Two days after their season opener, the Northwestern women’s basketball team flexed their muscles once again with a win over Central Michigan, 82-72.
The Wildcats were aggressive out of the gate with senior forward Dannielle Diamant controlling the paint and stopping the Central Michigan offense from scoring early. Freshman forwards Lauren Douglas and Maggie Lyon provided blocks early to slow down the Central Michigan offense. Sophomore guard Karly Roser scored the first five points for the Wildcats and remained an essential part of their offense, shooting 6-for-8 in the game and scoring nine points in the first half alone.
Central Michigan kept the game close for part of the first half, even going ahead on Northwestern a few times, but fell behind when Douglas and senior guard Inesha Hale made good plays, including a 3-pointer from Douglas, that put them up. After that the Wildcat’s rolled to a nine-point lead going into half time after an exciting buzzer beater from Lyon.
Central Michigan’s sophomore guard Jessica Green and junior forward Taylor Johnson came into the second half charged up. Green, who had a career high 25 points and six steals, racked up two of those steals and four points early in the first four minutes of the second half. Johnson, who went 3-for-7 from beyond the arc, made two of her threes early in second half as well, which helped keep the Chippewa’s energized and narrow Northwestern’s lead to five points.
In the game’s final minutes, Central Michigan pulled to within two, thanks to 15 second-half points from Green. When Diamant fouled out with four minutes remaining, it seemed the Chippewas would pull off the win. But it was the two freshman, Lyon and Douglas, who finished with 11 of the team’s 15 points to seal the win.
The Wildcats are now 2-0, two games into their five-game home stretch. The team will face off against the Howard Bison (0-2) on Nov. 19.
Northwestern stops rally, beats CMU 82-72