March 6, 2010

Box Score

Box Score in PDF Format

OXFORD, Ohio - In a game that saw nine ties and 13 lead changes, the Northern Illinois women's basketball team blinked first in a 67-66 loss at Miami (Ohio) in the first round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament, Saturday at Millett Hall.

The loss eliminated NIU from the MAC Tournament, concluding a season that saw the Huskies finish 10-19 overall and 4-12 in league play. The RedHawks, who will go on to face top-seeded Bowling Green in the quarterfinals, improved to 9-21 overall (6-10 MAC).

Junior Mauvolyene Adams (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) had one of the best games of her career. Adams scored 16 of her team-high 18 points in the second half, and had a career-high 18 rebounds, one shy of top-10 status in the Huskie record book. Adams has 12 offensive boards, and was unstoppable in the second half, hitting seven of NIU's first eight shots from the field. She added five steals and three assists.

While it was Adams that kept NIU rolling in the second, senior Kylie York (Fishers, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern) got the Huskies off to a hot start. With her team down 13-6, York hit a trio of three-pointers to send NIU on a 9-2 run and tie the game at 15. In her final game in the Cardinal and Black, York finished the day with four three-pointers for 12 points. The 25th member of NIU's 1000-Point Club, she concludes her career with 1,025 points, 24th-most in Huskie history.

Thanks to York's shooting, helped by a pair of three-pointers by Courtney Shelton (Rockford, Ill./Hononegah), NIU enter the locker room down just five, 39-34. That deficit was despite the RedHawks shooting 51.7 percent (15-of-29) from the field, while NIU hit just 38.7 percent (12-of-31) of its shots.

The Huskies won the battle of the boards 41-27, but Miami scored 24 points off of 23 NIU turnovers to counter that rebounding edge. In addition to Adams' 18 caroms, Northern Illinois got eight rebounds from Sarah Rogers (Chicago, Ill./Marshall) and seven from Ebony Ellis (Joliet, Ill./Joliet).

Miami's Maggie Boyer led her team with 18 points, all in the first half. She was joined in double figures by Kirsten Olowinski with 17. The RedHawks' leading scorer, Courtney Osborn, was held to just 10 points, thanks in large part to the defensive effort of Bianca Brown (Detroit, Mich./Renaissance). Brown added five points to her standout defensive effort.

The 2009-10 season saw several highlights in addition to York reaching the 1,000-point milestone. Northern Illinois toppled MAC West champion Toledo at home, had four players garner MAC West Player of the Week honors, and saw giant steps forward taken by Rogers and Shelton in their sophomore season. Shelton started every game of the year after playing just 3.5 minute per game in 2008-09, and Rogers proved to be the best rebounding guard in the MAC, ranking in the top-10 in the category overall despite standing just 5-foot-8.

The 2010-11 version of the Huskies will feature nine of the 10 players who saw time in MAC play this year, and will add four freshmen.