Women's basketball to host 'Autism Awareness' game

The Northwestern women’s basketball team will host an “Autism Awareness Game” on Sunday when they host Loyola at Welsh-Ryan Arena at 2 p.m.Coach Joe McKeown’s 18-year-old son, Joey, has autism. McKeown came to Northwestern more than four years ago after 19 years at George Washington University in part because he believed Joey would have more opportunities in the Evanston area.“It’s very emotional,” McKeown said of what has become an annual event for his team. “It’s not just our family. There are hundreds of families we’ve seen kids grow up with ours.“We’ve all fought over the years just trying to create awareness and trying to get the kids better opportunities in schools and not be pushed to the side. That’s still our biggest fight. The principals and education systems. Every school you talk to is broke. Every state in the country is broke. The laws are there. It’s just being able to enforce the laws and make sure these kids get the money that’s supposed to be allocated.”McKeown recently announced a recruiting class that was ranked 22nd in the country and second in the Big Ten by one publication. The class includes forward Nia Coffey from Minneapolis, Minn. — Hopkins, guard Ashley Deary of Flower Mound, Texas, guard Christen Inman from Katy, Texas — Seven Lakes and center Allie Tuttle of Cary, N.C. — Panther Creek.