to give Marquette the come-from-behind victory.
Jaeschke, on the other hand, did not take a shot from the field after sinking a jumper with 14:16 remaining in regulation.
“That’s a hard one to lose because we played so well,” NU coach Joe McKeown said. “Our biggest thing is not to beat ourselves right now, that’s what we got to avoid. We have to learn how to do that, make people have to play great to beat us.”
NU’s defense clamped down on Ellis from the get-go, causing Marquette’s high-powered offensive attack to sputter. The star guard was held without a shot for the first six minutes of the game and made just one of five from the floor in the first half. No one stepped up in her place — her five points were still tied for the team lead with 20 minutes left to play.
“Just knowing where Krystal Ellis was on the floor was really important to us,” Jaeschke said. “We knew she was one of their go-to players.”
Before intermission the Golden Eagles turned the ball more than 14 times, shot just 28 percent and were held to 20 points, their lowest output in a half to date. Usually that represents 10 minutes of work for Marquette rather than 20, considering how the team has been averaging 79.9 points per game.
As far as defending Jaeschke went, the Golden Eagles made it clear early on that they would not let her beat them. Marquette started a small lineup, with four guards and no one taller than 6-feet to guard NU’s 6-foot-5 center.
The Marquette defense double- and triple-teamed Jaeschke every time she touched the ball, swarming around her and forcing her to give it up right away.
But Jaeschke’s supporting cast picked up the slack. The Cats shot 57.1 percent in the first half, including four of eight from beyond the arc. Jaeschke still managed to score six points and grab six boards. Every player who saw action had scored, and NU held a commanding 34-20 lead going into the break.
“We played great defense,” McKeown said. “We really knocked them off their game, and we were able to move the ball, make shots, keep the floor spread. The things that got us that lead we kind of got away from in the second half.”
The beginning of the second half looked like more of the same. With nine minutes left, Jaeschke had taken only two shots and Ellis had been held scoreless, missing both of her field goal tries.
That is when Marquette’s senior guard took over the game. She scored her first basket of the half on a layup with 8:33 to go and went on to score 13 of the game’s last 25 points.
“I don’t think we got to her early enough defensively where we could stay in front of her,” McKeown said. “She got a head of steam, she’s pretty good at changing direction, and what are you going to do? She’s a good player. And good players make plays at the end of the game.”
The Cats were not able to get the ball inside to Jaeschke at all during the game’s waning minutes. She had minimal touches and no shots while Ellis went on her run.
McKeown attributed Jaeschke’s lack of production to the aggressive play of Marquette’s defense late in the game.
“They were really physical,” McKeown said. “I thought our team did a good job of playing off of (Jaeschke) early, then in the second half just didn’t make shots, didn’t get to the basket like we wanted to. Marquette was real physical the last three or four minutes defensively, and we didn’t handle it well.”
danieldaly2012@u.northwestern.edu
