No.8 Northwestern came up just short in early season showdown between top 10 teams, losing to defending national champion, Dakota Wesleyan, 76-73, in a road game played tonight at the Corn Palace.
The Red Raiders fall to 3-1 on the season and Dakota Wesleyan improves to 4-0.
Haley Birks led Northwestern with 20 points, going 8-for-8 from the free throw line.
Kassidy De Jong registered her second double-double of the season, scoring 13 points to go with a season-high 16 rebounds. Both
Darbi Gustafson and
Alexis Toering added 12 points each with the freshman matching her career-high.
Both teams held double digit leads in a back-and-forth first half that ended with Northwestern leading 36-34. After Birks broke free for a lay-up to put Northwestern up seven (36-29), DWU scored the final five points of the first half, finished off with a Madison Mathews three-pointer just before the horn to make it a one possession game.
The third quarter was close throughout as the two nationally ranked teams jostled to take control. Tied for the seventh time in the third quarter (50-50) on a nifty back-cut by Gustafson from an assist by
Jada Cunningham, Dakota Wesleyan closed with an 8-2 run over the final two-plus minutes for a 63-57 lead.
Gustafson and Toering sparked a 10-1 Northwestern run as the Red Raiders surged ahead at the start of the fourth quarter, 67-64. Still leading by one after another basket by Toering (69-68), back-to-back three-pointers by Carr and Cheeseman put the hosts in front for good, 74-69, with 2:30 left to play. Northwestern cut the lead down to one on a lay-up by De Jong (74-73) with 10 seconds remaining but Cheeseman drained two free throws and the Red Raiders missed on a game-tying three-pointer with one second left.
Northwestern shot 44% for the game, 5/17 (29%) from the three-point line and 86% (12/14) from the charity stripe. The Red Raiders committed just 12 turnovers, compared to 15 by DWU, but were outrebounded for the first time this season, 32-30. Cunningham dished out a season-high four assists.
Dakota Wesleyan shot 42%, drained 9-of-17 three-pointers (53%) and had a slight advantage from the free throw line, going 17-for-20. Carr scored game-high 27 points and Cheeseman added 26, including four three-pointers.
Northwestern will host College of Saint Mary on Saturday, Nov. 10 at 5pm.
