DEKALB, Ill. – A pair of Huskies reached career milestones as the Northern Illinois University Women's Basketball team overcame a slow start to defeat Loyola, 80-71, at the Convocation Center on Education Day Wednesday afternoon.
 
"I think you have to credit Loyola, I thought they played a great game," said NIU head coach Lisa Carlsen. "They played extremely hard and really disrupted things for us at times. They came out and shot the ball really well.
 
"Any coach is going to tell you they're not going to be happy about their defense when they get shots like that, but again, credit Loyola for knocking down the shots they were getting early. Then it became a 40-minute fight."
 
Junior Courtney Woods and senior Kelly Smith became the 23rd and 24th Huskies to reach the 1,000-point mark for their career and the first NIU (6-2) teammates to accomplish the feat in the same game as the Huskie duo scored 22 and 18 points, respectively, against Loyola (1-7).
 
In addition to Woods and Smith, Myia Starks and Mikayla Voigt also finished in double figures. A 10-point second quarter propelled Starks to a career-high 16 points, while Voigt, who was shutout in the first half, finished with 15 points after scoring eight points in the third quarter and seven in the fourth.
 
"We can always count on Mikayla to be solid in all areas," Carlsen said. "The first half, she wasn't scoring the basketball, but there's other things on the court that we need her to do and she was doing a good job of those. Then she gets going, has a little bit better feel for what she's able to do offensively, and scores the basketball in the second half. That's kind of Mikayla's MO. She's the one we ask to do the dirty work a lot of times."
 
NIU was dominant in the paint, outscoring the Ramblers 42-14 and outrebounding them 43-30. Ally May led the way with 10 rebounds, while Woods and Smith each missed a double-double, tallying nine and eight rebounds, respectively.
 
Loyola outshot NIU, 45.0-42.4 percent, thanks in large part to some hot shooting in the second half. The Ramblers shot 48.1 percent from the floor in the half, including 50 percent from three-point territory.
 
The Ramblers led for much of the first quarter after jumping out to an 8-4 lead in the first three minutes of the game. However, the Huskies battled back and took a 21-18 lead into the second quarter.
 
Loyola responded in the second frame with the three-pointer. Three-straight three pointers helped give Loyola a 33-32 advantage with 4:18 left in the half. NIU wrestled control of the game away Loyola on a Starks layup to give the Huskies a 34-33 lead with 2:40 left in the half. NIU went on a 10-2 run to close out the half and give the Huskies a 42-35 halftime lead.
 
The Huskies, who led by as many as 17 points in the third quarter, entered the final period of play with a 71-55 lead. However, Loyola battled back in the fourth quarter, going on a 10-0 run to cut the deficit to six, 71-65.
 
NIU restored order in the contest from the free throw line as Starks and Voigt each hit a pair of free throws and Voigt hit a jumper to push NIU's lead to 12 with 3:47 left in the game.
 
The Huskies' win over Loyola was their fifth win over a team from the Land of Lincoln this season and Carlsen's 11th in her last 12 since taking over at NIU.
 
"I don't know if it's a formula," Carlsen said. "It's important to play those regional opponents and in-state games because of program notoriety and really trying to figure out where we're at. I think it's a great gauge and a great barometer on where we are in the state.
 
"We've had some success against other Illinois schools and it will continue to be what our schedule looks like going forward because it is important."
 
NIU returns to action Sunday, Dec. 17 when the Huskies travel to Edwardsville, Ill. to face SIUE. Tip off is set for 2 p.m. CT and fans can listen to all the action live on 1360 AM WLBK.
 
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