DEKALB, Ill. – Senior forward Kelly Smith hit the game-winning shot as time expired to give the Northern Illinois University women's basketball team a 96-94 victory over Western Illinois at the Convocation Center Saturday afternoon.
 
Smith's game-winner was scored on a sideline out of bounds play with 1.8 seconds as Smith received the inbounds pass and hit a jump shot from about 15 feet as time expired.
 
"The play was exactly what was drawn up and these players have run that a million times," said NIU Head Coach Lisa Carlsen. "From a coaching standpoint Coach [John] McGinty did a great job of drawing up the play, these players did a great job of executing and Kelly did a great job of sticking it in the basket."
 
Western Illinois led by as much as 14 points in the third quarter as the Huskies closed to gap to a nine-point led heading into the fourth quarter. NIU then went on a 16-7 run to start the fourth in the first 3:43 of the quarter with Wood keying the rally, scoring 11 of the 16 points for the Huskies to tie the score at 85-85.
 
WIU led for a total of 36:34 of the game as the lead changed only five times, three of which came in the final 2:23 of the game after NIU took the lead after a three pointer by Voigt. The Huskies had not led since 3:39 left in the first quarter before Voigt made the score 92-91 in favor of NIU.
 
The Huskies had five players in double figures led by a career-high 39 from junior Courtney Woods, who shot 60-percent from the field, 50-percent from three, and 90-percent from the free throw line. Woods scored 20 points in the second half, including 13 in the fourth quarter to help NIU outscore WIU 27-16 in the final frame. The Brisbane, Australia native also posted her first double-double of the season grabbing 11 rebounds, which tied her career best.
 
"Courtney had a great game," Carlsen said. "Her ability to shoot the basketball is something that she's comfortable with and really something we rely on a lot. Everyone else did a really good job of finding her and giving her the basketball in key situations."
 
Woods was one of five Huskies to finish in double figures. Mikayla Voigt was the next highest-scoring Huskie with 16 points, while Smith finished with 14. Janae Poisson added 11 points off the bench for NIU and Ally May scored a career-high 10. May also finished with a double-double, grabbing a career-high 16 rebounds including fighting for a defensive board on a missed shot by Western Illinois with 1.8 seconds on the clock setting up the game-winner by Smith.
 
Voigt also tied a career-high as she finished with six assists, tying for the team-high with Myia Starks who set a career-high of her own with six of the Huskies' 21 assists against the Leathernecks.
 
"We were lucky enough to be on the positive side of that but I'm really proud of the way we continued to fight, especially when things weren't going our way," Carlsen said. "I've been doing this for a long time but this would definitely rank up there was one of the most exciting and most fun games I've ever been part of. Being on the winning end of games like that isn't something you'll forget real soon."
 
The Huskies move to 2-1 with their next three contests coming on the road starting with a trip to Chicago State next Monday to face the Cougars. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
 
-NIU-