Northwestern women’s basketball issued forfeits vs. UCLA, USC for not traveling during wildfires

The Northwestern women’s basketball team announced it would not travel to play games at UCLA and USC in January due to concerns with the surrounding wildfires, but the program has been penalized for that decision.

On Wednesday, the Big Ten announced that it was counting both games as forfeits for the Wildcats.

“Per Conference rules, forfeitures will be assessed to Northwestern,” a Big Ten statement read. “As a result, the Wildcats will receive two loses in the conference standings, while UCLA and USC each will be credited with a win.”

Northwestern’s previous statement announcing its plan to stay home did not include much in the way of an explanation, other than citing the wildfires that were ongoing at the time.

“Due to concerns surrounding ongoing wildfires affecting the greater Los Angeles area, Northwestern University has made the decision to not travel to play its scheduled women’s basketball games against UCLA on January 12 and USC on January 15,” Northwestern announced at the time.

Following the ruling on Wednesday, Northwestern athletics director Mark Jackson delivered a statement noting he stands behind the decision not to travel, though his program accepts the consequences handed down by the Big Ten.

“Northwestern Athletics accepts the decision by the Big Ten Conference to strictly apply the Conference bylaws as written, in issuing forfeits for missed competitions by Northwestern’s Women’s Basketball after the team’s decision not to travel to Los Angeles during the tragic wildfires in Southern California,” Jackson wrote. “While we acknowledge that bylaws and rules are in place for a reason and we will abide by them, it does not diminish this team’s sound reasoning for not participating during this natural disaster. We will continue to support our Women’s Basketball student-athletes and hope for a strong recovery for the Southern California region.”

The missed games came during a stretch in which Northwestern was really struggling on the court. The team had lost four straight games heading into the planned road trip.

Immediately following the skipped trip the Wildcats didn’t fare much better. They lost five straight games to run the losing streak up to nine games.

On the season, Northwestern is 9-17 with a 2-13 mark in conference play.