'Field Trip Day' quite a trip at NU

When do nearly 4,000 screeching grade schoolers -- all screeching at the same time, mind you -- sound like music to the ears?

When they're lending their support to a team that could desperately use it.

Thursday was "Field Trip Day" at Northwestern as the women's basketball team played a nonconference, local-rivalry game against DePaul in front of giddy grade schoolers who got to kick off their winter break early.

Northwestern closed its ticket booths and allowed everyone into Welsh-Ryan Arena for free. In return, the Wildcats got to play in front of a much bigger crowd than usual.

The entire lower bowl was full, and the upper deck of one side of the arena was packed as well. The corridors seemed to be crawling with kids, who were buying concession food as if it were their last meal.

Welsh-Ryan Arena was bustling like it rarely does for a women's game.

Last season, Northwestern drew a high of 3,121 to a home game against Iowa in January. But the team averaged only 862 per game on the year and bottomed out at 302 for a game against Ohio State in February.

"It's always fun with a lot of people here," Northwestern center Amy Jaeschke said. "The kids were great. They were screaming all the time. It was fun with the energy that was out there."

Yet somehow, Northwestern didn't absorb much of it. Thanks to a game-high 31 points from DePaul guard Allie Quigley, the Wildcats got dismantled by the 15th-ranked Blue Demons 102-64.

At least the Northwestern marketing department got to claim victory.

Field Trip Day, in which Northwestern partnered with 27 schools from the metro area, was again a success. It has been for five years now.

"This is a very popular promotion within the ranks of collegiate athletics," said Ryan Chenault, Northwestern's assistant director of marketing. "I don't know who started it, but we did it at Xavier when I was there, and I would say at least half of the Big Ten schools do it. DePaul just did it the other day."

DePaul brought in kids from all over the area for a women's game and paid for the buses. The kids also got a free ticket and a free slice of pizza.

At Northwestern, the kids got free Gatorade and a free jump rope that was part of a Gatorade tie-in about fitness.

"This really is a fun event for the kids, and we get a lot out of it, too," Chenault said. "We use Field Trip Day to expose young fans to our teams and to our campus with the hope that they'll want to come back again and go to more women's basketball games or football games or anything else we have here.

"The question now becomes how do you turn those fans (and their teachers and parents) into fans who want to come to every game. That's what our goal is."

Jaeschke back: The good news for Northwestern (4-8) is that standout center Amy Jaeschke is back.

She had been out for about six weeks while rehabbing a broken hand, which she suffered in the season opener against Dayton. The former New Trier standout had scored 19 points when the injury occurred early in the second half.

In her first game back, the 6-foot-5 Jaeschke scored 21 points in Northwestern's upset victory at Marquette on Monday. She managed only 6 points against DePaul.

Coach Beth Combs believes Jaeschke's play may continue to be somewhat inconsistent until she gets herself back into game shape.

"I just started playing with it, and there's no pain," said Jaeschke, who is wearing a football glove with the fingers cut out to protect her hand. "I'm just glad to be back."

Twice as nice: Kudos to the Penn State women's volleyball team for winning its second national championship.

The top-ranked Lady Lions upended No. 4 Stanford in a dramatic five-game finale last week at Arco Arena in Sacramento, Calif.

The win was the 26th in a row for Penn State, which finished the season 34-2.

The Nittany Lions last won the national title in 1999, when former Wheaton St. Francis star Bonnie Bremner was their star setter.

This year, another local product proved to be a valuable part of Penn State's championship run.

Sophomore setter Jessica Yanz (Naperville Central) saw action in about half of the team's 36 games this season and started four. She ranked second on the team with 190 assists.

Local boy makes good: It's been a big year for Penn State volleyball coach Russ Rose.

Not only did he guide the Lady Lions to the second national championship of his tenure, he also was named the AVCA national coach of the year and became a Hall of Fame inductee as well.

Rose grew up in Chicago and got his first coaching job at the now-defunct George Williams College in 1975. He's been at Penn State for 28 years and has 927 wins -- an average of 33 a season.

Tune in: Northwestern and Illinois open the Big Ten season Thursday in Evanston with a 7 p.m. game televised on the Big Ten Network. Veteran broadcaster Dave Eanet will handle the play-by-play, and yours truly will provide the color.