Defending Big 10 women`s basketball co-champions Northwestern and Iowa meet for the first time this season Tuesday night in Welsh-Ryan Arena, and Wildcat Coach Don Perrelli will be missing one of his best players.
Senior forward Wilha Lee is out with a twisted right knee sustained in Friday`s victory at Ohio State. X-rays were negative, but Lee was scheduled for further tests. She`s a question mark for weekend home games against Michigan State and Michigan.
In mid-January, another key player, senior guard-forward Jeanine Wasielewski, was sidelined for the season with a ruptured knee tendon. Wasielewski, who starred in reserve roles, was NU`s second-leading scorer with a 12.3 average. Lee ranks third at 10.7.
Encores aren`t easy: Neither the Northwestern nor Iowa women have played as well as they did last year. The Wildcats slipped to 5-3 in the Big 10 and 12-5 overall, and from 15th to 18th in the national ratings, following Sunday`s 74-61 loss at Indiana. Iowa defeated Michigan 79-60 to improve to 10-7 and 4-4 but dropped out of the Top 25 in the AP poll.
Such a deal: In observance of National Girls` and Womens` Sports Day Friday, Northwestern is reducing the admission price for females to $1 for the women`s basketball games that night against Michigan State and Sunday against Michigan. The Sunday contest starts at 11 a.m. because it is the SportsChannel Game of the Week.
The exception: Northwestern lost two of its three wrestling matches over the weekend, but 190-pounder Mike Funk was 3 for 3. The Wildcats edged Illinois 25-23 and lost to Iowa 50-3 and Purdue 32-13.
