MACOMB, Ill.- The Western Illinois women's basketball team was unable to recover from a quick start by Northern Illinois and dropped the midweek game to the Huskies, 70-48, at Waste Management Court at Western Hall.
The Huskies (1-1) jumped out to a large lead in the first half of the game after a 27-6 run extended their lead to 22 points. The run was capped off by a three-pointer from Jessie Wilcox, followed by a lay-up from Ebony Ellis with 4:54 remaining in the opening stanza.
After a three-pointer from senior
Amanda Walker cut the lead back to 19 points, Northern ended the first half on a 6-0 run that came from back-to-back buckets from beyond the three-point line by Terriel Cannon and Wilcox. The Huskies went into the locker room with a 25 point lead at the half.
Northern started the second half with a 4-0 run that was answered by a three-point play by sophomore
Lindsey Wutt with 17:49 left to play in the game. A three-pointer from freshman
Katie Horsman a minute later cut the Huskie lead to 25 points.
A lay-up by Marke Freeman gave Northern its largest lead of the game of 30 with 12:20 left in the closing half. A free throw and a lay-up from freshman
Lyndi Thorman, followed by a lay-up from Wutt, cut the lead back to 25 points with just under 11 minutes to play.
The two teams traded baskets until the Westerwinds (1-1) closed the game on a 9-1 run. Horsman accounted for five of the points on a lay-up and three free throws.
Horsman led all Westerwinds in scoring with 10 points on 3-of-7 (42.9 percent) shooting, while hitting 3-of-4 free throws. Thorman chipped in with seven points, while Wutt added six points and pulled down seven boards.
Western begins a four game road trip with a 6:30 p.m. game at Big 12 member Missouri, Saturday, November 22, at The Mizzou Arena.
Postgame Notes? Wutt's seven rebounds ties a career high, a number that she has reached twice before.
? The Huskies outshot the Westerwinds from the floor, shooting 45.6 percent (26-57) and 38.1 (8-21) from behind the three-point line, including a 50 percent (7-14) mark in the first half.
? Junior
Jordon O'Brien hit her first two free throws, extended her streak of consecutive free throws made to 10 to open the season. The streak ended when she missed her third attempt.
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Leslie Crane
Opening statement“We are inconsistent right now, and that is frustrating as a coach. We have young players who have not learned that every night they have to come and be ready to play. You can't just show up at this level, you have to come ready to a game mentally.”
“In the second half we did a better job of rebounding against them (Northern Illinois). We handled the press much better and got our offense under control. I thought
Rasheena Salter came in and gave us good minutes and I now know we can count on her as a scorer.”
“We have a lot of new people, and we are very, very young. Right now, we have to make sure we are making progress during the game and continue to talk about consistency in our rebounding, defense and communication. All of these new players are still learning how to play at the Division 1 level.”
On Katie Horsman's performance“She was very viable on offense, now she has to become viable on defense as well. On her defense, she had a micro-fracture surgery in January and she is learning how to play as a freshman and with a brace. This is only her fourth game since last December, but she is coming along.”
On Lyndi Thorman“She is getting better, and she has some good moves and has a nice touch around the bucket. She needs to constantly think about taking up more space in the post, again, it's all about learning to play at the Division 1 level.”
