Jan. 7, 1997

Wildcats Down Loyola-Chicago

Chawansky Reaches 1,000 Career Point Mark

CHICAGO -- Kristina Divjak led all players with 32 points, including five three pointers, and 11 rebounds as the Northwestern women's basketball team ended a three-game losing streak with an 87-66 win over Loyola-Chicago on Wednesday night. Divjak's 32 points marked a season best and fell just one shy of her career high set last year vs. Michigan. She also went a perfect 9-for-9 at the free throw line. NU improved to 5-9 on the year while Loyola drops to 3-9.

NU led all the way, as Leslie Schock scored a layup four seconds into the game. Loyola hung close throughout much of the first half, trailing the Wildcats by just six at 29-23 with 6:08 left in the half. However, NU would not allow another point in the first half and took a 48-23 lead into the locker room at intermission. NU's biggest lead was 29 points at 52-23. The Ramblers finally broke the string at the 18:48 mark of the second half, ending a scoring drought of 7 minutes, 20 seconds. Megan Chawansky became just the 16th player in Wildcat history to record 1,000 career points, reaching the century mark on a layup less than two minutes into the game. Chawansky ended the game with 13 points, four assists, three rebounds, three steals and a blocked shot. Amber DeWall added 15 points, eight assists, four boards and three steals in the win. As a team, NU had 13 steals and forced 26 turnovers. The Wildcats travel to Iowa on Friday night and Ohio State on Sunday afternoon.