Wildcat of the Week: Kendall Hackney

Yes, Sunday’s game at Welsh-Ryan Arena sucked. We will not mention it again in this post. There was still a lot of Northwestern athletics to be happy about this week. So let’s stay positive and not let the revenue sports cloud a week that was.

So let’s talk about the “other” basketball team. They too have struggled this year — sitting at 12-13 and 4-8 in the Big Ten. The women’s team has not quite lived up to the expectations set when Joe McKeown arrived. That is neither here nor there. This is about feeling good about basketball again.

The Wildcats had one game on their calendar this week and Kendall Hackney performed in a big way to get Northwestern the victory. Northwestern went to Minnesota and defeated the Gophers 70-63 on Sunday. Hackney scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds, making 9 of 16 shots on the game.

Hackney has been a big presence for Northwestern so far this year, her senior year. She is averaging a team-best 14.3 points per game and a second-best 6.0 rebounds per game. Paired with Danielle Diamant, she gives Northwestern a difficult front line for many teams to deal with. Hackney though has struggled to shoot this year and so a 9-for-16 effort against Minnesota is clearly a good sign for a Northwestern victory.

Hackney’s strong play, along with the emergence of freshman Maggie Lyon has propelled Northwestern forward as this juncture of the season.

See? Positive thoughts.

Honorable Mentions

Zach Morton, Baseball: The baseball team started off its season in snowy South Carolina this week but got in two good performances in splitting a pair of games this weekend. Zach Morton was the star for Northwestern in both games. Morton pitched seven innings, allowing three hits and striking out four in an 8-1 win over Miami (Ohio). Against Michigan State on Sunday, Morton went 2 for 4 and scored a run as Northwestern fell 7-4 to its conference foe.

Amy Letourneau, Softball: Softball got off to a rough start at the always-difficult Kajikawa Classic in Arizona in its first weekend. Letourneau got the team off to a great start in helping Northwestern get its first win of the year this weekend in Athens, Ga. Letourneau struck out 15 in a 6-2 win over Campbell. The strikeouts set her career high mark for the third time already this season. She also went 2 for 3 in the game at the plate. On the season, Letourneau is 2-3 and has pitched 32.0 innings in five appearances. She has a 2.84 ERA and 53 strikeouts on the season.

Matthew Negri, Men’s Golf: Northwestern shot up the standings in Monday’s round at the Puerto Rico Classic. They had a 16-stroke turnaround and met coach Patt Goss’ goal of recording 20 birdies as a team. Negri had the best score for the team, carding a 3-under 69 to help the Wildcats finish a season-best 7-under as a team and place seventh in the 15-team field.