EVANSTON – Sophomore guard Veronica Hicks’s first 10 minutes home weren’t what she’d hoped for.

Sure, the Chicago-area native was greeted by a lively cheering section and a cluster of signs touting her as “Roni Ice” from behind the Michigan bench.

But on the hardwood, Hicks looked on in disbelief as she and the Michigan women’s basketball team surrendered 22 points to Northwestern in the game's first five minutes at Welsh-Ryan Arena, en route to a 60-57 loss.

Roni Ice’s Wolverines had gone ice-cold.

But with his head in his hands, Michigan coach Kevin Borseth called a timeout to heat his team up from the perimeter.

“(Borseth) said, ‘We better pick it up, or we’re going to be losing like we have been,’ ” senior point guard Jess Minnfield said. “We had to pick it up.”

And for the remaining 15 minutes, the Wolverines looked like they would make a comeback, going jumper for jumper with Northwestern.

But Michigan fell short, missed a few clutch chances in the game’s final minutes and couldn't overcome the initial deficit.

“That game was determined in the first 10 minutes,” Borseth repeated after the game.

The Wolverines began the game shooting a dismal 18.2 percent from the floor, compared to the Wildcats’ outstanding 89.1 percent. And just as Borseth has noted in recent losses, Michigan’s problems were on the perimeter, where open shot after open shot clanked off the rim.

“We had any shot we wanted,” Borseth said. “Wide open shots. Wide open. And when we tried to come back, they would just answer, answer, answer, answer.”

The Wildcats’ patented “Blizzard” defense gave the Wolverines fits early as they registered four turnovers in the first five minutes and succumbed to half-court traps and presses.

But for the rest of the half, Borseth’s offense didn’t commit another turnover, while Michigan's defense forced six of them.

“They didn’t take anything away from us,” Borseth said. “(Northwestern) is playing a 2-3 zone, and the whole country’s playing it. It’s not rocket science. Everyone plays it, and we’re going to see it the rest of the season.”

But the Wildcat defense did just enough to end Michigan’s chance to notch back-to-back wins for the first time since Dec. 19.

Senior forward Carly Benson, who has fallen victim to a scoring slump during the conference season, tried to take the game into her own hands as the Wolverines were down four with four minutes remaining. She scored five straight points, including a clutch 3-pointer, to pull the Wolverines within one.

But leading Northwestern scorer Amy Jaeschke, a 65-percent free-throw shooter on the season, netted two from the charity stripe to push the Wildcats’ lead to three.

After two more Northwestern free throws, Minnfield fired up a long-distance 3-pointer that fell short, leaving Hicks to tear the rebound out of her opponent’s hands and draw a foul.

With 10 seconds remaining, the Wolverines were down just three points and junior center Krista Phillips was left with an open shot from behind the arc to send the game into overtime.

“We all thought it was going in,” Hicks said.

But it rimmed out, along with the Wolverines' chances of finishing above .500 in Big Ten conference play.

“It’s clearly a game we should’ve and could’ve won,” Hicks said of her homecoming. “No matter where we are, no matter where I am, a loss is the same.”