Northwestern University Athletics
Sunday, March 1
Evanston, Ill.
2 p.m. CT
Northwestern
8-21,2-16Big Ten
62
vs
67
Purdue
13-16,5-13Big Ten
1
2
3
4
F
Purdue
18
12
19
18
67
Northwestern
14
16
14
18
62
Photo by: Ryan Kuttler/Northwestern Athletics
‘Cats Close McKeown Era In Regular Season Finale Against Purdue
3/1/2026 6:30:00 PM | Women's Basketball
McKeown wraps up 40-year head coaching career
EVANSTON, Ill. — Northwestern concluded the 2025-26 season and the storied 18-year tenure of Head Coach Joe McKeown with a 67-62 defeat to Purdue on Sunday afternoon in Welsh-Ryan Arena.
"Today is a very surreal day for our family and myself," McKeown said. "When you're grinding through a season, you don't have a lot of time. You have games, practices and travel. You don't really think about this [being] your last game in Welsh-Ryan Arena. We have the best college basketball arena and environment in the Big Ten. I feel very lucky to have been a part of that."
McKeown finished his coaching career with 785 career wins — a figure that ranked fifth among all active NCAA Division I Women's Basketball coaches entering Sunday. He is the program's all-time leader in wins (276).
"Like any coach, I feel very lucky for this reason — I coached 19 years at George Washington and 18 years at Northwestern, two big-time programs in two big-time conferences," McKeown said. "I just want to be remembered as somebody that cared about his players and did everything he could to make them better. We built two fan-base families, too."
Senior guard Caroline Lau and senior forward Grace Sullivan combined for 33 points, but the Wildcats (8-21, 2-16 Big Ten) couldn't overcome the Boilermakers' (13-16, 5-13 Big Ten) balanced scoring attack.
In her final collegiate game, Lau tallied 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting, five rebounds, 13 assists and a steal. She canned a career-high five triples in the contest. Lau's 652 career assists rank third in program history.
"I'm kind of in a rare experience now, playing at the same school for four years," Lau said. "I've had the best four years of my life here, and I'm super grateful to Coach McKeown, the whole coaching staff, and my teammates."
Sullivan's 599 points in 2025-26 mark the program's fifth-highest single-season total and the most by a Wildcat since Nia Coffey scored 711 in 2015-16.
"Even when we're down, we just continued to push through," Sullivan said. "That's what this team did so well this year. We never broke. We always had that good chemistry, that fight."
Graduate student forward DaiJa Turner scored eight points on a perfect 4-of-4 clip from the field. She added two blocks on the defensive end.
Casey Harter rounded off her junior campaign with eight points, three rebounds and two assists.
Defensively, Northwestern forced Purdue into 17 turnovers. The 'Cats held the Boilermakers to 5-of-23 shooting from 3-point range.
The game proved a back-and-forth affair from the opening tip, with Purdue holding an 18-14 advantage at the first quarter's conclusion.
Northwestern launched a strong closing effort in the second quarter to tie the game at 30-30 entering the half.
The 'Cats were firmly within striking distance as the final 10 minutes loomed, trailing 49-44. McKeown's squad battled back to a 54-54 tie with 5:17 remaining, but the Boilermakers ultimately captured the result.
During McKeown's career in Evanston, he coached four WNBA Draft selections and led the team to a pair of NCAA Tournament berths. He guided Northwestern to a Big Ten regular season title in 2019-20.
"We were on this great ride here, this great train," McKeown said. "But we also had times when we got derailed and had to bounce back. Every team goes through that. You're [winning] a Big Ten Championship and the adversity of COVID hits, shutting down our program and college basketball. I just want them to know, when adversity hits, you're prepared for it."
Gallery: (3-1-2026) Women's Basketball vs. Purdue
"Today is a very surreal day for our family and myself," McKeown said. "When you're grinding through a season, you don't have a lot of time. You have games, practices and travel. You don't really think about this [being] your last game in Welsh-Ryan Arena. We have the best college basketball arena and environment in the Big Ten. I feel very lucky to have been a part of that."
McKeown finished his coaching career with 785 career wins — a figure that ranked fifth among all active NCAA Division I Women's Basketball coaches entering Sunday. He is the program's all-time leader in wins (276).
"Like any coach, I feel very lucky for this reason — I coached 19 years at George Washington and 18 years at Northwestern, two big-time programs in two big-time conferences," McKeown said. "I just want to be remembered as somebody that cared about his players and did everything he could to make them better. We built two fan-base families, too."
Senior guard Caroline Lau and senior forward Grace Sullivan combined for 33 points, but the Wildcats (8-21, 2-16 Big Ten) couldn't overcome the Boilermakers' (13-16, 5-13 Big Ten) balanced scoring attack.
In her final collegiate game, Lau tallied 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting, five rebounds, 13 assists and a steal. She canned a career-high five triples in the contest. Lau's 652 career assists rank third in program history.
"I'm kind of in a rare experience now, playing at the same school for four years," Lau said. "I've had the best four years of my life here, and I'm super grateful to Coach McKeown, the whole coaching staff, and my teammates."
Sullivan's 599 points in 2025-26 mark the program's fifth-highest single-season total and the most by a Wildcat since Nia Coffey scored 711 in 2015-16.
"Even when we're down, we just continued to push through," Sullivan said. "That's what this team did so well this year. We never broke. We always had that good chemistry, that fight."
Graduate student forward DaiJa Turner scored eight points on a perfect 4-of-4 clip from the field. She added two blocks on the defensive end.
Casey Harter rounded off her junior campaign with eight points, three rebounds and two assists.
Defensively, Northwestern forced Purdue into 17 turnovers. The 'Cats held the Boilermakers to 5-of-23 shooting from 3-point range.
The game proved a back-and-forth affair from the opening tip, with Purdue holding an 18-14 advantage at the first quarter's conclusion.
Northwestern launched a strong closing effort in the second quarter to tie the game at 30-30 entering the half.
The 'Cats were firmly within striking distance as the final 10 minutes loomed, trailing 49-44. McKeown's squad battled back to a 54-54 tie with 5:17 remaining, but the Boilermakers ultimately captured the result.
During McKeown's career in Evanston, he coached four WNBA Draft selections and led the team to a pair of NCAA Tournament berths. He guided Northwestern to a Big Ten regular season title in 2019-20.
"We were on this great ride here, this great train," McKeown said. "But we also had times when we got derailed and had to bounce back. Every team goes through that. You're [winning] a Big Ten Championship and the adversity of COVID hits, shutting down our program and college basketball. I just want them to know, when adversity hits, you're prepared for it."
Team Stats
Purdue
NU
FG%
.421
.434
3FG%
.217
.353
FT%
.824
.833
RB
31
32
TO
17
21
STL
12
4
Game Leaders
Pts
19
FGM
7
3FGM
5
FTM
0
Pts
14
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
8
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballF
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