Northwestern women's hoops highest rank in years
The junior class of the Northwestern women's basketball team runs hot and cold.
At least off the court it does.
When they arrived on campus two years ago, the four players - Ashley Deary, Nia Coffey, Christen Inman and Allie Tuttle - were paired as roommates in the dorms. Coffey was placed with Inman and Deary was with Tuttle, just a couple doors down.
Although the four teammates/dorm mates became fast friends, there was a condition when they decided they wanted to move off-campus into the same apartment building as sophomores. Deary and Coffey had to live together and Inman and Tuttle had to be roommates. It was nonnegotiable.
"Me and Ashley like to keep our place really warm, and Christen and Allie always like it to be really cold," Coffey said with a laugh. "It worked out perfectly to switch (roommates) and now Christen and Allie live in the apartment (below) me and Ashley."
Regardless of the temperature in their apartments, the four players, particularly Coffey and Deary, have been nothing but hot on the court. They have led 10-0 Northwestern to its highest national ranking in years, No. 12 in The Associated Press poll. The high-scoring, up-tempo Wildcats have their toughest test of the season on Saturday against No. 16 DePaul (5 p.m. at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston).
Coffey, named to the preseason Wooden Watch list as one of the top 30 players in the country, recently scored her 1,000th career point and ranks fifth in the Big Ten in scoring (19.2 ppg).
Deary has been named Big Ten player of the week once this season. She leads the league in steals (4.7 spg) and ranks third in assists (6.3 apg).
"That junior class has been special, and with Nia and Ashley, their impact has been even beyond. They've started pretty much every game they've played since they've been here," NU coach Joe McKeown said. "They just have a really good feel for each other. They all have that competitive edge, too, and that's something this program didn't really have when I got here."
In the nine seasons before McKeown took over in 2008, Northwestern went a combined 38-203 and never finished higher than 10th in the 11-team Big Ten.
McKeown has led Northwestern to the postseason four times over his seven-year tenure, 3 WNIT appearances and an NCAA berth on the heels of last year's 23-9 season. It was Northwestern's first 20-win season since 1996.
The Wildcats returned four starters from last season's team, which finished in the Top 25. They earned a spot in the preseason rankings and they've maintained it.
"The ranking shows how far we've come," Deary said. "It's a different mentality, too. We're not used to having everyone play their best game against us."
DePaul will be Northwestern's only ranked opponent in the nonconference season. Big Ten play begins after the holidays and three other ranked teams are in the league: Maryland, Ohio State and Michigan State
"We want to be a top contender in the Big Ten," Coffey said. "I think we'll be ready. Being ranked has given us some confidence and it's made us understand that people are coming after us.
"We were the ones chasing people a couple years ago. Now we've got the targets. It's kind of nice."
• Follow Patricia on Twitter @babcockmcgraw, and contact her by email at pbabcock@dailyherald.com.