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Patricia Babcock McGraw's Bio: Patricia Babcock McGraw is a women's basketball analyst for the Big Ten Network. Submit your comments below or e-mail her at the right, then come back all season for her views on all Big Ten women's hoops. |
| Jan 8 2009, 9:26 AM | Topic: Women's basketball | ||
Northwestern gave new coach Joe McKeown his first conference victory and also scored a Player of the Week for the first time in 12 years, Indiana continued an impressive streak and Purdue flexed its muscles – even without its starting point guard -- by beating a Top 5 team. Wish the news was this good about the economy. Let's break down those headlines: Wild child: When Northwestern forward Kristina Divjak was named Big Ten Player of the Week in February of 1997, Amy Jaeschke was just 7 years old. That Jaeschke would be Northwestern's very next winner of the award speaks volumes about how much the program has struggled in recent years. The drought ended for good reason. Jaeschke, who shared this week's conference player of the week honor with Purdue's Danielle Campbell, was impressive in leading the Wildcats to their first Big Ten victory of the season and the first of new coach Joe McKeown's tenure in Evanston. Northwestern's 49-46 victory over Wisconsin on Sunday was keyed by 12 points from Jaeschke, who also played some tough defense in the post. In fact, the Wildcats were tough all the way around on the defensive end. They held Wisconsin to just four field goals in the final 12:47. "We defended Wisconsin really well at the end of the game. It was a team effort," McKeown said. "We've been playing pretty hard early on in most of our games but we just weren't able to finish them out. For our kids, the biggest thing to come out of the win is that they can see that when you put in a lot of work, there's a reward at the end." Nine and counting: There's a reason Indiana is tied with Ohio State for first place in the Big Ten standings, The Hoosiers have strung together nine consecutive victories, their longest such streak in 10 seasons. Indiana is 10-2 overall and 3-0 in the Big Ten heading into tonight's game at Minnesota. "Am I surprised? No," said Indiana coach Felisha Legette-Jack. "I know how hard we've been working. We just can't go getting all giddy about it." But Legette-Jack was borderline giddy on Tuesday during the coaches' teleconference about the milestone recently reached by her trusty senior forward Whitney Thomas. Against Iowa on Sunday, Thomas became the 20th player in the program's history to record her 1,000th career point. Legette-Jack says that Thomas is also just about to notch her 1,000th career rebound. Texas toast: You knew Purdue was going to beat a ranked team at some point this year. You just didn't figure it would be without invaluable point guard FahKara Malone leading the way. She missed a doozy Monday against No. 8 Texas. The Boilermakers got a 66-55 win, their first over a ranked team in four tries this season. Malone suffered what sounded like an excruciating injury on New Year's Day when she had her hand stomped on in an overtime loss to Michigan State. "She was going for a loose ball and a shoe basically jammed her fingers right back," Purdue coach Sharon Versyp said. Ouch! The spunky, 5-foot-3 Malone, who is a two-time all-Big Ten defensive team pick and was averaging a team-best 4.8 assists, dislocated her right ring finger and had surgery that very night. She will be out for the next four to six weeks as the finger heals. It's a big blow to the Boilermakers. But they didn't let it show just four days later against Texas. In fact, they used Malone's absence as motivation to prove that they still have what it takes to compete with the big boys (or girls, as the case may be). "We were angry. We wanted to come back after FahKara going down and show people we can compete with the top teams in the country without our starting point guard,"" said Purdue freshman guard Brittany Rayburn. ""That means we're just going to be better when she comes back." Rayburn was a big reason Purdue hardly missed a beat. She scored 19 points against Texas in just about every way possible – three-pointers, drives to the basket, smooth jumpers. "She's very court savvy, a very confident player," Versyp said of Rayburn. "She just has a feel for the game. We're fortunate she's stepped up, in a capacity that not a lot of freshmen do." In addition to Rayburn, Lauren Mioton, Michelle Clark and Lakisha Freeman will also get time at the point guard spot while Malone recovers. Looking ahead There's a full slate of action Thursday in the Big Ten, highlighted by two Big Ten Network games: Iowa at Purdue at 7 p.m. ET and Ohio State at Wisconsin at 9 p.m. ET. Iowa (8-6, 1-2 Big Ten) is on a two-game skid while Wisconsin will try to rebound from its upset loss to Northwestern by hosting one of the league's top teams. Ohio State (12-2, 3-0) joins Indiana (10-2, 3-0) as the only two unbeaten teams in Big Ten play. Indiana's nine-game winning streak will be on the line in one of the toughest gyms in the conference: "The Barn." The Hoosiers take on Minnesota, which is 10-4 and 2-1 in the league. Meanwhile, Illinois (4-11 0-4) will try to halt its five-game losing streak at Michigan 8-6, 1-2) and Northwestern (5-10, 1-3) goes for its second league win at Michigan State (9-6, 2-2). On Sunday, the Big Ten Network will televise Minnesota's game at Iowa (5:35 p.m. ET) and on Monday, it's got Ohio State again – this time at Illinois (8 p.m. ET). (Watch selected women's basketball games live online.) |
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