Feb. 18, 2007

Box Score

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Senior A.J. Glasauer finally got to look up and see her father, Gunter, in the Welsh-Ryan Arena stands Sunday afternoon. Gunter traveled all the way from Freiburg, Germany to see his daughter's 18-point effort help the 'Cats to a 63-54 victory against Michigan. Glasauer also finished with a game-high seven assists to steer NU (8-20, 2-13) to its second victory in the last three games.

"Talk about coming out and leaving it on the floor on your Senior Day," head coach Beth Combs said. "A.J. played fantastic. We knew they were going to come out and step it up in the second half, but we did what we needed to down the stretch to finish the game. Beth's (Marshall) 3-pointer was huge."

Marshall's (Fishers, Ind./Fishers) trey from the corner with :41 remaining pushed the lead to nine, clinching the victory for the `Cats.

Michigan exploded out of the break, outscoring Northwestern 19-9 in the first 10 minutes to cut NU's 12-point halftime lead to a basket with 10:07 to go. The `Cats built the lead back up to seven with 6:07 left, but the Wolverines ran off the next four points to slice the lead to three with 3:27 remaining.

Sara Stutz (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South) scored two of her 14 points on a fade-away jumper to inflate the lead to 54-49 with just under 3:00 left. Freshman Kaitlin McInerney (Oak Brook, Ill,/Benet Academy) put in a layup with 2:00 left before Michigan ran off three-straight points to come to within four points. Another basket by Stutz piggybacked by Marshall's 3-pointer put the game away for NU.

In the opening half, Michigan scored the first basket of the game, but Northwestern held UM to one point over the next 6:09 while running off 15 points of its own.

The 'Cats continued to build the lead, allowing Michigan to get to within seven points before Glasauer ran off five-straight points to push the lead back to 12.

The Wildcats' defense disrupted Michigan's offense, holding them to just 23 percent shooting in the first half while also forcing nine turnovers.

Northwestern shot at least 55 percent in a half for the second-consecutive time, knocking down 14-of-24 (58 percent) in the first half en route to a dominating 32-18 lead at the break. Glasauer went 6-of-8 from the field to lead all scores with 14 points, while also distributing four assists.

McInerney joined Stutz and Glasauer in double figures, adding 13 points and six boards. Kristin Cartwright (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) grabbed a team-high eight rebounds, continuing her strong play on the glass.

The Wildcats held their annual end-of-the-year banquet, presenting the following awards:

The Swiffer Award for Loose Balls -- Sara Stutz
The Iceberg Award for Tips -- A.J. Glasauer
The Jail Award for Steals -- A.J. Glasauer
The Windex Award for Rebounds -- Kaitlin McInerney
The Helping Hands Award for Assists -- A.J. Glasauer

The Wildcats conclude the regular season at 6 p.m. CT Thursday when they travel to Bloomington, Ind. to face Indiana.