Northwestern women’s basketball (8-20, 3-14 B1G) lost 84-64 to the #14 Indiana Hoosiers (23-4, 14-3 B1G) during their senior night on Tuesday. It was a tough loss but a major improvement compared to the last time the ’Cats played the Hoosiers on Jan. 28, when they lost 100-59. This time, Northwestern brought the point gap down from 41 to 20.

The first quarter ended 26-21 with Indiana in the lead and the ’Cats close behind. With a narrow point gap going into the second quarter, Northwestern notched four points off turnovers but failed to catch up to the Hoosiers. The second quarter finished 43-33, so what happened?

During the third quarter Indiana kicked into gear and scored 11 points off of turnovers. Indiana also had 15 second chance points throughout the game, compared to Northwestern’s four, showing that the ’Cats needed to lock down on defense after a shot is taken.

Overall, the Hoosiers capitalized on fast breaks and point opportunities, sealing the win during the third quarter. In the fourth quarter Northwestern attempted to come back, scoring 15 bench points, six by third-year guard Hailey Weaver who also had two steals.

Third-year guard Melannie Daley celebrated her birthday Tuesday night by putting up a team-high of 24 points throughout the game. She recorded a career record of 12 field goals made.

Before the game, the ’Cats celebrated two seniors, forward Paige Mott and guard Jasmine McWilliams, as well as graduate student guard Maggie Pina. Pina transferred to Northwestern from Boston University (17-10, 9-7 Patriot league) in 2023.

Second-year point guard Caroline Lau scored seven points and led the team with six assists and six rebounds throughout the game, while Mott scored eight and was a close second to Lau with five assists.

Northwestern will play again on Sunday, March 3 at 1 p.m. CST at Rutgers (8-22, 2-15 B1G) to close out the B1G regular season. The ’Cats will be looking towards the B1G tournament March 6-10 in Minneapolis, MN with the first sellout in women’s tournament history.