Hi I’m Jonah Turner, and its time for your NU sports report of the week.
Basketball
The men’s basketball team ended a three game winning streak with a 86-70 loss to Iowa in Iowa CIty last night. Boo Buie finished with 20 points and Audige added another 15 but the team’s performance was unable to overcome an Iowa team shooting 55% from the field and 50% from behind the arc. Nick martinelli continued to impress as he comes off the bench in the absence of the injured Julian Roper, going 3-3 with 9 points last night. Northwestern is currently in a busy period of the season with last night’s game, a makeup from Janurary 18th that was missed due to covid, adding to an already congested big ten schedule. Tonight was the second game of 6 occurring in a two week stretch. The men’s team is back in action thursday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena at 6pm against Michigan
The women’s basketball team had a great week, snapping an 8 game losing streak against Chicago State last wednesday with an 87-64 win and picking up their first win in big ten play with a 70-67 win against Wisconsin on Sunday. Forward Paige Mott lead the team with 23 points and 9 rebounds as Northwestern overcame a slow start with strong third and fourth quarters, taking the lead with just under two minutes and refusing to relinquish it. The cats will hope this good form stays with them as they travel to Penn State tomorrow night to face the Nittany Lions who are 3-8 in Big Ten play.
Wrestling
In wrestling the number 14 ranked Cats destroyed number 23 Rutgers 28-6 in New Jersey with Lucas Davison and Yahya Thomas picking up bonus point victories. Thomas maintained his undefeated big ten record with a 12-4 major decision win as the cats won of 8 of the 10 duels and move to 4-2 in the Big Ten. The wildcats will have their final home duel of the season on February 5th, hosting Number 6 Ohio State at 2pm. It will be senior day as the cats hope to maintain their undefeated home duel record.
Lacrosse
As the days get longer and the warmth of spring ever closer, so too do spring sports. Lacrosse opens their season at preseason 5th ranked Syracuse at 11am on February 11th. The cats are ranked second in the Big Ten coaches preseason poll trailing only Maryland and are number 4 nationally in the IWLCA preseason poll. The cats are hoping to improve on a 16-5 record and a trip to the NCAA semifinals last season, with Samanatha White hoping to continue the momentum of her freshman year where she was named BIG TEN freshman of the year. Graduate Student Izzy Scane will hope to make an impression early in the season as she returns after missing the entirety of the 2022 season due to injury.
Fencing:
Number 5 ranked Northwestern fencing curised to a 6-0 record at the Dicicco(Di-si-co) Duals in South Bend Indiana, crushing all 6 opponents with the narrowest margin a 22-5 victory over Cleaveland State. This weekend brings exciting competition to campus, as Ryan Fieldhouse will host the Northwestern Duals. Northwestern will face top competition both Saturday and Sunday , with #1 Notre Dame at 11:35 am Saturday and #6 Ohio State at 11:30am Sunday, highlighting the action. Northwestern will also face ranked Temple and Stanford amidst a number of other opponents. Admission is free and the senior class will be honored with a special ceremony at 12:50pm Sunday ahead of the final dual against Incarnate Word.
A quick shoutout to Men’s tennis for defeating Arkansas at the ITA kickoff and to womens swimming, for defeating Purdue, Minnesota, and Iowa this weekend as they cruised to victory in all three matchups. Goolduck to both mens and womens swimming as they prepare for the BIG TEN championship meet in mid-February.
That’s it for the NU Sports Report this week. There’s a lot of action coming up in the next few days, and you won’t want to miss any of it. For more information about upcoming games, as well as how you can watch the Wildcats live, visit www.nusports.com.
I’m Jonah Turner, WNUR News.
