The New Age Has Finally Dawned

It took five weeks, but the new and improved Northwestern Wildcat Women's Basketball team finally made a full game appearance last night in Milwaukee. The Lady Wildcats beat Marquette 65-63 thanks to a tremendous effort from freshman Amy Jaeschke.

It's still too early to call her a phenom, but if her next 20 games resemble her first two, she could be a serious contender for Freshman of the Year (can't say a "lock" because of her counterpart, Lavender, at OSU).

Jaeschke scored 21 points in her return to the lineup on 9 of 15 shooting. She also blocked a potential lead-taking shot at the very end, after making a key free throw, thus securing the win. Through two games, she has 40 points and obviously becomes the team's focus on the court.

I'm a little surprised Coach Combs put Jaeschke in yesterday's lineup, but I completely agree with the decision. She could have played it safe, letting her rest up completely for the Big Ten season opener. But against the Illini, she'll be facing off against Jenna Smith, one of the best big girls in the conference. Playing against a good Marquette team and a great/ranked DePaul team will give her some much needed warm-up experience. Also, it seems like Amy's 100% since she played 38 minutes.

I'll finally get to see Jaeschke play Thursday night against the #16 Blue Demons, tip at noon. I'll report back afterward.

Some other notes from the Marquette game:
- Today also marked the first game with the Jaeschke cousins in the starting lineup. With K-Mac out for the year, Ellen will probably get the majority of the minutes at the 4, especially if Amy can continue to play an entire game. Ellen had 8 points on 3-7, with 4 assists but no rebounds. Up to this point, cleaning up the glass had been a strength for this team. But against Marquette, they were out-rebounded by 18. Amy only had 4 boards, while Eckhart/Bibbs combined for 13.
- Yesterday also marked another big change in the lineup. Senior captain Sara Stutz was on the bench as freshman Meshia Reed got the start. Reed twice led the team in scoring this season, including a 20-point effort against BC. She looks like she could be a huge contributor, especially with Stutz struggling mightily, but her first start was less than impressive: 1-9 (0-4 from downtown) in 27 minutes.
- The perimeter defense is still a huge concern for the Cats. They allowed Marquette's point guard to score 30 points, which single-handedly kept them in the game.