Kevin Borseth's head nodded in frustration before he managed to even utter a word.

He kept his opening statement to a total of two words -- "Very disappointing" -- allowing his body language to tell the rest of the story.

It was, unfortunately for Michigan's women's basketball team, a familiar scene.

After a solid run through its non-conference slate, the Wolverines again struggled to figure out a Big Ten opponent, foiled in a misleading 63-59 loss to Northwestern at Crisler Arena Monday night.

Despite a dramatic 2 1/2 minute run that drew the Wolverines within striking distance down the stretch, too many shortcomings during the previous 25 minutes proved too costly.

"It's about finishing games, but we weren't really even in this game so to be able to come back and make a game out of it was borderline miraculous and was all about effort," Borseth said.

"But we weren't in that game."

Veronica Hicks did her best to absolve Michigan's competitive sins, scoring 10 of her game-high 23 points in the final 2 minutes, 37 seconds. The Wolverines (9-3, 1-1 Big Ten) got as close as 3 in the final seconds after trailing by as many as 12, but couldn't do enough to salvage what was an otherwise forgettable conference home opener.

Northwestern's 6-foot-5 junior center Amy Jaeschke did most of the damage on the defensive end, serving as the roadblock standing between Borseth's players and the basket.

Jaeschke forced the Wolverines to settle for short, pull-up jumpshots throughout the night, limiting Michigan's effectiveness around the basket. The Wolverines were 6-of-19 around the basket in the first half, when Northwestern (11-2, 2-0 Big Ten) used a 12-2 scoring surge in the closing minutes to build a 5-point halftime lead.

"It didn't even seem like we got 19 shots around the rim (in the first half), but to get that many is great," Hicks said. "To miss that many is unbelievable. It's just all about being composed and getting to (within) 2 feet (of the basket) and finishing."

But finishing proved to be problematic until the final minutes, when Michigan found itself trailing 57-45 after Beth Marshall's 3-point field goal. That's when Hicks began to chip away, connecting on back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the deficit in half.

Freshman Dayeesha Hollins drew Michigan to within 5 before Hicks struck again from the perimeter, trimming Northwestern's lead to 62-59. But when a Jaeschke free throw extended the Wildcats' cushion back to two possessions, the Wolverines' late run came to an end.

After winning 9 of its first 11 games, Michigan entered its Big Ten campaign believing things could be different. But after allowing Northwestern to control much of what happened Monday night, the struggles the Wolverines experienced last year in the conference season again seemed to be evident.

But Michigan is determined not to allow history to repeat itself.

"We showed in our effort tonight that we're just not going to give up and let teams take wins from us," said senior center Krista Phillips, who scored 14 points in the loss. "We're going to fight as hard as we can."

Yet, for all of Michigan's efforts, the sting of a frustrating home loss to Northwestern remains. Now with demanding tests upcoming against Michigan State and Ohio State, the Wolverines must regroup.

Borseth said his team wasn't prepared to play the style that Northwestern forced the Wolverines into. But with a gauntlet of post players to contend with in the Big Ten, Borseth realizes that Michigan's fast start to the season means nothing if it can't carry over into the conference season.

"You've got to win Big Ten games -- the game's about winning Big Ten games," Borseth said. "It's not about non-conference things. It's about winning Big Ten games and we just lost a Big Ten game against an opponent I thought we had a good shot to beat on our own home floor and that's very disappointing.

"It's very disappointing."

Jeff Arnold covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at jeffarnold@annarbor.com or 734-623-2554.Follow him on Twitter @jeffreyparnold.