EVANSTON, Ill. – The Western Michigan women's basketball team dropped a tough road game against No. 20 Northwestern by a score of 86-62 at Welsh-Ryan Arena. The Broncos fall to 2-2 while the Wildcats stay perfect on the season at 3-0. This was the second top-25 team the Broncos have faced this season, as they fell 78-40 to No. 24 Michigan State on Sunday, Nov. 22 in East Lansing, Mich.

"(Northwestern) is a veteran team and they are a very good team, they kept us from getting to the foul line and that would have helped us control the tempo a lot more,” head coach Shane Clipfell said. “I like this team and I like where were at right now. How that equates to wins and when that starts showing up I don't really care about, what I know is that if we stay in this type of mode we will continue to make progress.”

The Brown & Gold stayed tough through the first three quarters, trailing 40-29 at halftime and 61-46 at the end of the third quarter but the Wildcats opened the fourth quarter on a 13-0 run and outscored the Broncos 25-16 in the fourth. Northwestern, who's offense lives on fast breaks, scored 22 points on fast breaks and 40 points off turnovers. 

As a team, the Broncos shot 42.6-percent from the floor including a 33.3-percent (7-for-21) from beyond the arc. In the Wildcats previous two games, they held their opponents to 3.0-percent (1-for-33) from beyond the arc.

Freshman Breanna Mobley led the Broncos in scoring, setting a new career-high with 14 points while also leading the team with six rebounds including five on the offensive glass. Junior Meredith Shipman talled nine points, all coming from beyond the arc and also tied for the team lead in assists with four along with senior Alex Morton. Senior Jessica Jessing scored 12 points, Morton had eight and sophomore Teagan Reeves had seven.

For the Wildcats, junior point guard Ashley Deary had a double-double and led all scorers with 25 points and had a game-high 12 assists. Northwestern had four players in double figures including Deary, Nia Coffey (18), Christen Inman (17) and Maggie Lyon (12). As a team, the Wildcats shot 50-percent from the floor and the defense forced 24 turnovers.

The Broncos continue with the second of their four-game road stretch with a matchup against Bradley on Tuesday, Nov. 24 at noon.