GAME INFO
Western Illinois (3-0) vs. NIU (1-1)
Date: Saturday, Nov. 18, 2017
Time: 1 PM CT
Location: DeKalb, Ill. • Convocation Center (9,100)
TV: ESPN3
Radio: WLBK 1360 AM
 
SERIES HISTORY
The Huskies own a 25-17 record over Western Illinois and have won two of their last three meetings with the Leathernecks. However, Western Illinois won last year's affair, 83-79 in Macomb, Ill. The last NIU victory in the series is a 91-84 double-overtime win in the Convocation Center, the last time the Leathernecks visited DeKalb, on Nov. 16, 2011.
 
WHEN LAST WE MET
In a see-saw battle that featured 10 lead changes, eight ties and no double-digit leads, the Huskies came up short at the end, falling to Western Illinois, 83-79, to suffer their first loss of the season. Courtney Woods paced an NIU offense that saw four players finish in double figures in scoring. Woods tallied 20 points, while Cassidy Glenn and Ally Lehman posted double-doubles. Lehman finished with a agme high 13 recounds and 15 points, while Glenn scored 17 points and hauled in 11 boards. Mikayla Voigt added 12 points to the Huskie effort
 
BRAGGING RIGHTS
With its victory over Eastern Illinois, NIU improved to 119-123 against Division I teams from the state of Illinois. Eastern Illinois was the first of six games the Huskies against in-state foes. Following Wednesday's game at Iowa, the Huskies will play host to Western Illinois Saturday, Nov. 18. NIU then travels to Chicago State Nov. 20. When NIU returns from its Thanksgiving trip, the Huskies will play host to Bradley (Nov. 29) and Loyola (Dec. 6) before traveling to SIUE Dec. 17. NIU was 5-1 versus teams from the Land of Lincoln last year and is 10-2 overall under Lisa Carlsen.
 
NIU vs. The Summit League
NIU is 32-19 versus teams currently comprising the Summit League. The Huskies own winning marks against Fort Wayne (2-0), North Dakota State (1-0), South Dakota State (4-1) and Western Illinois (25-17). NIU lost its only meeting with South Dakota, 97-83, on Dec. 19, 2016. NIU went 0-3 versus the league last season. The Huskies lost to both Western Illinois and South Dakota and suffered a 94-84 setback to South Dakota State in last year's WNIT game, which is the last time the Huskies faced a Summit League team. 
 
BANNER DAY
The NIU Women's basketball team will unveil its 2017 Women's National Invitational Tournament banner following Saturday's game with the Leathernecks. The Huskies faced off against South Dakota State in their first-round game, falling to the Jackrabbits, 94-84. It was NIU's first postseason appearance since 1995 when it played in the NCAA Tournament.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Huskies dropped their first game of the season after falling to Big Ten foe Iowa, 105-80, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Wednesday night. Three Huskies finished in double figures, with Courtney Woods pacing the trio with 20 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Janae Poisson dropped a season-high 18 points off the bench, while Gabby Nikitinaite scored a career-best 11.
 
SCORE ONE FOR THE HUSKIES
NIU leads the MAC and ranks 34th in the nation in scoring offense, averaging 86.5 points a game. The Huskies scored 93 points in the season opener at Eastern Illinois and 80 at Iowa Wednesday night. Last season, NIU averaged 85.1 points a game, which ranked led the MAC and ranked fifth in the nation.
 
LONG RANGE HUSKIES
NIU ranks eighth in the nation and leads the league in three-point fields goals made, hitting 23-of-59 from beyond the arc, hitting 11.5 a game. The Huskies also lead the lead in three-point field goal percentage, hitting 39 percent of their shots from three-point territory. Mikayla Voigt leads the team with a 45.5 shooting percentage in that category having connected on 5-of-11 from the three-point line.
 
POSITIVE RATIO
The Huskies rank second in the MAC and 43rd in the country in assists per game and third in the league and 57th in the nation in turnovers with 26 on the season. NIU ranks third in the conference and 35th in the assist-turnover ratio with a 1.46. Mikayla Voigt leads the Huskies ranking fourth in the MAC and 56th in the nation with a 4.00 assist to turnover ratio.
 
CHASING 1,000
Three Huskies enter this season with an opportunity to reach the 1,000-point plateau. Kelly Smith leads the way with 915 points in her three-year career, while Courtney Woods has 889 career points in three seasons with the Huskies. Mikayla Voigt is 283 points away with 717 career points. She scored a career best 380 points last year. The Huskies have never had three players score their 1,000th career point in the same season. The last time more than one Huskie scored their 1,000th career point in the same season was 1993-94 when E.C. Hill and Angela Lockett accomplished the feat.
 
BENCH HELP
Janae Poisson scored a season-high 18 points off the bench at Iowa Wednesday night. She went 7-of-18 from the field, including 4-for-8 from three-point territory. Her 18 field goal attempts against the Hawkeyes is a career-high. It was her second double-digit scoring performance of the season and 15th of her career. Poisson's career-high for points in a game is 27, set last season at Kent State (Jan. 11, 2017).
 
FRESHMAN FIRST
Freshman Gabby Nikitinaite was one of three NIU players to finish in double figures at Iowa. The Orpington, Kent, UK native finished the day with a career-high 11 points, going 4-for-17 from the field, including 3-of-7 from three-point land.
 
DOUBLE TROUBLE
The Huskies had four players finish in double figures in the season opener at Eastern Illinois. Last year, NIU accomplished the feat 22 times, including a season-high six players finishing in double figures against Bradley on Dec. 2, 2017. Kelly Smith led the way with 26, while Mikayla Voigt and Janae Poisson each finished with 14 points. Woods finished the game with 13 points and rounds out the Huskie quartet.
 
CARLSEN CLIMBING
Lisa Carlsen enters her third season as head coach of the NIU Women's Basketball team. She has a 33-32 record at NIU for a .507 winning percentage which ranks second to Rita Horky (1981-83), who finished with a .525 winning percentage (31-28). Carlsen is seventh all-time at NIU in wins and has a career record of 217-195 in 15 seasons as a head coach.
 
CAREER NIGHT
Kelly Smith opened the game at Eastern Illinois, going 6-for-6 from the field and finishing the game with a career-high 26 points. The Huskie center was 11-for-15 from the floor and 4-for-8 from the free throw line. Her 11 made field goals was also a career-high for the Huskie senior. Her previous highs were 21 points set at Central Michigan (Jan. 13, 2016) and eight field goals, which she set three times, the last coming at Central Michigan (Jan. 13, 2016).
 
CASTRO'S DEBUT
Redshirt freshman Paulina Castro made her first career at NIU in the Huskies' game with Eastern Illinois. Castro sat out all of the 2016-17 season battling Hodgkins Lymphoma. She collected one rebound and one assist in 10 minutes of play.
 
FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
Five Huskies saw their first action in NIU's season-opening victory at Eastern Illinois headlined by redshirt freshman Paulina Castro, who made her first career start for NIU. Riley Blackwell tallied eight points and grabbed three rebounds in nine minutes. Gabby Nikitinaite scored five points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out four assists. Nicole Orr, who sat out last year due to NCAA transfer rules scored four points in two minutes, while Errin Hodges played nine minutes.
 
TWENTY-ONE AND OVER
The Huskies are coming off a 21-12 record in 2016-17. It was NIU's first 20-win season since 1993-94 and the sixth in school history. The school record for wins in a season is 26 set in 1989-90 when the Huskies posted a 26-5 record.
 
SEEKING A POSTSEASON ENCORE
The Huskies, who made their first postseason appearance since 1995 when they participated in the 2017 Women's National Invitational Tournament, are looking to make it consecutive postseason appearances for the first time since 1994-95. NIU made back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 1993-94 and 1994-95.
 
WELCOME NEWCOMERS
NIU head coach Lisa Carlsen welcomed two new members to her staff for this year. Maria Kasza joined NIU as an assistant coach, while Quinn Rear was added to the staff as director of basketball operations. Kasza came to NIU after spending the last five seasons as an assistant at Michigan Tech. Rear joined the NIU staff following two seasons as a graduate assistant at Truman State.
 
TRIPLE-DOUBLE
The Huskies return three starters – Kelly Smith, Mikayla Voight and Courtney Woods – all of whom averaged in double figures in scoring last year for NIU. Woods is NIU's returning leading scorer, averaging 16.6 points a game last year, while Voigt is behind her with an 11.5-point scoring average in 2016-17. Smith, who scored 10.7 points a game a year ago, rounds out the trio. She is also NIU's leading rebounder with 6.3 boards a game.
 
CHARITY STRIPE CHAMP
Mikayla Voight, who entered the season as NIU's career leader in free throw percentage (.855) 16 points ahead of second place Stephanie Raymond (2003-07). She boasted a career-high 89.2 percent free throw percentage last year, hitting 74 of 83 free throw attempts.
 
FOREIGN HUSKIES
Freshman Gabby Nikitinaite, a native of Orpington, Kent, United Kingdom, is the second foreign player on the Huskie roster. She joins Courtney Woods, who hails from Brisbane, Australia.
 
HALL CALL
Huskies women's basketball legend Angela Lockett was inducted into the NIU Athletics Hall of Fame on Oct. 6, 2017. Lockett, who starred for the Huskies from 1990-92, 1993-95 was a scoring and rebounding force who helped guide the NIU women's basketball team to the postseason in each of her four seasons on the court. Seventh on NIU's all-time scoring list, she also led NIU in rebounding for four seasons, closing her career with 1,014 career boards, the third best mark in school history.
 
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