The ‘Cats survived a furious fourth-quarter rally from DePaul to escape with a hard-fought road victory at Wintrust Arena.
Northwestern (4-0) outlasted DePaul (1-3) 79-72 at Wintrust Arena, extending its
winning streak to four. The ‘Cats led by as many as 19 points in the third quarter before the Blue Demons stormed back, cutting the deficit to four with under five minutes remaining. But the ‘Cats sealed off by clutch free-throw shooting and timely baskets.
Grace Sullivan led the charge with 26 points on offense, while Caroline Lau added 20 points and nine assists. Tayla Thomas scored 11 points and dominated with 18 rebounds.
On the DePaul side, Kate Novik led the team with 18 points; Natiah Nelson produced 16 points.
DePaul checked in for the first bucket of the game as Kate Novik scored a transition. Caroline Lau caught fire, hitting a triple on top of the key as a response. In the next possession, Lau dribbled through the midcircle and cruised downhill, dishing a short pass to Sullivan on the left post for a jumper. Harter followed up the prowess with an and-one drive. NU kept attacking on stretch, as Sullivan hooked on the right post and nailed the bucket to give her team a 10-2 early lead.
While the Blue Demons soon rallied four points back, Tayla Thomas came up and scored a second-chance two. Tayla Lash dug deep from the right and earned a layup through the contact. She then ripped off the paint after catching up a baseline serve and drew a foul, converting the effort into two points from the line, setting up NU’s 10-point lead.
Xamiya Walton scored two on the line, and NU kept building on the advantage after Lash and Harter added four subsequently. After Harter missed a cut-in layup, DePaul immediately tallied five points to cut its deficit to seven later in the first quarter. Sullivan then scored another hook from the post. Walton found a perfect lane through the screen and scored a layup with space. Lau fired up a buzzer-beating three to solidify the ‘Cats’ 29-15 lead before entering the second quarter.
DePaul revamped its defense at the beginning of the second quarter, forcing a Lau turnover in a drive. After making a stop on Lash’s layup, the Blue Demon then fired back with Novik’s quick backcourt pass to set up Devin Hagemann’s easy bucket. Sullivan and Lau collectively produced six straight points to protect the ‘Cats’ lead above 10.
After Lau drew a charge and earned a Northwestern possession, DePaul immediately switched up to a full-court press while trailing 12 to the ‘Cats. But Walton broke off the fence with a shot from downtown. Sullivan followed up with a midshot from the free-throw line, giving NU a 40-23 lead midway through the second quarter.
But the Blue Demons didn’t fade their effort out, putting back seven points after capitalizing on the Cats’ two consecutive turnovers. Sullivan, again, stepped up with a floater in the paint after fighting for an offensive board. With two minutes left to the halftime, Lau emerged as a fresh offensive threat, shooting two from the line after she drew contact on a drive. Lash held the defense firm and slapped a shot. Thomas then scored the final bucket of the first half in the next possession, allowing the ‘Cats to hold a 46-32 lead before the third.
Coming back for the second half, DePaul recharged with three quick points after Michelle Ojo recovered a rebound from Alayna West’s missed free-throw shot. Lau kept anchoring the offense, blasting through a drive and connecting with Thomas via his backcourt pass through the transition, regaining a 17-point lead for Northwestern and forcing DePaul to take a timeout.
Lash recovered her ISO play with a rebound and delivered to Lau outside the perimeter. Lau then utilized Lash’s screen and found a layup lane from the right. No. 7 played a vital role in breaking through DePaul’s full-court pressure, throwing another long pass to an unmarked Sullivan under the rim for another easy bucket. Other than some flashes on facilitation, Lau kept her hand hot, pulling up her third dagger to freshen NU off a 19-point lead.
The ‘Cats went dormant for the rest of the third quarter, only having Harter to alter the score figure with her two free-throw shots, but they locked DePaul down on the other end. Lau orchestrated Sullivan’s buzzer-beating layup with a quick pick-and-roll symphony in the final play of the third, establishing a 67-48 lead with 10 more minutes to go.
Starting the fourth quarter, DePaul pushed hard and scored five points with two minutes in, while the ‘Cats committed three turnovers. After a timeout, the Blue Demons rallied with tough buckets when they trimmed the deficit back to just nine as Northwestern remained sloppy. The ‘Cats went scoreless in three minutes simultaneously.
Thomas got fouled by Nelson and triggered a slight conflict on the court. After a long video review, both were offered two free-throw shots, but Harter only converted one from the line while DePaul knocked down two. It became a turning point for the Blue Demon as they edged Northwestern in the next minute with two more buckets and made it a four-point game.
With 4:32 left, Thomas leapt up for a golden offensive rebound, but she wasted two shots from the line. The game went more intense with many physical battles, but Northwestern kept struggling to score a field goal for above six minutes.
After minutes of silence, NU eventually broke out through a Lau-Sullivan connection. After a successful defense caused DePaul a shot-clock violation, the ‘Cats scored in the next possession by a Thomas cut-in layup, rebuilding a 7-point advantage. But DePaul responded with Novik’s and-one play against Sullivan, minimizing the gap to four after she converted the bonus.
Lau and Thomas stepped up in the crunch time when both drew fouls and combined two on the line. Hagemann also drew a shooting foul with her drive with less than a minute left, scoring one of two attempts. The connection between Lau and Sullivan became huge: juking out double-team pressure, Lau powered in the paint, delivering to Sullivan on the left post while facing another double-team. The senior big banked the ball in, and Northwestern led 76-69.
Being fouled by a DePaul defender on the backcourt, Thomas nailed two shots that allowed NU to gain an 8-point advantage with 20 seconds left. West scored a driving layup but Northwestern held the final possessions and added points from the line, escaping its opponent’s fourth-quarter push and winning its fourth game in a row.
Northwestern will head back to Welsh-Ryan Arena to face Cleveland State on Friday before travelling to Florida for the Elevance Health Fort Myers Tip-Off.
