With the way IU women’s basketball played defense Saturday afternoon, it was no surprise the Hoosiers allowed their fewest points in a Big Ten game in more than 30 years.
Last time IU met up with Northwestern in January, the Wildcats scored with relative ease in an 80-67 loss for the Hoosiers. This time around, there would be no high-scoring shoot out, and IU held its opponent to 32-percent shooting and forced 16 turnovers.
The Hoosiers came out focused and aggressive on both ends of the court and built a solid halftime lead before blowing by the Wildcats in the second half for a 66-38 win.
IU moved to 7-5 in Big Ten play with the win and jumped 6-5 Northwestern in the standings. The 38 points allowed by IU on Saturday were the fewest in a Big Ten game in program history since giving up 37 in a win at Wisconsin in February 1986.
“I just thought defensively we came out really understanding what we were trying to take away from Northwestern,” Moren said. “Any time you put a scouting report together, you always hope your team can follow through with that game plan.”
That game plan for IU centered around locking down Northwestern senior forward Nia Coffey, who entered the game averaging 19 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. In the January contest, Coffey hung 14 points and 14 rebounds on IU, but on Saturday she scored just nine points on 3-of-13 shooting.
Senior center Jenn Anderson was a key piece of the all-around team effort that she said it took to contain Coffey, a three-time All-Big Ten player. Coffey had five turnovers and missed all three 3-pointers she took.
At six-foot-one, Coffey presents a quandary for defenses. She can be too quick and athletic for post players to defend and too tall for guards. Anderson credited each Hoosier who played for stepping up to do their part in guarding Coffey.
“I think we did an excellent job on Coffey,” Anderson said. “I mean, we were switching so even guards were guarding her and she was still having a tough time, which made every shot tough. That’s what we needed.”
Through two quarters, neither team had much of a flow on offense. At halftime, IU led by just nine, and both teams were shooting 30 percent or worse. After the break, junior forward Amanda Cahill led a charge that saw IU outscore Northwestern 24-11 in the third quarter and 40-21 in the second half.
Cahill failed to score in the opening half but scored nine points in the third quarter and finished the game with 11 points to go along with eight rebounds and a team-high six assists.
Moren said the way Cahill was able to contribute in other aspects of the game when her shot wasn’t falling showed her importance to the team. When the second half began, Cahill hit a jumper in the opening minute and didn’t look back.
“That was big for her. I remember specifically telling her at halftime that those shots are going to fall,” junior guard Tyra Buss said. “She can’t get shy. Amanda’s a scorer, and she’s also our energy. She did a really good job of still shooting the ball and not hesitating.”
Buss was the leading scorer in the game, with 19 points on 5-of-18 shooting from the field. IU finished the game shooting just 38.5 percent as a team, less than the season average, but the bulk of the Hoosiers’ damage was done on defense, and a 19-6 advantage in second-chance points showed the resilience IU was still able to have when the first shot wouldn’t fall on offense.
IU held Northwestern to just 33.3 percent shooting in the game, and the Wildcats were just one of 11 from 3-point range. Buss said the communication on defense helped her team lock down and stay focused. With third-place Michigan coming to Bloomington on Thursday, IU will be eager to maintain the same defensive effort it produced against Northwestern.
“They just didn’t get really any good open looks,” Buss said. “And so I think that we talked really well, we had a lot of energy, and we just really took pride in our defense today.”
