The women’s basketball team lost its fifth straight game against Penn State Thursday 82–73, bringing its record to 14–12 on the season and 4–9 in conference play.
Despite shooting 43.9 percent from the field, the Wildcats couldn’t hold off the Nittany Lions’ offensive onslaught. Northwestern’s own offense was spread out effectively, including 30 points off the bench.
Next they’ll travel to Columbis, Ohio, to take on Ohio State in another conference game and look to end their current skid.
Inside the Box Score:
- Northwestern has been allowing an average of 80.6 points per game during their losing streak. Tonight, the trend continued. If the ‘Cats want to be successful, they’ll need to stop fouling so much. Tonight, they had 22 fouls called against them. Penn State made 25 of their 29 free throws, putting the ‘Cats in a hole that was simply too deep to climb out of.
- Penn State also dominated the offensive boards, leading to several second–chance points. Compared to Northwestern’s six offensive rebounds, the Nittany Lions had 13. Offensive rebounds and reducing the number of turnovers committed (18) would have made this a more winnable game. Instead, Penn State had the lead almost the entire time.
- Something the ‘Cats have done well is spreading the ball around and getting significant points from a number of different players. Northwestern has four different players averaging more than 10 points per game, with freshman Nia Coffey leading the way at 15.8. Scoring points hasn’t been a huge issue during this skid, as the Wildcats are averaging 72.8 points per game. Defense has been the real issue; unless Brittany Griner is on the court, it’s tough for any team to score more than 80 points per game in women’s college basketball.