The Big Ten out-dueled the Big Red at Welsh-Ryan today
The Northwestern Wildcats (3-3) took down the Ivy League’s Cornell Big Red (3-6) by a score of 67-54. Despite the game being fairly close the whole time, Northwestern never trailed. It let Cornell get within three in the fourth quarter, but everyone stayed calm, cool and collected en route to a win.
Grace Sullivan led the way with 22 points on 10-of-16 shooting and six rebounds. Kyla Jones had 15 points of her own on 7-of-10 shooting, including a three-point buzzer beater to end the first half. Taylor Williams had her third double-double of the season with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Caroline Lau didn’t score, but had eight rebounds, 12 assists, two steals and only one turnover.
Taylor Williams won the tip for Northwestern, but it took more than a minute for scoring to begin. Kyla Jones hit her first shot of the game, but Cornell’s Summer Parker-Hall quickly answered back. Sullivan added another two for the ‘Cats on the next possession. Clarke Jackson then evened the score back up, but Williams quickly answered. Sullivan added to the NU lead with her second bucket of the day, but Emily Pape answered with a three-ball for the Big Red. Sullivan again would respond with a third layup. The game went to its first timeout with the ‘Cats leading 10-7.
Out of the break, Caleigh Walsh and Melanie Daley entered the game, but it was Sullivan who kept making her presence felt with her fourth make of the game. Cornell cut the Northwestern lead to one with its second made three of the day. Daley was fouled and hit both her free throws then followed that up with an impressive block. The ‘Cats capitalized off the forced turnover and Williams layed it in just before the end of the first. Headed into the second quarter, Northwestern held a 17-12 lead over Cornell.
To open the second, Parker-Hall made a layup to cut the ‘Cats’ lead to three. Xamiya Walton then hit the first three of the game for Northwestern, followed by a pull-up jumper from Daley. Cornell answered with two consecutive made shots to cut the lead down to four. Parker-Hall hit two free throws to tighten the margin to only two. Daley wanted none of that, so she answered with another deep two. The Big Red stayed in it, though, with another layup. Daley went right back to the middie and hit “another one” as DJ Khaled would say. Sullivan added two more with a jumper of her own, putting her in double-digits. The first break of the second quarter came with just under four minutes to go, and Northwestern led 28-22.
Play resumed with a Williams steal-and-score, but the Big Red responded quickly with a Pape jumper. After a Paige Engels basket, Sullivan kept tallying up the points, this time converting an and-one. To end the first half, Kyla Jones threw up a prayer from deep three-point range and swished it through as the buzzer went off. The ‘Cats held the lead at the half 36-28. Sullivan had 14 of NU’s 36 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Caroline Lau had five assists to contribute despite not scoring once, and Williams gathered eight rebounds.
Neither team could make a shot for the first three minutes of the third quarter, which prompted Joe McKeown to call a timeout. After the stoppage, Cornell hit its first shot to cut the NU lead down to six. Daley picked up her third foul midway through the third and was subbed out shortly after. Walsh then drained a long two for the ‘Cats first points of the second half. Casey Harter then made her first basket of the game to give Northwestern a 10-point lead. Jones scored next before a Cornell timeout to try and stop the 6-0 Wildcats run. With just over four minutes to go in the third, Northwestern led 42-30.
Harter hit a three almost immediately out of the break to extend the run to 9-0 in favor of the Wildcats. Cornell finally answered back with a two, but Sullivan was firing on all cylinders tonight to put the lead back to 15. Engels made the third three of the game for the Big Red, and Azareya Kilgoe followed her with two free throws to get Cornell within 10. Engels would make her second triple of the game as the Big Red continued to fight, cutting NU’s lead to single-digits. At the end of the third, Northwestern led Cornell 51-43.
The final quarter started with Daley being called for a charge, her fourth foul, which led to her subbing out. Jackson made the first basket of the quarter to cut the lead to six, but Lau’s court vision led to an easy layup for Jones. A bad turnover by the Wildcats gave the Big Red hope as they cut the lead to four, but Williams quieted the Cornell fans with a basket to answer.
That didn’t last long as Pape drilled her second triple of the night. Williams didn’t get bothered by the noise as she went down and made a layup. Then, Walsh picked up her third foul, putting Cornell in the bonus. Parker-Hall made both free throws to bring her squad to within three. After some time with no scoring, Jones got the ‘Cats some momentum back as she made back-to-back layups to extend the Northwestern lead to seven. With three minutes to go in the game, the Big Red trailed 61-54.
After the media timeout, Sullivan continued her domination as she made three consecutive baskets to eclipse 20 points on the afternoon and to give the ‘Cats a double-digit lead. Sullivan was too much for the Big Red to handle as she put the game firmly out of reach. The Wildcats won this one at Welsh-Ryan 67-54.
NU will be back in action on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. CST at Welsh-Ryan Arena against DePaul.