GAME INFO
SIUE (3-5) – NIU (6-2)
Date: Sunday, Dec. 17, 2017
Time: 2 PM CT
Location: Edwardsville, Ill. • Vadalabene Center (4,000)
TV: OVC Digital Network
Radio: 1360 WLBK AM
 
BRAGGING RIGHTS
With its 80-71 win over Loyola, NIU improved to 124-123 against Division I teams from the state of Illinois. Saturday's game with SIUE is the last of six contests versus in-state foes for NIU this season. The Huskies are 5-0 in such games this season. In addition to their win over the Ramblers, the Huskies defeated Eastern Illinois, 93-64, in the season opener, Western Illinois, 96-94, Chicago State, 80-59, Bradley, 76-52. The Huskies have won their last nine games versus in-state foes and 14 of their last 15. The Huskies' only loss during that stretch was an 83-79 setback at Western Illinois. NIU is 14-2 overall under Lisa Carlsen against Illinois opponents.
 
SERIES HISTORY
NIU owns a 6-3 record in the all-time series history with SIUE. The Huskies have won six of the last seven meetings between the two, including last year's contest, 97-78. This is NIU's third visit to SIUE all times and the Huskies are 1-1 in Edwardsville. The Huskies dropped their last contest on the Cougars' home floor, a 93-67 decision, on Nov. 13, 2015. NIU's last win at SIU was on Feb. 17, 1979 when the Huskies scored a 65-56 win.
 
WHEN LAST WE MET
Five players finished in double figures, led by Cassidy Glenn's 24 points as the Huskies posted a 97-78 victory over SIUE in the Convocation Center Dec. 16, 2016. Courtney Woods added 21, while Ally Lehman recorded a double-double, scoring 19 points and dishing out 10 assists. Kelly Smith scored 13 points off the bench, while Mikayla Voigt tallied 12 points. NIU outshot the Cougars, 46.6 percent to 41.9 and forced 18 turnovers.
           
LAST TIME OUT
NIU improved to 5-0 versus in-state competition after posting an 80-71 victory over Loyola on Education Day Wed., Dec. 6.  Courtney Woods led the way for the Huskies, scoring 22 points and grabbing nine rebounds as one of four players to finish in double digits. Kelly Smith also just missed a double-double, finishing with 18 points and eight rebounds, while Myia Starks and Mikayla Voigt tallied 16 and 15 points, respectively. Ally May led all rebounders with 10 as NIU outrebounded the Ramblers, 43-30.
 
MILLENNIALS
Courtney Woods and Kelly Smith became the first Huskie teammates to reach the 1,000-career point plateau in the same game, almost on back-to-back buckets, as the Huskie duo scored 22 and 18 points, respectively, in NIU's victory over Loyola. Woods scored her 1,000th-point on the Huskies' second to last basket of the first half, while Smith hit NIU's opening shot of the second half to score her 1,000th-career point. Woods has 1,008 career points in 71 games at NIU, while Smith is right behind her with 1,003 in 95 contests.
 
PURSUING 1,000
Mikayla Voigt is 179 points away from joining her teammates in the 1,000-career-point club. with 821 career points following her 15-piont performance against Loyola. 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.
 
RENEWING ACQUAINTANCES
NIU head coach Lisa Carlsen began her coaching career as an assistant under current SIUE head coach Paula Buscher at Omaha in 1998. Carlsen spent two years as Buscher's assistant (1998-2000) before taking over as the Maverick's head coach for the 2000-01 season when Buscher left for Bradley. Last season's win over SIUE was Carlsen's first over her former boss.
 
STARKS CAREER MARKS
A week after establishing career high in points, rebounds, free throws made, free throws attempted and minutes against Bradley, shattered four of those five in NIU win over Loyola. Starks doubled her previous career best in points with 16, going 5-of-11 from the field, also career highs in field goals made and attempted, and 6-of-7 from the free throw line in 40 minutes on the floor. Starks tallied a career-high eight rebounds, all on the defensive glass, in the Huskies' victory over Bradley.
 
STARKS STEPPING TO THE LINE
Myia Starks is 14-of-16 from the free throw line this season for a team-best .875 free throw percentage. Her 16 attempts this season are tied with her total attempts from last season. She is 11-for-12 at the free throw line in the last three games.
 
CLEANING THE GLASS
NIU leads the MAC and ranks 20th in the nation in defensive rebounds a game (30). The Huskies also rank 48th in the country and third in the league in rebounds per game (43.25). NIU has outrebounded the opposition 347-311 this season.
 
MONEY FROM THE CHARITY STRIPE
Mikayla Voight, who entered the season as NIU's career leader in free throw percentage (.848) is nine points ahead of Stephanie Raymond (2003-07), who is in second place with a .839 free throw percentage. Voigt went 2-for-2 from the line against Loyola and hit a career-high eight free throws on 11 attempts, also a career-high, in the win over Bradley. She is hitting 81.5 percent (22-of-27) of her free throws this season. She boasted a career-high 89.2 percent free throw percentage last year, hitting 74-of-83 free throw attempts.
 
SCHOLAR-ATHLETE HONOREE
Junior Mikayla Voigt tallied 19 points in an 80-59 win at Chicago State and against Lamar on 5-of-12 in the tournament finale at the 2017 UTSA Thanksgiving Classic. Those performances, coupled with her 4.0 GPA while pursuing her bachelors degree in nursing, helped her earn MAC Female Scholar-Athlete of the Week honors from the MAC on Nov. 30. She is the first NIU woman to win the award this year and the second Huskie, joining Football's Jackson Abresch.
 
CATCH 22
Mikayla Voigt scored a career-high 22 points in NIU's 76-52 victory over Bradley. In addition to going 6-for-12 from the field, including 2-for-4 from three-point territory, the Huskie junior hit a career-high eight free throws on 11 attempts, also a career best.
 
CASTRO'S CAREER BESTS
Redshirt freshman Paulina Castro scored a career-high five points in the Huskies' win over Bradley, hitting on 2-of-4 attempts and 1-of-2 from the free throw line, all career-highs. Castro saw the first action of her NIU career when she started in the Huskies' season opener at 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.
 
OUT OF THE WOODS
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 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.
 
SEEING DOUBLE
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 10 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.
 
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.
 
MAY I HELP YOU
Ally May set career bests in blocks and steals with two in each category against Bradley. She 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 earlier this season. It was also her first career double-double.
 
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 38-33 record at NIU for a .535 winning percentage, surpassing Rita Horky (1981-83), who finished with a .525 winning percentage (31-28). With the win over Loyola, Carlsen surpassed Liz Galloway-McQuitter for sixth all-time at NIU in wins and has a career record of 222-196 in 15 seasons as a head coach.
 
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.
 
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.