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

By Philip Rossman-Reich

Marquette had nearly completed a 14-point halftime comeback. Down by two, the Golden Eagles double teamed sophomore center Amy Jaeschke. Jaeschke skipped it to 3-point specialist Erin Dickerson wide open for a 3-pointer.

The ball squirted through her hands.

Marquette took advantage of the opportunity. Krystal Ellis tied the game at 54 with a pull up jumper along the baseline. Sophomore guard Meshia Reed missed a 3-pointer and fouled Ellis going for the rebound. Ellis completed the comeback with a free throw with 14 seconds left as Marquette came from behind for a 55-54 win at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Tuesday.

The Wildcats could not create any offense on their final possession and Dickerson made a 3-pointer after the buzzer sounded, sealing NU’s defeat.

“That’s just something as a team we need to work on,” sophomore center Amy Jaeschke said. “We’ll do really good for 30 minutes and for 10 minutes, we’ll just kind of not play the way that we should be. I think that it’s a lot of leadership that we need on the court when teams are making runs to step up and tell them and get the team together and bring the energy back up.”

Jaeschke recorded a double double with 10 points and 10 boards, but took only five shots in the game. Junior forward Kristin Cartwright led the team with 12 and freshman Brittany Orban and Reed added 10 each.

NU dominated the first half and took a 14-point lead to the locker room, forcing 14 turnovers and allowing only 28 percent shooting.

The second half was a complete flip. The Cats turned the ball over 10 times in the second half and hit only five of their 19 shots as the Golden Eagles gradually chipped away at the lead.

“At halftime we knew this happened before. We didn’t want it to happen again,” Cartwright said. “They were pressuring a lot in the second half and we didn’t handle it very well. When they started to make a run, we didn’t stop it. We had a hard time stopping runs and capitalizing on our runs.”

NU held a double digit lead with about 11 minutes left as the Golden Eagles inched their way back into the game. Coach Joe McKeown said the team struggled to stop the ball off the dribble as the game wore on. That was most evident in the play of Ellis.

She entered the game averaging 16.0 points per game and scored 30 in NU’s 65-63 win at Marquette last year. Ellis had only five points on one-of-five shooting in the first half. She finished with 18, including the three clinching points for the Golden Eagles.

For the Cats it was another struggle in learning how to finish games. After losing leads in previous losses, McKeown said the team still needs to learn how to execute in tight situations.

“We missed a shot and fouled them with the game tied, we can’t do that. We’ve got to be better at the end of the game,” McKeown said. “For us, it’s a learning experience. We have two freshmen on the floor. Kristin Cartwright didn’t play last year. Amy is only a sophomore. Meisha is a sophomore. We’ve got to skip a grade basically to finish these games off.”

prossmanreich@u.northwestern.edu

Coach Joe McKeown has been preaching to his team to play 40 minutes ever since Northwestern lost a six point lead late to Kansas State a few weeks ago. The Wildcats will get their chance to follow their coach’s mantra tonight against Marquette.

NU held a 14-point halftime lead, but takes a tenuous 52-44 lead to the final four minutes.

Both teams have not helped themselves in the half.

Marquette can definitely close this gap as the team has crashed the offensive glass for second-chance opportunities and limited the turnovers that cause it so much problems in the first half. But the Golden Eagles have not been able to quite close the gap — turning the ball over or missing an open shot or committing a foul with a chance to really put a scare into the Cats.

NU to its credit, has taken all of Marquette’s runs in stride. The team has not let Marquette get enough momentum to really threaten the lead and have continued to attack the basket and get to the foul line. That has been the Cats saving grace as they have shot 27 percent from the floor in the half.

All they need to do is hold on to secure the upset win.

By Danny Daly

It might not have been pretty, but Northwestern beat Houston Baptist 68-60 on Thursday night for its first victory of the season.

For the Wildcats, it was liberating to win one after starting the year with back-to-back tough losses.

“Coming out 0-2, you definitely want to get a win under your belt,” freshman forward Brittany Orban said. “It was sloppy and we all know we have a lot of things to work on. As Coach (Joe McKeown) told us in the locker room, there are harder practices to come and a lot more hustling to go.”

To read more, click here.

By Danny Daly

Few defeats are as painful as Northwestern’s 57-52 loss to Kansas State on Monday.

After dictating the pace of play and leading last year’s regular season Big 12 champions most of the way, NU broke down in the final four minutes and squandered a chance to notch a signature win less than a week into the season.

For a team that endured such a trying season a winter ago, it was especially hard to take.

“It hurts because we were so close,” said sophomore guard Meshia Reed, who finished the night with 14 points and three steals. “They’re a good team and we were right there, so that makes it a little worse.”

In a lot of ways, the players should be encouraged and excited to move forward, seeing how they are capable of causing trouble for an NCAA tournament team that returns four of its five starters. But even though the Kansas State game can be considered a moral victory of sorts, the harsh reality is that it still counts as a loss in the standings.

Three days after the emotionally charged Kansas State loss, the next challenge for the Cats is putting the disappointment behind them and trying to bounce back against Houston Baptist.

To read more, click here.

By Zach Buchanan

Northwestern coach Joe McKeown walked into the Welsh-Ryan Arena locker room after his team’s 57-52 loss to Kansas State on Monday night and wrote “40 minutes” on the whiteboard.

NU only played well for 36.

“I’m trying to turn around the culture of women’s basketball at Northwestern, and we have to learn how to play 40 minutes,” said McKeown, in his first season with the team. “That’s the challenge I put out every day.”

After trailing by six points with 4:15 remaining in the game, Kansas State went on a 13-2 run, sparked by key baskets from forward Marlies Gipson and point guard Shalee Lehning. Gipson scored a layup off a pass from Lehning to cut the NU’s lead to four. Lehning followed with a 3-pointer and a layup to put Kansas State up by three with 45 seconds on the clock.

“It just came down to Kansas State making a couple big plays at the end of the game and that was the difference,” said McKeown, whose team had held Lehning, one of the best point guards in the country, to five points before her outburst at the end of the game. She finished with 12 points on 4-for-4 shooting and seven assists.

To read more, click here.

DEFICIT AT HALF FAILS TO SINK KANSAS STATE

By Danny Daly

When looking for an indication this Northwestern team has put last year behind it, look no further than the start of the second half of Monday night’s heartbreaking 57-52 defeat to Kansas State. NU held a 21-13 advantage with slightly less than eight minutes left in the first half before Kansas State reeled off 12 straight points to claim a 25-21 lead.

Though NU closed the deficit to one point on sophomore guard Meshia Reed’s basket and a free throw by sophomore center Amy Jaeschke, the momentum was clearly with Kansas State.

NU’s shooters had gone cold, making just one of their last eight shots after hitting nine of their first 12. Meanwhile, Kansas State had started to wear down NU’s defense, grabbing four offensive rebounds in the last eight minutes to aid the comeback effort.

This was a situation NU knew all too well. Last season, the team was close at intermission multiple times. In home games against conference foes Illinois and Michigan State, for example, NU trailed by just two points at the half. But NU could not keep it up, falling in both contests by double digits.

To read more, click here.

New coach Joe McKeown signed two recruits to national letters of intent Monday, marking the beginning of his first recruits since becoming coach at Northwestern.

The Wildcats will add forwards Inga Orekhova and Dannielle Diamant next season.

“My staff did an outstanding job with our first recruiting class at Northwestern,” McKeown said. “We brought in student-athletes we think will have an impact on our program over the next four years.”

Orekhova, a 6-foot-3 forward from La Jolla, Calif., is ranked 40th overall by ESPN’s Hoopgurlz.com and 28th in the nation by All-Star Girls Report. She averaged 15.9 points per game, 8.0 rebounds per game and 3.2 assists per game despite missing half her junior year.

Diamant, a 6-foot-4 forward from Las Vegas, Nev., averaged 12 points per game and eight boards per game as a junior in leading her high school to a Class 4A state championship. She is currently ranked 20th at her position by ESPN’ Hoopgurlz.com. Diamant is also the granddaughter of legendary coach Jerry Tarkanian.

The Joe McKeown era for Northwestern did not get off on the right foot.

The Wildcats got a solid effort from sophomore Amy Jaeschke, but the Cougars held them off for a 76-69 victory at the Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center on Friday.

Jaeschke scored 21 points and a career high 14 rebounds and sophomore Meshia Reed and freshman Brittany Orbin added 12 for NU.

Chicago State led the back-and-forth game for much of the second half when a basket by senior guard Jenny Eckhart closed the lead to one with 2:45 left. The Cougars’ Jasmin Dixon pushed the lead back to five with a layup with 1:45 left and the Cats were forced to foul as they could not convert on the offensive end.

By Adam Fusfeld

After a preseason centered on fitting the newcomers in with the team, it is finally time to see how it will all come together.

On Sunday, Northwestern kicks off the 2008-09 basketball season by welcoming Central Arkansas to Welsh-Ryan Arena. The Wildcats have lost their last two home openers, losing to then-No. 20 Stanford 71-60 last season and Cornell 64-61 the year before.

NU wants a win to get the season started in the right direction.

“We’d like to get off to a good start in non-conference play,” junior forward Kevin Coble said. “If we get some momentum going into the Big Ten that would be really good for us.”

To read more, click here.

WOMEN’S HOOPS: MCKEOWN GETS FIRST TRUE TEST

By Danny Daly

Less than one month after the official start of practice, Northwestern faces what could be its most difficult non-conference opponent.

The Wildcats will follow their opener at Chicago State on Friday with a battle against Kansas State in their first home game this Monday. Kansas State returns three of its top four scorers after advancing to the second round of the NCAA tournament as a five-seed last year, knocking off Chattanooga before falling to Louisville.

Anxious to put the disappointment of last season’s injury-ravaged campaign behind them, the Cats are highly anticipating their first chance to see how they match up with a top team from a major conference.

“It’s better to play the harder teams, and it’s more fun too,” said junior forward Kristin Cartwright, who redshirted last year while recovering from an ACL injury. “You look forward to it more. It’s more exciting and you have to play your best.”

To read more, click here.

Ready for basketball season yet? Northwestern open up its basketball season Friday when the women’s team visits Chicago State. The Men start Sunday afternoon against Central Arkansas.

Get ready for the season with The Daily’s Tip Off coverage.

MEN’S BASKETBALL: SMALL LINEUP GETS AN UPGRADE

By Adam Fusfeld
The Daily Northwestern

Though coach Bill Carmody is known for teaching players his complex offense, he, like many coaches before him, have not been able to teach size in recent years. The Wildcats did not have a player taller than 6-foot-8 last year after the graduation of 6-foot-10 center Vince Scott, leading to struggles in the physical Big Ten.

So he went out and recruited size.

Joining a squad that remains mostly intact from last season are five freshmen, four of whom are at least 6-foot-8 or taller, something the team did not even have last season. Highly-touted centers Kyle Rowley (7-foot) and Luka Mirkovic (6-foot-11) are two of the tallest players NU has had since Evan Eschmeyer (6-foot-11) graduated and was drafted in the second round of the NBA Draft in 1999. They figure to help reshape a team that struggled last year, especially in the post.

“It will move everyone to more of their traditional position where they should be playing,” said junior Kevin Coble, a forward who was forced to defend bigger players at times last year. “I was playing down low last year, and a lot of our guys were playing out of position. So this will move them to where they should be, and I think it will help us a lot.”

Click here to read more.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: MCKEOWN MAPPING COURSE FOR NU TO SUCCEED

By Danny Daly
The Daily Northwestern

Northwestern’s hiring of Joe McKeown to be its next women’s basketball coach this offseason was met with a lot of raised eyebrows from coaches and athletic directors across the country.

Their surprise had nothing to do with doubts about McKeown’s qualifications for the job – he is universally respected in the coaching community and holds the George Washington and Atlantic 10 records for career wins.

But why would McKeown, who has never suffered a losing season as a head coach, choose to leave the Colonials after back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances for a team that has gone 7-59 in Big Ten play during the past four seasons?

After all, he has had numerous other chances to bolt from George Washington. McKeown declined two opportunities to jump to the WNBA, in 1997 to become the first coach of the New York Liberty and two years later to lead the Washington Mystics.

He almost replaced current Ohio State coach Jim Foster at Vanderbilt in 2002 but decided to stay put, and the year before McKeown was a candidate to become the men’s coach for the Colonials when the university hired Karl Hobbs.

But out of all of those possibilities, the position he finally left for was the one at NU.

Click here to read more.

More stories: New 3-point line, new opportunities by Matt Forman

Get ready for the most important season in NU history by Philip Rossman-Reich

Keys to success for the upcoming season by Matt Forman

Adjusting attitude is Cats’ challenge by Robbie Levin