Dec. 6, 2009

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EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern held Purdue to just two points in the final 9:08 while stringing together 16 of its own to claim a 60-58 victory Sunday evening in front of a lively crowd at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Junior Amy Jaeschke (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) led the Wildcats (6-2, 1-0) with 16 points and seven boards while Brittany Orban (North Canton, Ohio/Hoover) and Dannielle Diamant (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman) added 12 and 10 points, respectively. It is the first time the Wildcats have won their Big Ten opener since the 1998-99 season.

Nearly three minutes passed before either team located the basket in the opening half, until Purdue got on the board first and build an 18-7 lead at the 13-minute mark. The Wildcats answered with a 7-2 spurt to pull the game to within six, 20-14, with just under nine minutes remaining.

Back-to-back triples from Orban cut Purdue's lead to four, and a lay-in by Diamant capped off an 8-2 NU run, pulling the game to just two, 27-25, with 2:25 left in the half.

Northwestern outscored Purdue 6-5 the rest of the way, capped off by an athletic tip-in by Cartwright as time ticked away and set the halftime score at 32-31 in favor of the visitors. Diamant led NU with 10 points and four rebounds. The Wildcats' defense was key in keeping NU in the game as they capitalized on eight Purdue miscues and parlayed the snafus into 15 points.

Less than one minute into the half, NU took its first lead of the game on a Beth Marshall (Fishers, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern) triple from the elbow extended. But the Boilermakers answered with a 13-4 run to pull ahead 45-38 with 13:38 left.

But Northwestern refused to fold, keeping the Boilers' lead steady between eight and 12 points for the next eight minutes until a hard-fought lay-up by Kendall Hackney (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame) with 4:56 pulled Northwestern to within six, 56-50. The freshman struck again less than two minutes later, slashing Purdue's lead in half, 56-53, with 3:32 left.

After a forfeited possession by the Boilermakers, a Jaeschke lay-in pulled NU to within one and two free-throws from Orban 30 seconds later capped off a 13-0 NU run and gave the Wildcats their first lead, 57-56, since the 19:21 mark of the second half.

Purdue's Brittany Rayburn sunk two free-bees to swing the score in favor of the visitors, 58-57, with 2:03 left. A made free-throw by Kristin Cartwright (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) notched the score with 1:45 on the clock but a jumper from Jaeschke with 26 ticks left proved to seal the deal for NU.

It was the first time in 13 years Northwestern defeated Purdue.

Hackney came up big for NU down the stretch, contributing nine points and seven rebounds. Diamant also grabbed six boards to accompany her 10 points

The Wildcats get a week off for finals before traveling to Mahnattan, Kan., for a date with the other Wildcats on Sunday, Dec. 13 at 2 p.m.