GAME INFO
2017 Puerto Rico Classic
Wed., Dec. 20 – 2:30 p.m. CT: Sacramento State (2-8) vs. NIU (7-2)
Thurs., Dec. 21 – 12 p.m. CT: NIU (7-2) vs. Albany (8-2)
Location: Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico. • Coliseo Ruben Zayas Montanez
TV: Facebook Asi van los Deportes (https://www.facebook.com/asivandeportes/)
Radio: 1360 WLBK AM

FOR STARTERS
At 7-2 on the season, NIU is off to its best start since 2006-07 when the Huskies also started 7-2. The last time NIU started a season 8-2 was in 1993-92 when the Huskies jumped out to a 10-2 record.
 
SERIES HISTORY
This is the first meeting for NIU versus both Sacramento State and Albany.
 
TOURNAMENT SECONDS
This is the second tournament the Huskies will be participating in this season. NIU went 1-1, defeating UTSA, 69-55, and falling to Lamar, 90-80, in the 2017 UTSA Thanksgiving Classic. It was also the last time this season the Huskies have played in back-to-back games.
               
LAST TIME OUT
A career-high 25 points from guard Myia Starks led NIU to an 86-75 victory at SIUE Sunday, Dec. 17. The Huskie sophomore was one of four NIU players to finish in double figures. Courtney Woods tallied 24 points, while Kelly Smith and Mikayla Voigt finished with 15 and 11 points, respectively. The Huskies, who trailed the Cougars 40-37 at halftime, used a 26-point fourth-quarter outburst to pull away from SIUE.
 
BRAGGING RIGHTS
With its 86-75 victory at SIUE, NIU improved to 125-123 against Division I teams from the state of Illinois and completed the season sweep of their Illinois opponents, going 6-0 versus in-state rivals. In addition to their win over the Cougars, the Huskies defeated Eastern Illinois, 93-64, in the season opener, Western Illinois, 96-94, Chicago State, 80-59, Bradley, 76-52 and Loyola, 80-71. The Huskies have won their last 10 games versus in-state foes and 15 of their last 16. The Huskies' only loss during that stretch was an 83-79 setback at Western Illinois. NIU is 15-2 overall under Lisa Carlsen against Illinois opponents. The last time the Huskies went undefeated versus teams from the Land of Lincoln was 1989-90 when NIU went 9-0 against in-state competition.
 
HUSKIE HARDWARE
Myia Starks became the second Huskie to earn MAC West Player of the Week accolades following her performance at SIUE. The Huskie sophomore set personal bests including points scored (25), made field goals (7), field goals attempted (11), free throws made (11) and field goals attempted (12). Starks joins Courtney Woods, who earned the same honor 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 and scored a team-high 20 points in NIU's loss at Iowa.
               
STREAKING
NIU's victory over SIUE extended its winning streak to a modest three games, which ties a season-high when the Huskies defeated Western Illinois, Chicago State and UTSA. The last time NIU had a four-game winning streak was last season from Jan. 21-Feb. 4. The last five-game winning streak for the Huskies was also last year from Dec. 31-Jan. 14.
               
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 1,032 career points in 72 games at NIU, while Smith is right behind her with 1,018 in 96 contests.
 
PURSUING 1,000
Mikayla Voigt is 168 points away from joining her teammates in the 1,000-career-point club with 832 career points following her 11-point performance at SIUE. 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.
 
SOME STRETCH FOR STARKS
For the second straight week, Myia Starks established career highs in points, and free throws made and attempted for the second consecutive week after her performance at SIUE. She is averaging nine points a game this season after averaging 16.3 points a game in the last three games. She scored in double figures in back-to-back games for the first time in her career following her 16 and 25-point performances versus Loyola and SIUE, respectively.
 
STARKS STEPPING TO THE LINE
Myia Starks is 26-of-28 from the free throw line this season for a team-best .893 free throw percentage. Her 28 attempts this season surpass her 16 total attempts from last season. She is 22-for-24 at the free throw line in the last four games, including a career-best 11-of-12 at SIUE.
 
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.
 
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 39-33 record at NIU for a .542 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 223-196 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.