Wildcats Fall Victim to DePaul
Dec. 1, 2003 NU-DePaul Box in PDF Format EVANSTON, Ill. - DePaul averages 101.5 points per game, and although the Wildcats held the Blue Demons to 82 on Monday night, they saw first hand what their Chicago rival can do. Falling to 2-2 overall after the 82-57 loss, Northwestern was plagued by turnovers, committing 30 of them in the contest.
"The first five minutes, we did what we wanted to do, and then they got on a roll," said head coach June Olkowski. "I felt at times they played harder than we did. We had spurts, but nothing that would sustain us. But give credit to DePaul. They're ranked second in their conference. Their overall quickness is better than ours and we knew that would be a problem. We just thought we'd be able to handle it better; we thought we were prepared."
Junior Sarah Kwasinski led the 'Cats by scoring 23 points, a season-high, and adding a team-leading six rebounds. Melissa Culver was the only other Wildcat in double figures, adding 10 points in the game.
DePaul had three players with big numbers, including Jenni Dant (22 pts.), Charlene Smith (21) and Khara Smith (18). The Blue Demons shot 51.4% overall, a mere 0.2% more that the Wildcats, but capitalized on those NU turnovers, scoring 39 points off of them.
"Defense should never be affected by your offense, but for us it is, and we have to overcome that," said Olkowski. "I thought Sarah (Kwasinski) played a good offensive game, but defensively, no one really played that well. We knew what we wanted to do and we didn't execute."
Northwestern kept pace with DePaul early on, holding even at 14 before falling victim to a 15-point run by the Blue Demons. The 'Cats couldn't close the gap, getting as close as 13, and watched the lead grow to 22 at the half. They got to within 18 in the second before falling behind by 27. At the buzzer, Culver made a layup to end the game 82-57.
"I believe we're a better team, and I think we've played better this year," said Olkowski. "Everything is correctable."
Northwestern has a chance to right the ship this weekend, hosting Drexel, Eastern Michigan and Florida International in its own Mildred and Roger L. White Invitational. NU plays Drexel at 5 p.m. Friday and will play in the championship/consolation round on Saturday. Saturday game times are Noon and 2 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score
DePaul vs Northwestern
12/01/03 7:00pm at Welsh-Ryan Arena
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VISITORS: DePaul 3-0
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
21 Kustok, Sarah....... f 1-3 0-1 0-0 0 3 3 1 2 1 0 0 3 26
42 Smith, Khara........ c 8-14 0-1 2-4 2 4 6 1 18 4 3 1 2 30
22 Smith, Charlene..... g 9-17 0-2 3-3 4 3 7 0 21 1 3 0 3 33
32 Dant, Jenni......... g 10-14 1-3 1-2 1 0 1 1 22 3 2 0 8 32
44 Luke, Ashley........ g 1-8 0-4 0-0 1 1 2 3 2 3 2 0 2 21
12 Patterson, Casmir... 2-3 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 0 4 0 2 0 0 9
23 McCollum, Shiesha... 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 2 0 0 0 1 3
25 Deason, Lindsey..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
3 Rubino, Jenna....... 2-3 1-2 0-0 0 1 1 3 5 2 0 0 0 17
30 Towers, Claudette... 1-1 0-0 1-4 1 0 1 2 3 1 1 0 0 13
33 Benton, Jarietta.... 1-4 1-2 0-0 1 5 6 1 3 2 1 0 0 12
54 Slota, Monika....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
TEAM................ 4 4
Totals.............. 36-70 3-15 7-13 15 20 35 13 82 17 14 1 19 200
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