Northwestern (8-20, 2-15 B1G) hung around for a while but ultimately fell 79-57 No. 14 Maryland (23-6, 11-6 B1G) on Wednesday evening in College Park. After another outing to forget, the ‘Cats are officially eliminated from postseason contention, as they can no longer break into the top-15 teams in the Big Ten.
Tonight’s loss marks the second consecutive season that Northwestern will miss the Big Ten Tournament and its fourth straight season with under 10 wins
Grace Sullivan led Northwestern with 23
points and added 5 rebounds to her scoreline. Caroline Lau led the team with 9 rebounds and four assists and scored 9 points of her own. Meanwhile, Maryland’s Oluchi Okananwa racked up 25 points while Saylor Poffenbarger helped her in the paint with 13 rebounds and four assists.
The ‘Cats’ Achilles heel was their ball control. Northwestern turned the ball over a whopping 21 times to Maryland’s six. The Terps also dominated inside, outscoring Northwestern 54-38 in the paint and out-rebounding the ‘Cats 43-35. Northwestern and Maryland both shot under 45% from the field, but the hosts had 24 more attempts from the field.
Northwestern never led during the contest.
The ‘Cats struggled to penetrate the paint early, but the Terps cut through Northwestern’s defense like butter, scoring five layups in the first five minutes. With half the quarter gone, Maryland led Northwestern 10-5 despite missing its first eight shots from deep.
Both teams then posted a series of ugly possessions. Northwestern turned the ball over several times while Maryland missed a plethora of three-point attempts until Casey Harter ended the drought. Maryland entered the first media break retaining its five-point lead. Yarden Garzon stretched that lead with a contested shot off the glass on the first possession out of the break.
With 1:49 to play in the quarter, Harter scored a pair of free throws and followed that up with a trey to bring the ‘Cats within four. At the conclusion of the first period, Northwestern trailed Maryland 20-14.
The ‘Cats started the second quarter with high hopes. Sullivan opened the quarter’s scoring and Kat Righeimer put Sullivan’s next attempt back in to cut the deficit to two.
However, things began to unravel when defensive errors led to Maryland’s Saylor Poffenbarger and Rainey Welson scoring back-to-back triples. An 8-0 Terrapin run gave the hosts their first double-digit lead of the night.
Sullivan added to her total with a couple of made free throws and contested layup on consecutive possessions. Still, the ‘Cats’ defense could not slow down the Terrapins, who began to pull away after a three-point-play from Breanna Williams and a wide-open regular three from Garzon. With 4:30 in the half, the ‘Cats found themselves in their biggest hole yet, trailing 36-22.
Caroline Lau fought back for the ‘Cats with a wing three, but the Terrapins continued to rule the paint, finding fast break layups one after another. Okananwa attacked the ‘Cats’ defense relentlessly, scoring over, around and between Wildcat defenders. When the clocks hit 0:00 in the second quarter, Maryland led 44-31.
At the half, Sullivan led the ‘Cats with 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting, and Harter trailed with nine points of her own. Okananwa led the way for Maryland with 12 points on 6-of-12 shooting. With 20 minutes gone, the difference between the squads was Northwestern’s inability to put up shots. The ‘Cats lost nine more turnovers and grabbed six fewer boards in the first half.
The Terps started the second half with the ball, and Okananwa scored an and-one layup to open the half. Walton assisted Sullivan on the ‘Cats’ opening possession, and the sophomore took it herself on the next possession to keep Northwestern within striking distance.
Northwestern continued to match a struggling Maryland offense. Lau added to Walton’s efforts with a floater, and Daija Turner went 1-of-2 from the charity stripe as Northwestern trailed 40-51 halfway through the third.
Sullivan scored a deep jumper and drew a foul on a fastbreak finish to cut the Terrapin lead to single digits for the first time since the 5:35 mark in the second quarter. A Kyndal Walker lay in and an Okananwa fastbreak bucket stretched Maryland’s lead back to 13, but Sullivan kept fighting with another fadeaway midrange J.
Okananwa and Walker continued to pose devastating questions against NU’s defense, and the ‘Cats ultimately had no answer to end the third. Maryland finished the quarter on a 7-0 run with its largest lead of the contest over Northwestern 63-45 to all but seal this one for the hosts.
The ‘Cats opened the fourth quarter with possession, but the play ended with a Harter travel, Northwestern’s fourth of the night. Maryland continued to pull away throughout the final period, and Northwestern would not get within 20 in the final 8:18.
Next up, Northwestern will face Purdue (12-15, 4-12 B1G) in its season finale on Sunday, March 1 at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
