Northwestern University Women’s Basketball Club Downs DePaul

Powered by a dominant second-half stretch in which they sandwiched 13- and 14-point runs around a solitary Blue Demon three-pointer, the Northwestern University women’s basketball club team secured a 45-40 victory over DePaul University on Saturday, April 8th.

Throughout the comeback at the Ray Meyer Fitness and Recreation Center, NU’s defense forced numerous turnovers and used their height advantage to block multiple Blue Demon shots. For the half, NU received 15 second-half points from freshman Jaeda Tagoe, and seven points from sophomore Maggie Rose Baron.

The other players who keyed the turnaround were Melanie Flowers – the team’s only senior – and freshmen Emma Nelsen and Nicky Draeger.

It was a 180-degree contrast to the first half, when the Wildcats came out sluggish and fell behind 10-0. The team never got into a rhythm on either end of the floor and trailed 30-11 at halftime. That deficit rose to 21 points after a DePaul three-pointer made it 33-12. A few minutes later, DePaul went up 35-16 and was seemingly in control.

Stifling Defense Sparks Transition Offense

The Wildcats' onslaught began innocently enough: a Leah Caldwell bucket, then a pair of Tagoe free throws. Soon, however, a trend began emerging – stifling defense leading to transition offense. Baron stole the ball near the top of the key, pushed it up court, then tossed in an 8-footer from the right side of the lane.

A Tagoe lefty lay-in, then a Tagoe free throw on a subsequent trip up the court sliced the lead to 35-25.

The second-chance points continued: Nelsen converted on a put-back off an offensive rebound, and Tagoe scored after corralling a Baron three-point miss. When finally DePaul answered with a three-pointer to take a 38-29 lead, over 10 minutes remained.

Immediately, Baron helped reassert momentum with a three-pointer from the left wing. Flowers followed shortly thereafter with a relentless sequence – she missed a pair of shots, grabbed both rebounds in traffic, then her third attempt was the charm from 10 feet out. It was 38-34.

DePaul’s cold spell continued, while the Wildcats feasted on more follow-ups. First, Tagoe converted off the offensive glass; a few minutes later, having missed on several chances to tie the game or squeak into the lead, NU knotted the score on a Tagoe layup with 5:15 to go.

After yet another Wildcat defensive stop – there were more than 25 of them during this one-sided span -- Tagoe knocked in a three from the right wing. It was 41-38, Northwestern.

The Blue Demons called a timeout, but after another DePaul miss, Draeger put NU ahead by five with a field goal. A DePaul basket with 3:22 remaining cut the Cats’ lead to 43-40. But on their next possession, NU extended its lead back to five on a baseline make by Stephanie Kim.

The final 2:54 was scoreless, as NU drained the clock with extended possessions and DePaul continued to misfire from beyond the three-point arc. For the game, Tagoe (16 points) and Baron (nine points) were the team’s leading scorers.

5 Wins, 6 Losses -- But Playing is the Biggest Triumph

Aside from tournament play – in which the club has often played split-squad units that have enabled more women to see longer action on the court – it was the Wildcats’ fifth win this year, against six losses.

Victories and defeats aside, returning to competitive action has been the biggest triumph of all for not only NU, but other women’s club basketball teams across the country that shut down at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Most club athletes competed at the high school level, and the team provides an opportunity to continue with a sport they have been playing, in some cases, for a decade or longer.

At NU, the only remaining player from that pre-COVID lineup is Flowers.

In addition to Flowers, the club’s other members are two juniors (Emma Rosenbaum and Kim Nguyen); eight sophomores (Maggie Rose Baron, Ella Shin, Izzy Pareja, Martha Contreras, Alice Enger, Tess Wagner, Stephanie Kim and Daniela Morales); and five freshmen (Liv Salituro, Nicky Draeger, Jaeda Tagoe, Leah Caldwell and Emma Nelson).

NU opened its campaign with a season-opening doubleheader sweep of Loyola University Chicago on January 22nd. Two weeks later, the Wildcats hosted a tournament that drew Loyola, Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

In early March, NU was one of 11 teams that competed in a tournament at the University of Nebraska. The Wildcats split a pair of Saturday games – a 46-35 win over Denver and a 58-49 loss to Air Force Academy– to advance to the quarterfinals, where it lost to the University of Wisconsin, 50-39.

This coming weekend, the club travels to the University of Dayton for a tournament in which they are scheduled to play seven games.

To learn more about the Northwestern University women’s basketball club, and to keep tabs on their season, visit https://www.instagram.com/nuwc...

The writer is the father of a team member.