GAME INFO
2017 UTSA Thanksgiving Classic
Date: Nov. 24-25, 2017
Time: 1 PM CT
Location: San Antonio, Texas • Convocation Center
Radio: WLBK 1360 AM
 
A WEEK TO REMEMBER
NIU junior Courtney Woods was named the MAC West Player of the Week on Tuesday, Nov. 21 following a pair of double-digit scoring efforts including her career high against Western Illinois on Saturday, Nov. 18. Woods scored a career-high 39 points on 60-percent shooting from the field while going 6-12 from three-point range in the Huskies' win over the Leathernecks. Woods also scored a team-high 20 points in NIU's loss at Iowa. Woods wasn't just an offensive threat as she grabbed 11 rebounds against WIU for a double-double and tallied seven rebounds at Iowa.
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE THE FUN
Senior forward Kelly Smith's double-double against Chicago State on Monday, Nov. 20 was the third double-double by a Huskie this season. Her 23 points and ten rebounds each led the team in each of those individual categories in NIU's 80-59 win over the Cougars. Smith joins teammates Ally May and Courtney Woods as NIU women's basketball players to record a double-double after both did so against Western Illinois when Woods scored 39 and grabbed 11 rebounds with May scoring ten and grabbing 16 boards.
 
LENDING A HELPING HAND
For the second-straight week, NIU's starting backcourt of Mikayla Voigt and Myia Starks set career highs in assists. Starks and Voigt each recorded nine assists in the Huskies' win at Chicago State. They combined to lead the team on the way to NIU totalling a season-high 24 assists on 33 made baskets. The previous contest against Western Illinois, the Huskie duo each tallied six assists.
 
MONEY FROM THE CHARITY STRIPE
Mikayla Voight, who entered the season as NIU's career leader in free throw percentage (.853) is 14 points ahead of second place Stephanie Raymond (2003-07) after going 5-6 (.833) from the line this season after getting to the line for the first time this season at Chicago State. She boasted a career-high 89.2 percent free throw percentage last year, hitting 74 of 83 free throw attempts.
 
UPPING THE PRESSURE
In their 80-59 win at Chicago State, the Cougars committed 24 turnovers, the most by an NIU opponent this season. The Huskies forced 14 of those turnovers on steals led by Mikayla Voigt and Myia Starks who had five apiece.
 
SERIES HISTORY
NIU won the only match-ups in the history between each of their next two opponents in UTSA and Lamar. The Huskies defeated UTSA by a score of 103-73 on Feb. 21, 1991 on a neurtral floor. NIU also defeated Lamar on a neutral floor more recently as the Huskies topped the Cardinals 79-52 on Nov. 30, 2013.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Huskies book-ended their most-recent win at Chicago State with strong first and fourth quarters. Led by a starting-five that played 161 of the 200 total minutes in the game and scored 66 of NIU's 80 points. Kelly Smith led the Huskies in both points (23) and rebounds (10) to rack up her first double-double of the season and third by an NIU player. Myia Starks and Mikayla Voigt each set career-highs with nine assists with Voigt also added 19 points on 11 field goal attempts.
 
BRAGGING RIGHTS
With its victory over Chicago State, NIU improved to 122-123 against Division I teams from the state of Illinois. NIU will face six in-state foes this season and have beaten three of them so far. In addition to their win over the Cougars, the Huskies defeated Eastern Illinois, 93-64, in the season opener, and Western Illinois, 96-94 on Nov. 18. After the Huskies 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 12-2 overall under Lisa Carlsen.
 
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 936 career points in three seasons with the Huskies, while Kelly Smith leads the way with 952 points in her career. In addition to Woods and Smith, Mikayla Voigt is 248 points away from 1,000 with 752 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.
 
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.
 
SCORE ONE FOR THE HUSKIES
NIU leads the MAC and ranks 22nd in the nation in scoring offense, averaging 87.2 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 15th in the nation and leads the league in three-point fields goals made, shooting 40-of-96 from beyond the arc, hitting 10.0 a game. The Huskies also lead the league in three-point field goal percentage, hitting 41.7 percent of their shots from three-point territory. Courtney Woods leads the team with 12 made three pointers this season and has taken a team-high 28 for a three-point percentage of 42.9 percent.
 
POSITIVE RATIO
The Huskies rank second in the MAC and 19th in the country in assists per game. NIU ranks third in the conference and 46h in the county in assist-turnover ratio with a 1.30. Mikayla Voigt leads the Huskies ranking third in the MAC and 23rd in the nation with a 4.60 assist to turnover ratio.
 
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 35-32 record at NIU for a .522 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 219-195 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.
 
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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