Wildcats hold off late Hawkeye charge

EVANSTON, Ill. - The 3-point shot went from friend to foe Sunday for the Iowa women's basket ball team Sunday. Northwestern nailed 9 of 15 from beyond the arc and held off a furious Hawkeye rally to down the Hawkeyes, 72-66, at Welsh-Ryan Arena. The victory ended a 17-game Wildcat losing streak against Iowa and moved the Wildcats to 1611 overall, 7-9 in the Big Ten. Iowa falls to 15-12, 8-8.

“Give credit to Northwestern. I think they just really outplayed us today in every aspect,” said Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder.

“We just quite never seemed to have our feet set to shoot and Northwestern had a lot to do with that.

The Wildcats got another solid game from junior center Amy Jaeschke, who finished with a game-high 27 points and pulled down 11 rebounds after torching Iowa for 30 points in the Wildcats' 78-69 loss Jan. 24 in Iowa City. She got plenty of support from junior guard Beth Marshall, who finished with 15 points and nailed six free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.

Northwestern's defense targeted Iowa freshman Jaime Printy, who was held to six points on just seven shots.

The Linn-Mar graduate scored 23 against the Wildcats last month.

Sophomore guard Kamille Wahlin led Iowa with 20 points, but was just 2 of 10 from beyond the arc. Junior Kachine Alexander had another double-double, scoring 17 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. Kelly Krei added 13 points for Iowa.

The Wildcats took a 6454 lead on a Jaeschke layin with 5:10 remaining.

Iowa's defense clamped down. The Hawkeyes went on a 12-2 run over the next four minutes, capped by an Alexander lay-in with 1:09 remaining. After getting a stop, Iowa had a chance to tie in the final seconds.

Alexander drove and missed a layup. Krei had a pair of offensive rebounds, but couldn't convert the tying basket.

Marshall finally secured the ball for Northwestern with 13 seconds left. She was fouled and made both foul shots and made two more with six seconds remaining for the final margin.

“We had a clear-out play for Kachine,” Bluder said of Iowa's chance to tie. “She misses the layup and we get the rebounds and force it back up. With 10 seconds left we should have taken it back out and set it up.” Iowa closes out its home schedule Thursday night against Indiana before ending the regular season this Sunday afternoon at Wisconsin.