Huskies Open MAC Play at Miami

GAME INFO

NIU (8-3) - Miami (8-3)

Date: Saturday, Dec. 30, 2017

Time: 12 PM CT

Location: Oxford, Ohio • Millett Hall

TV: ESPN3

Radio: 1360 WLBK AM

FOR STARTERS

NIU is 10-14 in Mid-American Conference openers, including a 2-0 record under head coach Lisa Carlsen in league lid lifters. The Huskies have won their last four conference openers, including an 85-73 win over Eastern Michigan in last year's initial game of MAC play. The last time NIU opened a season at Miami was Dec. 30, 1998, a 76-63 victory by the RedHawks.

NIU IN THE MAC

The Huskies are 167-232 all time in the Mid-American Conference. NIU was 33-39 during their first stint in the league (1982-86) and are 134-193 since rejoining the conference in 1997. NIU is 16-19 in league play under head coach Lisa Carlsen.

SERIES HISTORY

NIU leads the all-time series with Miami, 19-17, after sweeping both games with the RedHawks last season. NIU defeated the RedHawks, 89-76, in DeKalb on Jan. 21, 2017 and scored a 63-61 victory at Millett Hall on Feb. 15, 2017 to improve to 7-9 in Oxford. The Huskies won the first contest between the two schools, 57-52, in DeKalb on Jan. 9, 1982 and have won five of the last six contests, including the last three. The Huskies' last loss at Millett Hall was Jan. 6, 2016 when NIU fell, 66-60.

WHEN LAST WE MET

NIU forced 19 Miami turnovers and foiled a potential game-winning three-point shot at the buzzer to defeat Miami, 63-61, at Millett Hall last season. Ally Lehman finished with a game-high 33 points, going 12-of-22 from the field and made three-straight free throws to help seal the win for NIU. Kelly Smith and Cassidy Glenn hauled in 12 and 10 rebounds, respectively, as NIU won the rebounding battle as well, 49-40.

LAST TIME OUT

A three-pointer by Mikayla Voigt at the buzzer forced NIU's game with Albany into overtime, but it was not enough as the Huskies fell to the Great Danes, 97-91, in NIU's finale of the 2017 Puerto Rico Classic. Voigt led the way with a game-high 25 points and was one of four Huskies to finish in double figures. Myia Starks, who had two points in the first half, finished with 19 points and hauled in 10 rebounds for her first career double-double. Unfortunately for NIU, Albany dominated the glass, outrebounding the Huskies, 61-44.

VAUNTED VOIGT

Mikayla Voigt established career highs in points, field goals made and attempted and three pointers made and attempted in NIU's 97-91 loss to Albany in Puerto Rico. Voigt tallied 25 points, going 9-of-19 from the field, including 7-of-11 from three point territory. Seventeen of Voigt's point total against the Great Danes came in the first half.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

NIU's setback to Albany ended a season-high four-game winning streak by the Huskies. NIU posted wins over Bradley, Loyola, SIUE and Sacramento State during that stretch. The last time NIU had a four-game winning streak was last season from Jan. 21-Feb. 4.

SEEING DOUBLE

Sophomore Myia Starks recorded her first career double-double when she scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in NIU's game against Albany. She is the fourth Huskie to record a double-double this season. Kelly Smith accomplished the feat when she scored 23 points and grabbed 10 boards at Chicago State on Nov. 20. Ally May and Courtney Woods each recorded a double-double against Western Illinois. Woods scored 39 and grabbed 11 rebounds with May scoring 10 and grabbing 16 boards.

SOME STRETCH FOR STARKS

Myia Starks has finished in double figures in three of her last four games, including scoring a career-high 25 points at SIUE. The Huskie guard is averaging 9.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.9 assists a game. She also established career-bests in field goals made and field goals attempted against Albany, going 8-of-17 from the field.

STARKS STEPPING TO THE LINE

Myia Starks leads NIU from the free-throw line, going 31-of-35 from the charity stripe for a free throw percentage of .886. She made a career best 11of-12 attempts in her 25-point performance at SIUE.

PURSUING 1,000

Mikayla Voigt is 124 points away from joining her teammates in the 1,000-career-point club with 876 career points following her 25-point performance versus Albany. 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.

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 1,071 career points in 74 games at NIU, while Smith is right behind her with 1,053 in 98 contests.

CASTRO'S CAREER BESTS

Redshirt freshman Paulina Castro established career highs in five offensive categories including points (12) field goals made (4), field goals attempted (6), three pointers made (4) and three pointers attempted (6) in NIU's victory over Sacramento State. Castro saw the first action of her NIU career when she started in the Huskies' season opener at Eastern Illinois. Castro, who sat out all of the 2016-17 season battling Hodgkins Lymphoma, collected one rebound and one assist in 10 minutes of play against the Panthers.

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.

MONEY FROM THE CHARITY STRIPE

Mikayla Voight, who entered the season as NIU's career leader in free throw percentage is now second (.828), 11 points behind Stephanie Raymond (2003-07), who owns an .839 free throw percentage. Voigt has hit 24-of-29 from the free throw line this season.

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.

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 40-34 record at NIU for a .541 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 224-197 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.