Final Stats | Game Highlights

DeKALB - Overcoming a seven point halftime deficit, the NIU Huskies (9-10, 5-4 MAC) outscored Miami University (3-18, 0-10 MAC) by 18 points in the second half to defeat the RedHawks, 60-49. Freshmen Kelly Smith (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) and Renee Sladek (Merrill, Wis./Merrill) both recorded double-doubles in the game, each individuals second of the season.

Smith finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds, including seven on the offensive glass while Sladek accounted for 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Ally Lehman (Nineveh, Ind.) also scored 15 points, including six in the final minutes from the free throw line, while adding eight rebounds, five assists and three steals.

“I thought we started out the game very flat, especially on the defensive end which has to be our identity. We just did a great job turning it all around in the second half,” said Head Coach Kathi Bennett.

After opening the first stanza in a 4-3 deficit, the Huskies would go on a 10-0 run and take a 13-4 lead over the RedHawks with 12:31 on the clock. Miami University would respond with a 17-6 run over the next 7:40 to takeover the lead, 23-18. The RedHawks would keep that lead into halftime as the Huskies trailed, 29-22.

MU posted a strong shooting performance in the half as it was 12-of-27 (.444) from the field while NIU was 9-for-28 (.321) shooting in the stanza. Sladek led the Huskies with six points while Lehman grabbed six rebound with five points in the period. Smith also scored five points on the night.

“I told the team that we needed to have tremendous energy on the defensive side of things. It’s who we are and if we don’t play hard on that side of the floor, we don’t have a chance to win and so we had to get after it on that end,” Bennett said on what it would take for the team to come back in the second half.

Thanks in part to consecutive stops, Smith opened the half scoring eight points to become the first Huskie to break into double digit scoring. Sladek followed up with four points as the two freshmen combined to outscore the RedHawks, 12-2, and put NIU back on top, 34-31.

Miami (Ohio) would take one last crack at the lead as it went up 35-34 with 11:50 left but a jumper by Lehman put NIU back on top, 36-35. A trey from Lacia Gorman (Fort Wayne, Ind./Wayne) extended the Huskies lead to four and put NIU back in the drivers seat, which allowed the team to extend their lead to 13 points in the final minutes of the game.

The Huskies were 12-for-12 at the free throw line after opening the game 3-of-9 from the charity stripe. NIU also improved its field goal percentage in the second half as it was 12-for-29 for a mark of .414. Miami (Ohio) was 8-of-25 from the field in the second for a mark of .320.

Gorman finished the game with six points as she was 2-for-2 behind the three-point line to lead the Huskie bench in points. Sladek’s 15 points tied her career-high for the third time this season, last doing so at Ball State on Jan. 31.

The double-doubles by Smith and Sladek marked the second-time this season that two NIU players registered such a performance, doing so versus Eastern Michigan in the MAC opener on Jan. 3.

Defensively, Amanda Corral (Hobart, Ind./Hobart) had a career-high three blocks in the game. The RedHawks became the fifth NIU opponent to score less than 50 points in a game this season, joining Missouri, SIUE, Eastern Michigan and Kent State. The Huskies three-straight MAC wins are the most since Jan. 2009.

Ball State’s Kayla Brown led all scorers in the game with 21 points on 9-of-15 shooting.

The Huskies will return to action Saturday afternoon versus Akron as NIU will play the first game of a doubleheader with the men. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. Central.