The coaching staff admired the way that both players practiced and pushed themselves during spring work-outs. Jurek walked on the team in the preseason last year and saw action in six games. At 5-9, she has surprised the coaching staff with her athleticism and work ethic. Messenger, meanwhile, enrolled at Northwestern last January and immediately joined team practices. Although she suited up for games, she did not see any action.
Messenger is a fundamentally sound offensive player with good quickness.
The competition for time at forward will be fierce with six players vying for minutes. Divjak was the Big Ten s scoring champion in 1998 and was looking to pick up where she left off, before knee surgery forced her to miss last season after only four games. Besides her outside shooting prowess and deceptively strong rebounding, Divjak began to add post-up moves to her repertoire before she was sidelined. Senior Leslie Schock is also back after an excellent junior campaign. After two seasons with the Wildcats, junior Chala Holland has played in 35 games.