GAME INFO
Loyola (1-6) – NIU (5-2)
Date: Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017
Time: 11 AM CT
Location: DeKalb, Ill. • Convocation Center (9,100)
TV: ESPN3
Radio: 1360 WLBK AM
 
BRAGGING RIGHTS
With its 76-52 victory over Bradley, NIU improved to 123-123 against Division I teams from the state of Illinois. Wednesday's game with Loyola is the fifth of six contests versus in-state foes for the Huskies this season. The Huskies are 4-0 in such games this season. In addition to their win over the Braves, the Huskies defeated Eastern Illinois, 93-64, in the season opener, Western Illinois, 96-94 on Nov. 18 and Chicago State, 80-59. Following Wednesday afternoon's game with the Ramblers, NIU will travel to SIUE Dec. 17. NIU was 5-1 versus teams from the Land of Lincoln last year and is 13-2 overall under Lisa Carlsen.
 
SERIES HISTORY
NIU owns a 14-7 record in the all-time series history with Loyola. The Huskies has won five of the last six meetings between the two, including last year's contest, 90-70. This is Loyola's first visit to DeKalb since Dec. 28, 2010 when NIU defeated the Ramblers, 70-59. The Huskies are 8-1 versus Loyola on their home floor. The last Rambler victory in the series came Nov. 13, 2011 when Loyola won, 73-42. Loyola's only win in DeKalb was Jan. 16, 1997 when NIU fell, 75-69.
 
WHEN LAST WE MET
Courtney Woods tied her career-high with 21 points as she led NIU to a 90-70 win over Loyola at Gentile Arena. Woods nailed four three pointers in the third quarter as NIU outscored the Ramblers, 25-9, in the quarter. Woods led a group of four Huskies to finish in double figures. Kelly Smith finished with 15, Cassidy Glenn with 14 and Janae Poisson with 12. Smith and Ally Lehman added seven points and a team-leading five assists.
           
LAST TIME OUT
A career-high 22 points from Mikayla Voigt helped propel the Huskies to a 76-52 victory over Bradley at the Convocation Center. Voigt was one of three Huskies to finish in double figures as Courtney Woods and Kelly Smith each added 14 and 12 points, respectively. The NIU defense held the Braves to just 32.7 percent shooting from the field and forced 20 turnovers. Bradley's 52 points was the lowest point total allowed by the Huskies this season.
 
RACE TO 1,000
Courtney Woods and Kelly Smith are on each other's heals for 1,000 career points. Woods' 15-point effort against Bradley puts her at 986 points in her three-year NIU career, while Smith is 15 points away from the 1,000-point mark with 985 career points after her 12-point game against Bradley. Mikayla Voigt is 194 points away from 1,000 with 806 career points following her career-best 22-piont game against Bradley. 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.
 
SCHOLAR-ATHLETE HONOREE
Junior Mikayla Voigt tallied 19 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.
 
STARKS CAREER MARKS
Myia Starks established career highs in points (8), rebounds (8), free throws made (4), free throws attempted (4) and minutes (32) in the Huskies' victory over Bradley. All eight of her rebounds came on the defensive glass, while her effort at the free throw line improved her to 8-of-9 from the charity stripe this season.
 
GETTING DEFENSIVE
The Huskie defense held their third opponent of the season to under 60 points when NIU kept Bradley to 52 last week. NIU held UTSA to 55 points at the UTSA Thanksgiving Classic, four days after limiting Chicago State to 59 points. This year's total of teams held to 60 points or less tops last season's tally of two. The Huskies held Bradley (12/2/16) to 51 and Western Michigan (3/10/17) to 55 in the MAC Tournament.
 
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 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.
 
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.
 
LENDING A HELPING HAND
NIU's starting backcourt of Mikayla Voigt and Myia Starks set career highs in assists in back-to-back games. 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 totaling 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 (.846) is seven points ahead of Stephanie Raymond (2003-07), who is in second place with a .839 free throw percentage. Voigt hit a career-high eight free throws on 11 attempts, also a career-high in the win over Bradley and is hitting 80.0 percent (20-of-25) 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.
 
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.
 
CLEANING THE GLASS
NIU leads the MAC and ranks 22nd in the nation in defensive rebounds a game (30). The Huskies also rank 43rd in the country and first in the league in rebounds per game (43.29). NIU has outrebounded the opposition 304-281 this season.
 
LONG RANGE HUSKIES
NIU ranks 24th in the nation and second in the league in three-point fields goals made, shooting 63-of-171 from beyond the arc, hitting 9.0 a game. The Huskies are fourth in the conference in three-point field goal percentage, hitting 36.8 percent of their shots from three-point territory. Courtney Woods leads the team with 20 made three pointers this season and has taken a team-high 52 for a three-point percentage of 38.5 percent, which ranks 153 in the country.
 
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 37-33 record at NIU for a .529 winning percentage, surpassing Rita Horky (1981-83), who finished with a .525 winning percentage (31-28). Carlsen is tied with Liz Galloway-McQuitter for sixth all-time at NIU in wins and has a career record of 221-196 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.