A loss in the record books, and an even bigger one in terms of personnel.
A furious fourth quarter comeback would not be enough for Northwestern, as the Wildcats fell 69-68 to Loyola Chicago. The loss was Northwestern’s first to Loyola since Nov. 2023, and the Wildcats’ fifth straight loss after a 6-0 start to the season.
The game was marred by a Grace Sullivan ankle injury in the first quarter that caused the NU star to miss the remainder of the game.
Tayla Thomas led all scorers with 30 points, and also pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds. 10 of Caroline Lau’s 12 total points came in the fourth quarter. The senior recorded nine assists and eight rebounds in a near triple double effort. On the other end, Alex-Anne Bessette led Loyola with 22 points, with Brooklyn Vaughn tacking on a 19-point, 10-rebound double-double as well.
Loyola won the opening tipoff and worked it inside for the first shot attempt of the game, but Northwestern would come down the other end, and a mid range jumper from Grace Sullivan would open the scoring. The first Loyola bucket would come from a post-up from Brooklyn Vaughn, who made her first four field goal attempts of the game.
The teams would stay stuck at two apiece for the next two minutes of gametime before Loyola scored on back-to-back possessions to take a four-point lead. Tayla Thomas made her first shot of the day to break NU’s scoring drought and bring the score to 6-4 after over four minutes of play. A turnover by Lash would lead to a dribble drive by Alex-Anne Bessette for another score, but NU responded with a Caroline Lau and Thomas pick-and-roll. Sullivan hit a fall away mid range and then drew a foul leaving the score at 10-8 before the first media timeout.
Sullivan hit both of her free throws out of the break to knot it up a 10, but Vaughn would score an and-one layup to prevent NU from retaking the lead. A great Lau entry pass gave DaiJa Turner an easy layup, before another Loyola and-one, this time by Rosali Mercille, followed by an Alexus Mobley pull up jumper, opened up a five-point Loyola lead.
A less-than-stellar start was made all the worse when Sullivan went down holding her right ankle after battling for a loose ball at midcourt. She would need to be helped off the court by the medical staff before going to the locker room for the remainder of the contest. Two Thomas layups would sandwich a Bessette three to end the quarter at 20-16 in favor of the visiting Ramblers.
Tate Lash drained a long three with the shot clock expiring to open second quarter scoring, but Mercille immediately answered by knocking down a three of her own from the corner for Loyola. Bessette worked her way inside for her fourth make on as many attempts, and a Rosin Grandberry three capped off a 8-0 run for the visitors to push the lead to nine. NU’s drought finally ended on a Xamiya Walton layup to stop the bleeding. Lau would go 1-of-2 at the line before another long Bassette three, Loyola’s fourth on six attempts, made the score 31-22. Lau pushed the pace on a fast break to set up Tate Lash, and another Thomas bucket down low cut the lead back down to five before another media timeout.
Bessette would continue cooking offensively, converting on a driving layup out of the break. Walton scored a layup on a cross court pass after the two teams exchanged two-pointers. After being fouled on a three, Bessette would only make one of the ensuing free throws, giving her more misses from the stripe than the field in the first half. Another Tate Lash three, the team’s second of the game, would be the last bucket of the first half, as Loyola didn’t hit a field goal for the last 3:20 of the period.
Bessette led all scorers with 17 points at the break for the Ramblers, going 6-of-8 from the field. Thomas’ 12 points was the most of any Wildcat, while Lau led the way with seven of the team’s 12 assists and Lash added eight points of her own.
The second half started with an exchange of turnovers before Vaughn recorded her first miss of the afternoon. Lau split a pair of free throws to open the third quarter scoring. A defensive collapse from NU gave Vaughn an open layup for Loyola’s first field goal of the half. A similar defensive breakdown from the Ramblers, though, would lead to an ensuing Thomas layup.
Bessette continued her stellar play, making her first shot of the half not long after. Thomas responded with six straight points to bring the lead down to two before a Vaughn layup pushed it back out to a two-possession game. After a two-minute drought in scoring, with the two teams going a combined 0-for-6, Mercille at last hit Loyola’s fifth three of the afternoon from the right wing. The Ramblers came up empty on its next two field goal attempts, but a moving screen gave possession right back to them. Thomas drew an offensive foul on a drive from Vaughn, and Hodgens scored NU’s first points in four minutes of game time with a drive from the corner that left her defender on the ground.
Loyola scored the next five points to make it a 54-44 lead, the largest of the day. Thomas responded with a pair of free throws to give her 10 points in the quarter. Thomas made another layup through contact, but to her dismay, the referees whistled it as an offensive foul in a huge momentum shift. Alexa Kinas would then hit a midrange jumper to make it a 10-point game again heading into the final quarter. Northwestern only scored 13 points in the quarter, going the last 2:37 without a field goal.
A steal on NU’s first defensive possession of the final quarter led to two more free throws for Lau, who hit both. An inbound steal would lead to a layup for Lau and force a timeout by Loyola. Bessette put an end to the mini NU run before Lau hit a right wing three. A Vaughn missed a layup led to a second Lau three pointer from the same spot to make it 10 straight points for the point guard and make it a three-point game. Thomas then split a pair of free throws to make it a one-possession game again. A driving layup would cut the lead down to one before a Thomas post up gave Northwestern a 61-60 lead, its first since the opening basket of the game. After a Bessette layup tied it up, Thomas would rip down an offensive rebound, put it back up and draw the foul, causing an eruption from the young crowd.
Loyola would score on back-to-back possessions to wrestle the lead back with just under three minutes. Lash drove into the paint and hit a turnaround mid-range to give NU the lead back. The lead only lasted one possession, though, as a Kinas pull up jumper gave the advantage back to Loyola. Following an NU timeout with a minute left, Thomas posted up and scored another layup, but Loyola would respond with a contested hookshot from Clara Djoko to snatch back the lead with just 21 seconds to go.
Down by one in the final possession of the game, the ball started in Lau’s hands. After moving it sideline to sideline, Lau got it back, driving down the lane before finding Claire Keswick in the corner for an open three. Her shot would hit off the rim and time would expire with both teams wrestling for the rebound. NU could not coral the rebound in time, and 69-68 would stay the final result for the Ramblers.
Northwestern will look to end its five-game losing skid this coming Sunday, Dec. 21 at 12:00 p.m. CT against George Washington at Charles E. Smith Center in Washington, D.C.
Category: General Sports
