Northwestern’s female basketball team will have to lose two of the games at their time after not traveling to Los Angeles during the devastating forest fires in January.
The Big Ten Conference announced on Wednesday that Northwestern games against UCLA on January 12 and the USC on January 15 will not be rescheduled and, on the other hand, will count as losses for the Wildcats and the victories for the programs based in southern California.
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People observe smoke and flames from the fire of Palisades in the neighborhood of Pacific Palisades on January 7, 2025 in Los Angeles. (Tiffany Rose/Getty Images)
The Northwest Athletics Director, Mark Jackson, issued a statement that supported his team’s decision not to travel during the fires, and accepted the decision of the Big Ten.
“Northwestern Athletics accepts the decision of the Big Ten conference to strictly apply the statutes of the conference as written, in the issuance of losses for competitions lost by Northwestern female basketball after the decision of the team not to travel to Los Angeles during the tragic forest fires in southern California,” Jackson wrote, Per 3.
“While we recognize that the statutes and rules are in their place for a reason and we will comply with them, the solid reasoning of this team does not decrease so as not to participate during this natural disaster. We will continue to support our students female basketball athletes and we expect a strong recovery for the southern region of California.”
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The South Guard of California, Juju Watkins, firm Autographs after the Cal State Northridge game, on November 12, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
UCLA and USC, led by the Phenom Juju Watkins, were already the two most winning teams at the conference so far this season. USC is first in the Big Ten with a record of the 15-1 conference, since UCLA is in second place in 14-1.
Meanwhile, Northwestern is in 15th place with a record of the 2-13 conference, and is fighting Purdue, Rutgers and Penn State for the final place in the Big 10 tournament.
The sunset fire burns in the Hollywood Hills area of Los Angeles on January 8, 2025. (Jill Connelly/Bloomberg through Getty Images)
The fires impacted multiple sporting events in the Los Angeles and Anaheim area during the month of January, including a playoff game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Minnesota Vikings, and the NBA Games of the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers NBA.
The city’s local sports teams donated more than $ 8 million to support victims of forest fires. These teams included the 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.
