KSU-NIU Results 

DEKALB, Ill. - A fast start and strong finish proved to be the difference as the Northern Illinois University women's gymnastics team scored an historic win, defeating Kent State for the first time in 16 years in the Mid-American Conference opener at the Convocation Center Friday night.

"It's been a long time," said NIU head coach Sam Morreale of NIU's victory over the Golden Flashes. "I can't remember the last time we beat them, whether it's been regular season or championships. They've owned us. To take a win from them, we're pretty happy with. That's definitely something we can take with us as we move forward."

The Huskies (2-0) beat the Golden Flashes (0-3), 193.375-193.025, ironically with the same score NIU turned in at last year's setback at Kent State. It was NIU's first win over the Golden Flashes since Feb. 27, 1999 when the Huskies scored a 191.50-190.100 victory.

NIU started off Friday night's dual strong with a solid effort on the vault, scoring a 48.650 and finished with a dominating performance on the floor exercise, posting a 48.925.

"We vaulted really well, which gave us a great start," Morreale said. "Bars is kind of our nemesis right now. It's not something we struggle with in practice, it's just figuring out what we need to do to flip the switch in competition to what we do in practice.

"I thought we did really well on beam. We just ran into some tough judging which kind of kept us in check for a lack of a better word. Finishing on floor, these kids take pride in their floor routines."

Megan Greenfield and Amanda Stepp led the way in the first event for NIU, posting a 9.850 and 9.825 on the vault to finish one-two in the event and give the Huskies some momentum heading into the uneven bars. NIU showed some improvement on the bars from last week at UIC, scoring a 47.825, with Lauren Africano's 9.700 leading NIU.

Freshman Katherine Prentice starred for the Huskies on the balance beam with a team-high 9.750 as NIU posted a 47.975. While the Huskies struggled a little on the beam, they didn't let that affect them heading into the final event of the night, the floor exercise.

The Huskies recorded five scores of 9.750 or higher on the floor exercise. Shelby Davis opened the event with a 9.750 with Brittany Wenzel following with a 9.775. After a 9.750 by Peyton Taylor, Kelly Nortz and Stepp closed out the event with a 9.800 and 9.850 respectively. NIU took the top three spots with Stepp, who tied her career high in the floor exercise, winning the event and Nortz and Wenzel finishing second and third respectively.

"Every event, that first kid is so important," he said of Davis. "It is normally one of our better kids. You want to put a solid kid up there that you can trust. She's doing a phenomenal job on beam and floor for us right now."

While Morreale is happy with the victory, he realizes this team can only get better and the competition within the team will help do that.

"This sport is all about competing against yourself," he said. "What we have to do is just keep getting better at what we're doing and make the other teams chase us."

The Huskies return to action Fri., January 23 when NIU welcomes Lindenwood to the Convocation Center as part of the FLIP-PIN meet with the NIU Wrestling team. Competition begins at 7 p.m. and admission is free. Fans who cannot make it to the Convocation Center can follow the action live online via NIUHuskies.com. The event will be shown on NIUTube and there will also be live scoring. In addition, fans can follow all the action on Twitter via @NIUscores.com.

-NIU-