GAME INFO
NIU (2-1) vs. Chicago State (0-3)
Date: Saturday, Nov. 20, 2017
Time: 7 PM CT
Location: Chicago, Ill. • Jones Convocation Center
TV: WACDN
Radio: WLBK 1360 AM
 
SERIES HISTORY
NIU owns a 13-4 record in the all-time series with Chicago State and have won the last five meetings. The Huskies are 5-1 at Chicago State and have their last three games in Jones Convocation Center. The last NIU loss on the Cougars' home floor was Nov. 12, 2007, when the Huskies fell, 64-57.
 
WHEN LAST WE MET
The Huskies defeated Chicago State, 94-85, tying the school record for three-point shooting in a single game when the two met on Nov. 22, 2016 . NIU hit 15 three-pointers, as five Huskies finished in double figures. Courtney Woods led the way scoring 24 points, while Cassidy Glenn added 17. Ally Lehman tallied 15 and Mikayla Voigt finished with 10. The Huskie defense forced 15 turnovers, while out-shooting the Cougars, 40.7-39.4 percent.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Kelly Smith hit a jumper at the buzzer to give NIU a 96-94 victory over Western Illinois in the Huskies' home opener at the NIU Convocation Center Saturday. Five Huskies finished in double figures with Courtney Woods leading all scorers with 39 points and 11 rebounds, both career highs. Ally May also posted a double-double, scoring 10 points and hauling in 16 rebounds. Mikayla Voigt finished with 16, Smith 14 and Janae Poisson scored 11 off the bench.
 
BRAGGING RIGHTS
With its victory over Western Illinois, NIU improved to 120-123 against Division I teams from the state of Illinois. NIU will face six in-state foes this season and have beaten two of them so far. The Huskies defeated Eastern Illinois, 93-64, in the season opener and Western Illinois, 96-94. Following Monday night's contest at Chicago State and its Thanksgiving trip, NIU 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 11-2 overall under Lisa Carlsen.
 
NIU vs. The WESTERN ATHLETIC cONFERENCE
NIU is 15-6 versus teams currently comprising the Western Athletic Conference. The Huskies own winning marks against Chicago State (13-4), UMKC (1-0) and New Mexico State (1-2). NIU lost its only meeting with South Dakota, 97-83, on Dec. 19, 2016. NIU went 2-1 versus the league last season. The Huskies defeated Chicago State and UMKC, but fell to South Dakota.
 
RACE TO 1,000
Three Huskies entered this season with an opportunity to reach the 1,000-point plateau. Following her 39-point effort against Western Illinois, Courtney Woods has 928 career points in three seasons with the Huskies, while Kelly Smith leads the way with 929 points in her career. In addition to Woods and Smith, Mikayla Voigt is 267 points away from 1,000 with 733 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.
 
OUT OF THE WOODS
Courtney Woods scored a career-high 39 points in NIU's victory over the Leathernecks. She is tied for fifth on NIU's all-time single game scoring list with Doreen Zierer, who was the last Huskie to score 39 in game, doing it against Bowling Green on Feb. 13, 1982. Woods also established career highs in field goals made and attempted, going 12-of-20 from the field. Her six made three pointers tied a career best set last year versus Chicago State, while her 12 attempts are a career best. Woods also hauled a career-high 11 rebounds.
 
MAY I HELP YOU
Ally May also established career highs in several categories including points (10), field goals made (5), field goal attempts (11) and rebounds (16)  in NIU's win over Western Illinois. It was also her first career double-double.
 
ASSISTANCE PROVIDED
Myia Starks surpassed her personal best in assists when she dished out six against Western Illinois. Her previous best was two which she accomplished twice. The last time was in the season opener against Eastern Illinois.
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE TROUBLE
Courtney Woods and Ally May each finished with a double-double in NIU's win over Western Illinois. Woods tallied 39 points and 11 rebounds, while May finished with 10 points and 16 rebounds. They were the first double-doubles of the season for NIU and the first time since March. 16, 2017 when Woods and Cassidy Glenn accomplished the feat against South Dakota State in the 2017 WNIT.
 
SCORE ONE FOR THE HUSKIES
NIU leads the MAC and ranks 20th in the nation in scoring offense, averaging 89.7 points a game. The Huskies tallied their second 90-point effort of the season, tallying 96 in their win over Western Illinois. NIU opened the season scoring 93 points at Eastern Illinois and posted 80 at Iowa. Last season, NIU averaged 85.1 points a game, which led the MAC and ranked fifth in the nation.
 
LONG RANGE HUSKIES
NIU ranks ninth in the nation and leads the league in three-point fields goals made, shooting 35-of-87 from beyond the arc, hitting 11.7 a game. The Huskies also lead the league in three-point field goal percentage, hitting 40.2 percent of their shots from three-point territory. Courtney Woods leads the team with a 45.8 shooting percentage in that category having connected on 11-fo-24 from the three-point line.
 
POSITIVE RATIO
The Huskies rank second in the MAC and 40th in the country in assists per game and third in the league and 5fth in the nation in turnovers with 47 on the season. NIU ranks third in the conference and 37th in the assist-turnover ratio with a 1.26. Mikayla Voigt leads the Huskies ranking third in the MAC and 38th in the nation with a 4.67 assist to turnover ratio.
 
BENCH HELP
Janae Poisson came off the bench to score 11 points, her third double-digit scoring performance of the season in NIU's victory over Western Illinois. She scored a season-high 18 points off the bench at Iowa going 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. 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 a season-high five players finish in double figures in their win over Western Illinois. Last season, NIU accomplished the feat seven times and Saturday's quintet of double-digit scorers are the most since Jan. 25, 2017 when six Huskies finished in double figures against Kent State. Courtney Woods led the way with 39 points and Mikayla Voigt followed with 16. Kelly Smith and Janae Poisson tallied 14 and 11 points, respectively, while May finished with 11.
 
CARLSEN CLIMBING
Lisa Carlsen enters her third season as head coach of the NIU Women's Basketball team. She has a 34-32 record at NIU for a .515 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 218-195 in 15 seasons as a head coach.
 
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.
 
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.