Rapid Reaction: Northwestern women’s basketball suffers first home loss with 74-62 showing against Kansas

Northwestern’s undefeated home record came to an end Wednesday night, as the Wildcats fell to the visiting Kansas Jayhawks with a final score of 74-62. Despite the Wildcats leading by as much as 10 at the end of the first quarter, a 44-28 run by the Jayhawks in the second half allowed the visitors to pull away.

Grace Sullivan continued to be the star for Northwestern, leading the ‘Cats with 24 points and six rebounds. For the Jayhawks, it was Regan Williams who had 22 points and nine rebounds on 55% shooting from the field.

Northwestern was outdone in efficiency, posting a 38% clip from the field (and just 18%) from three, while Kansas, by contrast, shot 54% and 42% from beyond the arc.

After Kansas won the opening tip, the two teams traded misses for a couple of possessions until Kansas’ top scorer S’Mya Nichols drew first blood on a spinning layup with 8:31 remaining in the first quarter.

It didn’t take Northwestern’s own 20-point per game scorer long to answer back, as Grace Sullivan sank a jumper to bring the game back to even. The bucket came off an assist from Caroline Lau, who continues to show off her playmaking abilities. Tate Lash got on the board after recovering her own miss and going up for the second-chance layup. With 5:09 remaining, Kansas would get a second-chance bucket themselves as Nadira Eltayeb recovered a missed three-pointer and brought the game to a tie.

The game’s first timeout came as Sullivan sank her second midrange bucket of the game and put the Wildcats up with just under five minutes left in the quarter. The break proved to no avail for the Jayhawks, as Xamiya Walton sank a long-distance three and Sullivan would score yet another jumper to put the Cats up 11-4.

The teams continued to struggle offensively for the next minute of play, as both teams committed a number of turnovers and fouls. That was, until Walton was able to split a pair at the line and Sullivan hit yet another midrange to force another timeout for the Jayhawks that were down 14-4.

Kansas stopped the bleeding slightly, as Nichols dished out a clean assist to a cutting Regan Williams. Northwestern got the last laugh, however, as Sullivan sank another midrange bucket for her 10th point of the quarter and put the Cats up 16-6 after the first.

To open the second quarter, Williams scores two consecutive layups to bring the Jayhawks back to within six points. Lau put a brief stop with a driving layup, but Williams wouldn’t let Kansas go out without a fight scoring her sixth point in three minutes off a second chance layup. Kansas continued to gain momentum offensively, as Indiana transfer Lilly Meister got a bucket in the paint and Keeley Parks got a driving layup and a free throw to sink the Wildcat lead to three.

Before the quarter’s first media timeout, the Jayhawks continued to work in the paint, with both Williams and Laia Conesa driving down the lane for 4 more points, sinking NU’s lead to 24-21 with 4:20 remaining in the half.

The break wasn’t enough to slow down Williams as she bulldozed a Wildcat defender for her 12th point of the quarter. After Thomas converted two free throws, Kansas finally tied the game at 26 off a three-pointer from Parks.

Walton and Lau were having none of it, as the pair responded with a quick five points off a Walton three and a driving Lau layup. Walton tried her luck again from three to no avail, but Thomas was there to back her up with a put-back layup off her ninth rebound of the half.

Williams scored the final field goal of the half to bring her scoring total to 16, but Northwestern was able to walk away from the quarter with something going its way on that side of the court, heading into the half up 34-30 on the Jayhawks.

With 30 minutes left to play, Sullivan led Northwestern with 10 points and four rebounds, while Williams led the Jayhawks’ scoring.

Entering the second half, guarding Sullivan was clearly a point of emphasis for the KU defense, with the senior forward getting three defenders sent her way each time she got the ball. On the first possession of the half, Sullivan turned the ball over after being swarmed by Jayhawk players.

Kansas found points to capitalize, with Nichols converting two free throws and Williams picking up where she left off. She got two layups on consecutive possessions and gave KU their first lead of the game with the score at 36-34 with 8:15 left.

After going down 38-34, Sullivan caught fire, scoring five straight Wildcats field goals on six attempts, matching her efficiency from the floor in the first quarter with 2:52 still to play in the third.

In the midst of Sullivan’s scoring streak, Kansas was able to combat her efficiency thanks to two three-pointers from Elle Evans, good enough to hold a 48-47 lead over Northwestern with just under three minutes left in the quarter.

The Wildcats could not keep the intensity they had before the break, giving up 8 uncontested points and giving Kansas its largest lead of the night with the score being 56-47 at the end of the third.

Sullivan opened up the fourth quarter scoring with a layup of her own, but the Cats continued to falter — allowing a Nichols layup and another two quickly after following a turnover.

With the offense stagnant to end the game, Northwestern head coach Joe McKeown opted to go with the full-court press to try and force some mistakes from Kansas, but found no success. The Jayhawks were still able to find opportunities to score, ballooning the lead 70-56 with three minutes left.

With the Kansas lead at 15 with two minutes left, both teams’ coaches decided to empty their benches with the game seemingly decided. The final score of 74-62 ended up as a Kansas win with the Wildcats falling to 6-2 on the year.

Up next, the Wildcats open up Big Ten play against the Ohio State Buckeyes on Dec. 7 with a 1 p.m. tipoff.