CHICAGO – Sophomore
Courtney Woods drained four three pointers in the third quarter as the Northern Illinois University women's basketball team outscored Loyola, 25-9, in the frame to power the Huskies to a 90-70 victory over the Ramblers Friday at Gentile Arena.
Woods tied her career high with 21 points to lead a group of four Huskie players in double figures.
Kelly Smith scored 15,
Cassidy Glenn 14 and freshman
Janae Poisson 12 for NIU.
Ally Lehman and Smith pulled down seven rebounds apiece and Lehman added seven points and a team-leading five assists.
"I thought we did a good job, being on the road, first game of the season," said second-year NIU head coach
Lisa Carlsen. "It's a good one to have under our belts, learn from and go on to the next one."
Loyola took a 24-19 lead after the first quarter thanks in large part to Kaitlyn Williams, who led the Ramblers with 19 points and scored 11 in the first period. LU went six-of-six from three-point range in the first half.
"In the first half we were reacting instead of dictating on defense and they shot the ball real well," Carlsen said. "I liked our intensity better on the defensive end in the second half and we were able to get some stops and get our offense going."
NIU took its first lead at 4:23 of the second quarter on a three pointer by Glenn during a 17-3 run that saw the score go from 31-25 Loyola to 42-34 NIU. Loyola came back to cut NIU's lead to just one, 44-43, at the break. Loyola shot 64 percent from the field in the first half to NIU's 42 percent.
The Huskies, and Woods in particular, came out on fire in the third quarter. The sophomore from Brisbane, Australia hit a pair of threes in the first 2:22 of the period, sandwiched around a layup by
Renee Sladek in her first action after missing the 2015-16 season due to injury.
NIU scored the first eight points of the frame to take a 52-43 lead and extended the margin to 59-46 on another Woods three at the 5:37 mark. She finished the game five-of-eight from three-point range and seven-of-16 overall while also contributing five rebounds and four assists.
"Courtney is that kind of player," Carlsen said. "She's one of those kids when she gets comfortable as far as shooting the basketball, she doesn't think she'll miss. She did that for us at the end of last year and hopefully that's what we see out of her this year."
By the end of the third quarter, NIU extended its lead to 69-52 with Smith scoring six of her 15 points. The Huskies pulled down 20 offensive rebounds in the game, including seven by Smith.
The lead allowed Carlsen to give young players significant minutes, including freshmen guards Poisson and
Myia Starks who played 20 and 13 minutes, respectively. Both gave NIU key minutes throughout the game as did
Ally May.
"Playing the young players is really important for us," Carlsen said. "They are going to have to stay in the rotation and give us some minutes. We are going to need to go eight-nine deep as we get into the season, especially at the guard position with Janae and Mya. They are going to have to be in the guard rotation and game reps are so valuable."
NIU (1-0) opens its home schedule Wednesday, Nov. 16 versus Milwaukee in the NIU Convocation Center. Tipoff for the women's game, which is the first half of the NIU basketball doubleheader that day, is 5:30 p.m. Tickets are available online at NIUHuskies.com, at the NIU Convocation Center Ticket Office or by calling 815-753-PACK (7225).
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