March 07--Ashley Deary made it look as easy as 1-2-3-4 on Friday.
Northwestern's 62-57 victory against Rutgers in a Big Ten quarterfinal Friday at Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates was anything but.
After going 0-for-0 from the field in the first half, the sophomore guard made four consecutive layups during a second-half comeback to help the Wildcats erase what twice was a 15-point deficit against a team they beat 80-60 on Feb. 26 in Evanston.
"Going into halftime down (by 10), that was motivation," Deary said. "We beat them before. We knew we had it in us."
Question is: Do the No. 24 Wildcats have it in them to beat No. 4 Maryland, a 60-50 victor against Michigan State earlier Friday, at 6 p.m. Saturday in a semifinal?
Deary thinks so. So what if Northwestern has never advanced this far in the Big Ten tournament.
"We're ready for revenge," she said of facing the undefeated Big Ten champions who beat the Wildcats 69-48 on Sunday. "We're going to come out a whole different team. We want to win the Big Ten tournament ... and there's not going to be a team that's going to stop us."
Kahleah Copper? Northwestern couldn't stop her -- or itself -- during the first half.
The 6-foot-1 junior forward scored 11 of her 14 points during the first 10 minutes for the No. 23 Scarlet Knights (22-9), while the Wildcats were busy committing nine turnovers that led to 11 points.
Deary finished with 12 points, five assists and four steals for NU (23-7). Maggie Lyon pitched in a game-high 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Nia Coffey and Alex Cohen each scored 12.
"A lot more poise in the second half," NU coach Joe McKeown said. "In the first half we shot it quick and maybe forced some things. In the second half we did a much better job running our offense, forced Rutgers to have to guard us with hard cuts and got the ball inside a little bit."
pskrbina@tribpub.com
