After leading by just two following the first quarter, Northwestern women’s basketball (3-0, 0-0 B1G) beat University of Maryland Eastern Shore (2-2, 0-0 MEAC) 69-54 Friday evening at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
The ‘Cats were led by junior guard Casey Harter, who scored a career-high 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Harter went 5 for 7 from beyond the three-point arc as well, resoundingly beating her previous career mark of three triples in a single game. Sophomore forward Tayla Thomas had 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Grace Sullivan tacked on 16 points as well.
For the Hawks, Ashanti Lynch led the way with 17 points on 8-of-18 shooting along with nine rebounds. Lynch was the only Maryland Eastern Shore player who reached double figures, and the Hawks shot 40% from the field as a whole compared to 44.4% for the ‘Cats.
Northwestern won the opening tip, and Thomas got the ‘Cats their first two points of the game after rebounding a missed midrange attempt from Sullivan. The Hawks struck back with four unanswered, but graduate guard Tate Lash found Harter in the corner for her second three of the year to put the ‘Cats back on top 5-4.
The teams traded layups, but UMES took advantage of a pair of Northwestern turnovers to reach a 10-7 scoreline off back-to-back buckets. Sullivan finally earned her first score to cut the deficit to one, and the teams entered the media timeout moments later.
Coming out of the break with under five minutes left, Xamiya Walton found Thomas in the paint. The latter drew a foul and went 1 for 2 from the free throw line to tie the game at 10 apiece. From there, both teams went scoreless for 1:51 until Hawks forward Dakieran Turner scored a second-chance layup to take the lead.
Sullivan scored a layup and two more from the charity stripe to give advantage back to Northwestern, putting an exclamation on the sequence with a block. Shortly after, guard Dayshawna Carter got Maryland Eastern Shore’s final points of the first quarter on a deep two. After one, Northwestern led 16-14.
The ‘Cats had possession to start the second quarter, and Sullivan took advantage with a midrange jumper to stretch the Wildcat lead to four. On a fastbreak opportunity, Harter nailed her second three of the day, and she followed it up with a tough lay. Thomas followed her teammate’s lead with a deep two of her own.
Down six, UMES entered a full-court press, but the ‘Cats kept their composure. Inspired by Harter’s shooting, Walton, Thomas and senior guard Caroline Lau continued to try from beyond the arc, but none found success. The Hawks went on a 7-2 run powered by Lynch and Kaliya Perry, fighting back to a 25-21 deficit with about five minutes left in the half.
Hawks guard Jailynn Clayton pulled from three to pull the game within a single point, but Thomas responded with the Wildcats’ first points in the previous 4:09 from the paint. From there, the ‘Cats started to find their footing. First-year guard Angelina Hodgens found the net from the top of the arc, and Lau scored from the same spot to give Northwestern a comfortable six-point lead.
Hodgens forced the Hawks to call a timeout after finding Sullivan for her fourth field goal of the evening. With time dwindling in the half, Hodgens made it to the line, knocking down a pair of free throws. Northwestern’s defense held as time ran out and entered halftime up 37-29.
With 20 minutes gone, Sullivan led the ‘Cats with 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting. Thomas and Harter followed with nine and eight points, respectively, and the former added four boards. The Wildcats kept mistakes to a minimum with six turnovers and six personal fouls compared to 11 and 10 for the Hawks.
On the other side of the court, Ashanti Lynch earned nine points and seven rebounds. Despite trailing on the scoreboard, Maryland Eastern Shore outrebounded Northwestern 20-13 during the opening two periods.
The ‘Cats had possession to start the third period, and after turnovers by both teams, Thomas found Lash on a fastbreak opportunity to open up the scoring. Hawks senior Brianna Barnes missed a three, and Lau launched the ball downcourt to Thomas, who scored a putback after missing her first attempt.
Lynch scored the Hawks’ first points of the second half on a contested layup, and her first-year teammate Desi Taylor followed up with consecutive three-pointers from the wing to sandwich a Sullivan jumper. Lau responded by finding Harter from the same part of the arc for a trey.
Lash missed a jumper from beyond the arc, but she found Sullivan at the baseline seconds later to help the ‘Cats open up a 48-37 lead. The squads entered a media timeout with 4:33 to play in the quarter.
Lash tried to improve her shooting woes at the charity stripe but could only knock down one shot. A minute later, Keswick found Lash, who got it to Harter at the top of the arc for her fourth triple of the night, a career-high.
Lash returned to the free throw line 50 seconds later but was unable to convert either of her attempts. With 1:35 in the quarter, Lash had earned three points and three fouls.
Harter scored another two from the free throw line, and Hodgens found Walton for her second score of the day on a fast break. Lynch struck back with a layup, but the Wildcats ended the quarter up 56-44.
Northwestern started the final quarter with the ball, and Thomas took advantage of a free look at the top of the three-point line for her second triple of the night. Eastern Shore looked to strike back off a Northwestern turnover, but Taylor missed an uncontested layup, and Northwestern regained possession.
With 7:32 in the quarter, Lau and Lash went one-two before Lau found Sullivan. The 6-foot-4 forward drained a midrange jumper to put Northwestern up 61-48. Lash earned four more free throw attempts, making three to bring her point total to six.
With four minutes to play, Harter pulled up from the wing, and Welsh-Ryan Arena held its breath as the ball sailed through the net. With that score, the junior earned her 19th point of the night and her fifth three-pointer – both of which are career highs. Thomas followed up with another deep jumper, but both teams came up scoreless on the next three possessions before entering a timeout with 55 seconds left in the contest.
Northwestern head coach Joe McKeown let a handful of his bench players see the floor for the final minute, including graduate guard Sammy White, the former star lacrosse defender. The bench players did not score, however, and time ran out with the ‘Cats taking the win 69-54.
The Wildcats head on the road for the first time this season Monday morning for a Chicago clash against DePaul. That game is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. CT.
