BY PEDRO VELAZCO
RUSSIAVILLE — There’s no secret about how Northwestern’s girls basketball team plans to get victories this season. The Tigers will be as disruptive as possible defensively. When the ball is loose, things are working.
The ball was loose plenty Tuesday night as Northwestern beat Western 55-34, thanks in large measure to a Tiger defense that forced 39 Panther turnovers.
“We take a lot of pride in our defense,” NW coach Todd Miller said. “No big clichés here, but we do believe that you can have bad offensive nights, but you’ve got to bring your defense every night. Our stat guy had us for 33 steals, and any time you get 33 steals in a game, you probably have to give credit to your defense.”
The Tigers (3-1, 1-0 Mid-Indiana Conference) tamed a pesky Western squad with full-court pressure defense that kept the game even until a time when the visitors could take control. That happened at the start of the fourth quarter.
The Panthers (1-4, 0-2 MIC) stayed close through three quarters, taking the occasional lead or staying within striking distance when behind. Northwestern led 35-30 through three quarters when the Tigers blew the game open with an 11-0 run to start the fourth. The press played a key role as buckets by Morgan Galbraith and Addison Dubbels came straight off Northwestern steals. Northwestern outscored Western 20-4 in the final stanza.
“Todd’s got an outstanding press,” Western coach Greg Crawford said. He noted that depth has been an issue for the Panthers. “Our kids were tired, and we needed to make sharper cuts [against the press] and our legs weren’t there for us to do that.”
Miller thought the defense overall — not just the press — finally got to the Panthers.
“[Kylie] Ballard was getting a lot of deflections up front, Dubbels, we had her for several steals, she was aggressive, [Sarah] Lubben of course is always aggressive,” Miller said. “I think the three of them up front … were making it really difficult for [Western.]”
Northwestern center Ballard had four points off free throws during that decisive run. She finished with a game-high 22 points, playing the key role on offense by scoring in the post, on offensive rebounds and by getting to the line. Ballard had five offensive rebounds and hit 12 of 17 freebies.
“Our goal was to get it to her and for a stretch, we weren’t getting it, but she made things happen,” Miller said. “She got three or four offensive rebounds and putbacks, and got a couple steals up front. That’s what great players do, they find other ways. If [the Panthers] take things away, I thought she really did a good job of helping us out in other ways.”
Lubben scored eight points, all on four layups off Western turnovers. Scoring directly off the defense is a point of emphasis for the Tigers this season.
“We feel like we’ve taken a big step up all the way around,” Miller said. Converting turnovers into points “is one thing that we have talked about. It’s not just getting the steal. Now, let’s convert and make them really pay for it.”
Morgan Galbraith added seven points for the Tigers, Kadi Miller six and Rachel Lowden five. Lowden took seven rebounds.
Early on, the Panthers clawed their way back into the game after Northwestern’s first run — another 11-0 sprint — gave the Tigers a 13-2 lead midway through the first quarter. Western took the lead twice in the second quarter but trailed 21-19 at halftime and was never able to tie the game again in the second half.
Nicole Rogers scored a dozen points and had nine rebounds for Western. Amy Hudson scored 11.
“I love our effort,” Crawford said. “I can only use ‘young’ for so long. But these kids, four of them have never played varsity basketball before. I was telling them in the locker rom hat if we have the effort, and the heart to continue to work and learn, we’re going to become competitive.”
Miller agreed.
“Western played a great game,” he said. “I thought they did a great job, played with a lot of energy, a lot of heart, took some things away from us that took us a little while to adjust to, but I thought our kids really handled adversity well.”
Northwestern played without regulars Kayla Priday and Krysta Rhea, both out due to illness.
