2020–21 Northwestern Wildcats women's basketball team

The 2020–21 Northwestern Wildcats women's basketball team represented Northwestern University during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Wildcats were led by 13th-year head coach Joe McKeown. They played their home games at Welsh–Ryan Arena as members of the Big Ten Conference.

2020–21 Northwestern Wildcats women's basketball
NCAA tournament, second round
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	16–9 (11–7 Big Ten)
Head coach	Joe McKeown (13th season)
Assistant coaches	Kate Popovec Preston Reid Tangela Smith
Home arena	Welsh–Ryan Arena

2020–21 Big Ten women's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 7 Maryland †	17	–	1		.944			26	–	2		.929
No. 12 Indiana	16	–	2		.889			20	–	5		.800
No. 21 Rutgers	10	–	3		.769			14	–	5		.737
No. 16 Michigan	9	–	4		.692			16	–	6		.727
Northwestern	11	–	7		.611			16	–	9		.640
Iowa	11	–	8		.579			20	–	9		.690
No. 22 Ohio State	9	–	7		.563			13	–	7		.650
Michigan State	8	–	7		.533			15	–	9		.625
Nebraska	9	–	10		.474			13	–	13		.500
Minnesota	7	–	11		.389			8	–	13		.381
Penn State	6	–	13		.316			9	–	15		.375
Purdue	4	–	14		.222			7	–	16		.304
Illinois	2	–	16		.111			5	–	18		.217
Wisconsin	2	–	18		.100			5	–	19		.208
† 2021 Big Ten tournament winner As of March 27, 2021 Rankings from AP poll

They finished the season 16–9, 11–7 in Big Ten play to finish in fifth place. They received a bye into the Second Round of the Big Ten women's tournament where they defeated Illinois and Michigan before losing to eventual champions Maryland in the Semifinals. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. As the seven seed in the Alamo Regional they defeated ten seed UCF in the First Round before losing to two seed Louisville in the Second Round to end their season.

Previous season

The Wildcats finished 26–4, 16–2 in Big Ten play to finish tied for first place. As the second seed in the Big Ten women's tournament they received a double-bye into the Quarterfinals where they lost to Michigan. They did not get a chance for further post season play, as the NCAA women's basketball tournament and WNIT were cancelled before they began due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Roster

2020–21 Northwestern Wildcats women's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Year Previous school Hometown G 0 Jess Sancataldo 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Jr Turamurra Sydney, Australia G 1 Kaylah Rainey 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) So Belleville East Belleville, IL G 2 Lauryn Satterwhite 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) RS Jr Valley Vista Avondale, AZ G 3 Sydney Wood 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) Jr St. John's College Olney, MD G 10 Lindsey Pulliam 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Sr Our Lady of Good Counsel Silver Spring, MD G 11 Brooke Pikiell 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Sr Rutgers Prep Far Hills, NJ G 12 Veronica Burton 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Jr Newton South Newton, MA F 15 Courtney Shaw 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Jr Perry Hall Perry Hall, MD F 20 Paige Mott 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Fr Abington Friends Philadelphia, PA G 23 Jasmine McWilliams 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) Fr North Central Indianapolis, IN G 24 Jordan Hamilton 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) Sr Liberty Frisco, TX G 33 Laya Hartman 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) So Okemos Okemos, MI F 42 Anna Morris 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Fr Immaculate Heart Mahwah, NJ	Head coach Joe McKeown (Mercer) Assistant coach(es) Kate Popovec (Northwestern) Preston Reid (Ball State) Tangela Smith (Iowa) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster Last update: June 17, 2021

Schedule and results

Source:

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
December 6, 2020* TBA	No. 17	Bradley	Canceled		Welsh–Ryan Arena  Evanston, IL
December 10, 2020* 6:00 p.m., BTN+	No. 17	Eastern Illinois	W 93–57	1–0	Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL
December 14, 2020 8:00 p.m., BTN	No. 16	Minnesota	W 80–51	2–0 (1–0)	Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL
December 17, 2020 6:00 p.m., BTN	No. 16	at Purdue	W 70–54	3–0 (2–0)	Mackey Arena (164) West Lafayette, IN
December 22, 2020* 1:00 p.m., BTN+	No. 15	Eastern Kentucky	W 79–50	4–0	Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL
December 31, 2020 1:00 p.m., BTN	No. 15	at Nebraska	L 63–65	4–1 (2–1)	Pinnacle Bank Arena (0) Lincoln, NE
January 3, 2021 4:00 p.m., ESPN2	No. 15	No. 16 Michigan	L 63–84	4–2 (2–2)	Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL
January 6, 2021 3:00 p.m., BTN	No. 22	at Wisconsin	W 80–55	5–2 (3–2)	Kohl Center (0) Madison, WI
January 9, 2021 6:00 p.m., BTN	No. 22	Iowa	W 77–67	6–2 (4–2)	Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL
January 14, 2021 TBA, BTN+	No. 22	at Rutgers	Postponed		Louis Brown Athletic Center  Piscataway, NJ
January 17, 2021 1:00 p.m., BTN+	No. 22	at Penn State	W 67–50	7–2 (5–2)	Bryce Jordan Center (219) University Park, PA
January 21, 2021 6:00 p.m., BTN+	No. 21	Illinois	W 73–54	8–2 (6–2)	Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL
January 24, 2021 11:00 a.m., ESPN2	No. 21	No. 16 Indiana	L 61–74	8–3 (6–3)	Welsh–Ryan Arena (1) Evanston, IL
January 28, 2021 5:00 p.m., BTN	No. 23	at Iowa	W 87–80	9–3 (7–3)	Carver–Hawkeye Arena (264) Iowa City, IA
February 1, 2021 7:00 p.m., BTN	No. 22	No. 11 Ohio State	W 69–57	10–3 (8–3)	Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL
February 7, 2021 2:00 p.m., BTN+	No. 22	at Michigan State	W 63–60	11–3 (9–3)	Breslin Center (0) East Lansing, MI
February 11, 2021 3:00 p.m., BTN	No. 21	Rutgers	L 54–70	11–4 (9–4)	Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL
February 14, 2021 Noon, BTN	No. 21	at No. 13 Ohio State	Postopned		Value City Arena  Columbus, OH
February 17, 2021 6:00 p.m., BTN+	No. 24	Nebraska	L 64–71	11–5 (9–5)	Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL
February 20, 2021 2:00 p.m., BTN+	No. 24	Wisconsin	W 67–54	12–5 (10–5)	Welsh–Ryan Arena (0) Evanston, IL
February 24, 2021 6:00 p.m., BTN+		at Illinois	W 67–61	13–5 (11–5)	State Farm Center (0) Champaign, IL
February 28, 2021 3:00 p.m., ESPN2		No. 8 Maryland	L 50–62	13–6 (11–6)	Welsh–Ryan Arena (20) Evanston, IL
March 6, 2021 2:00 p.m., BTN+		at No. 12 Michigan	L 58–63	13–7 (11–7)	Crisler Center (60) Ann Arbor, MI
Big Ten Women's Tournament
March 10, 2021 12:20 p.m., BTN	(5)	vs. (12) Illinois Second Round	W 67–42	14–7	Bankers Life Fieldhouse (716) Indianapolis, IN
March 11, 2021 12:20 p.m., FS2	(5)	vs. (4) No. 13 Michigan Quarterfinals	W 65–49	15–7	Bankers Life Fieldhouse (779) Indianapolis, IN
March 12, 2021 1:00 p.m., FS2	(5)	vs. (1) No. 7 Maryland Semifinals	L 52–85	15–8	Bankers Life Fieldhouse (0) Indianapolis, IN
NCAA tournament
March 22, 2021 3:00 p.m., ESPNU	(7 (A))	vs. (10 (A)) UCF First Round	W 62–51	16–8	Bill Greehey Arena (0) San Antonio, TX
March 24, 2021 4:00 p.m., ESPN2	(7 (A))	vs. (2 (A)) No. 8 Louisville Second Round	L 53–62	16–9	Alamodome (0) San Antonio, TX
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. A=Alamo. All times are in Central Time.

Rankings

Main article: 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings

Regular Season Polls

Poll	Pre- Season	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Week 8	Week 9	Week 10	Week 11	Week 12	Week 13	Week 14	Week 15	Week 16	Final
AP	17	15	17	16	15	15	22	22	21	23	22	21	24	RV	RV		RV
Coaches	16	17	18	16	16	23	23	22	23т	20	20	22	25	25	RV	RV	RV

Legend

		Increase in ranking
		Decrease in ranking
		Not ranked previous week
(RV)		Received Votes
(NR)		Not Ranked and Did not receive votes
т		Tied with team above or below also with this symbol

The Coaches Poll did not release a Week 2 poll and the AP Poll did not release a poll after the NCAA Tournament.

See also

2020–21 Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball team