Northwestern Women’s Basketball team will have to lose two of the matches on his schedule after not traveling to Los Angeles during the devastating fires in January.
The BIG Ten Conference announced on Wednesday that Northwestern’s matches against UCLA on January 12 and USC will not be re-planned on January 15 and instead count as losses for wildcats and victories for the southern California-based programs.
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People see smoke and flames from the Palisades fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood on January 7, 2025 in Los Angeles. (Tiffany Rose/Getty Images)
Northwestern Athletics Director Mark Jackson released a statement that supports his team’s decision not to travel under fires and accepted the decision of the Big Ten.
“Northwestern Athletics accepts the decision of the Big Ten conference to strictly use the conference statutes as written, issuing lost for unanswered competitions from Northwestern Women’s Basketball after the team’s decision not to travel to Los Angeles under the tragic fire chamber in southern California,” wrote Jackson as On3.
“While we recognize that the statutes and rules are in place for a reason and we will comply with them, it does not reduce this team’s healthy reasoning so as not to participate in this natural disaster. We will continue to support our woman’s basketball student athletes and hope for a strong improvement for the southern California region.”
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The Southern California Guard Juju Watkins signs autographs after the Cal State Northridge game, November 12, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
UCLA and USC, led by Phenom Juju Watkins, were already the two winning teams at the conference so far this season. The USC is in first place in the Big Ten with a 15-1 conference record as UCLA is in second place at 14-1.
Meanwhile, Northwestern sits in 15th place with a 2-13 conference record and fights against Purdue, Rutgers and Penn State for the last place in the Big 10 tournament.
Sunset Fire is burning in the Hollywood Hills area of Los Angeles on January 8, 2025. (Jill Connelly/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Fires affected several sporting events in the Los Angeles and Anaheim area during the month of January, including an playoffs between Los Angeles Rams and Minnesota Vikings, and Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers NBA Games.
The city’s local sports team donated more than $ 8 million to support victims of the fire. These teams included Anaheim Ducks, Angel City FC, LAFC, La Galaxy, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Chargers, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Kings, Los Angeles LakersLos Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Sparks.
