THE NEED TO KNOWS
NIU (21-11) at South Dakota State (22-8)
2017 WNIT - First Round
Brookings, S.D. (Frost Arena)
Tipoff: March 16, 7 p.m.
Video: GoJacks.com
Radio: WLBK 98.9 FM/1360 AM/TuneIn
Live Stats: GoJacks.com

FREE THROWS
• Coming off their best postseason performance since 1995, the Huskies are making their first postseason appearance since that same season.
• NIU has overcome double digit deficits six times this season and 12 times in the last four seasons, including a 22-point comeback versus Ohio in the MAC Tournament Quarterfinal.
• The 22-point comeback tied for the largest in NCAA Division I postseason history, matching the feat of Washington versus Oregon in the First Round of the Pac-12 Tournament.
• NIU is No. 5 in the nation in scoring offense, averaging 85.1 points per game, and have scored at least 90 points 10 times.
• The Huskies scoring average is currently the fourth-best in Mid-American Conference history and highest clip since Toledo averaged 83.6 in 1996-97.
• Northern Illinois University is the only team in the country with five players averaging 10-or-more points per game.
• Point guard Ally Lehman enters the tournament 16 rebounds shy of becoming just the fourth player in NCAA history to record 1,000 points, 1,000 rebounds an 500 assists in a career.
• Lehman is the only Division I player with 500 points, 300 rebounds and 200 assists this season.
• Renee Sladek averaged 10.3 points per game off the bench in the MAC Tournament, shooting 68.4 percent from the field. She is coming off a career-best performance of 15 points in the championship.

BACK ON THE POSTSEASON SADDLE
• After a 22 season absence, the Northern Illinois University women's basketball team is returning to the postseason, last appearing in the NCAA Tournament in 1995.
• Its last tournament game was March 17, 1995 in Nashville, Tenn., falling to site host Vanderbilt, 90-44.
• All-time in postseason play, NIU is 3-7 with a pair of first round triumphs in the NCAA Tournament in 1990 and 1992, respectively.
• The Huskies made six-straight postseason appearances from 1990-95, winning four conference tournaments (1990, 1992-93, 1995) to earn automatic berths to the NCAA Tournament and earning an at-large bid to The Big Dance in 1994.
• In 1991, NIU participated in the National Women's Invitational Tournament – a precursor to the current WNIT – after missing the field tournament field with a 24-8 record.

FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH
• Northern Illinois University closed the non-conference season with a 7-4 record with its first three losses of the season – Drake, Iowa State and Western Illinois – all participating in the NCAA Tournament.
• With a 21-11 record entering the tournament, nine of NIU's losses have come to teams participating in The Big Dance or the WNIT.
• The Huskies are 6-9 against teams participating in said postseason tournaments.

THE POWER OF MACTION
• The Mid-American Conference had seven teams post 20 wins this season, including the NIU Huskies.
• Of those seven teams, six registered 12 wins in conference games and all of them recorded 10.
• In the final conference RPI rankings, the Mid-American Conference was No. 10 out of 32 conferences, seven spots ahead of the Missouri Valley Conference.
• The MVC had two teams get in the NCAA Tournament (Drake and Northern Iowa) while only MAC Tournament Champion received a berth to the tournament.
• Both Central Michigan and the Rockets finished inside the top-50 in RPI with rankings of 42 and 43, respectively.
• Six teams from the MAC, including the Huskies, finished with an RPI ranking lower than 100.
• The Mid-American Conference placed five teams in the WNIT, tied for the most with the Atlantic-10, for teams in this year's tournament field.

CLEVELAND ROCKS
• During last week's Mid-American Conference Tournament, NIU dared to boldly go where no Huskie had gone before at Quicken Loans Arena – the MAC Championship.
• Though making its second appearance in the final, its first since 1982, NIU finished 2-1 in the conference showcase to take on Toledo in the final.
• Earning a first round bye to punch its ticket to the quarterfinals, Northern Illinois University found itself in a 22-point hole to Ohio with 4:33 left in the first half.
• After closing the gap to 17 points at halftime, the Huskies outscored 48-30 in the second half, including 22-9 in the final period to survive and advance past the Bobcats, 72-71.
• The 22-point comeback was the largest in MAC history and tied for the largest in NCAA Division I postseason history, matching the mark of Washington against Oregon in the First Round of the 2013 Pac-12 Tournament.
• In the semifinals, NIU's fourth appearance since 2000, the Huskies drained 10 three-pointers, shot 44 percent from the field and held Western Michigan to a season-low 55 points to advance to their first MAC Championship in Cleveland, 83-55.
• The Broncos upset bitter rival and No. 1 seeded Central Michigan in the quarterfinal.
• Little separated the Rockets and Northern Illinois in the final with the teams drawn at halftime, 30-30. The Huskies entered the final quarter with a one-point lead, 49-48, but were unable to stave off their foe's assault as a 14-0 run propelled the Rockets to a 82-71 triumph.

HISTORY WITNESSED
• Besides the Huskies first appearance in the MAC Championship in the NCAA era, last Saturday marked the first time that the Nos. 1-3 were eliminated in the quarterfinal round.
• As a result, Northern Illinois University was the highest ranked top-seed in MAC Championship history. All other finals featured at least a one through three seed.
• The final was the first between a Nos. 4 and 6 seeds.
• Toledo was the second-lowest seed to ever win the tournament behind No. 8 Buffalo in the 2016 MAC Tournament.

LEHMAN CONTINUING TO BREAK BARRIERS
• Just one week after setting NIU's single season and career records for assists, 209 and 533 respectively, Ally Lehman is seeking a new milestone in the Women's National Invitational Tournament.
• Entering the weekend with points, rebounds and 533 assists, the Nineveh, Ind., native needs just 16 rebounds to crash the  1,000th rebound of her career.
• While it would make her just the sixth player at Northern Illinois University and the 11th in the MAC, Lehman could reach more elite company.
• Only three players in NCAA history have recorded 1,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 500 assists, most notably, former UConn star and current Minnesota Lynx guard Maya Moore.
• The University of Miami's Shenise Johnson (2008-12) was the last player to accomplish the feat.
• Lehman is the only player in Mid-American Conference history with 1,000 points, 900, rebounds and 500 career assists.
• Off the court, she will be just 1-of-10 women nationally to train as an infantry officer in the United States Army upon graduation this spring.
• She could also become the first NIU player since 1994 and just the eighth all-time to score 600 points in a season.
• Lehman is the only guard in the country with 500 points and 300 rebounds this season and is just one of seven players nationally to record the feat this season.
• The Nineveh, Ind., native is the only player in the country with 500 points, 300 rebounds and 200 assists this season.

WOODS APPROACHING SOPHOMORE SCORING MARK
• With 528 points this season, sophomore Courtney Woods has become just the third underclassmen in NIU history to score 500 points in a season and just 1-of-32 underclassmen nationally this season.
• The Brisbane, Australia native is just 21-point shy of breaking the school record for points by a sophomore set by Lisa Foss in 1987-88.
• Woods' points total is the most scored by an international at NIU and is currently the 14th-best scoring rate in a season at Northern Illinois University.
• In just two seasons at NIU, Woods has already accounted for 837 points and a career field goal percentage of .404 and a three-point clip of .375, ranking her sixth in the career percentile.

CAN'T GET HER OUT OF MY HEAD … THAT GIRL IS POISSON
• MAC All-Freshman team selection Janae Poisson was one of five first year players to be honored by the conference for their level of play this season, becoming just the third freshman in the last 14 years to earn the honor (Stephanie Raymond, 2004; Kelly Smith, 2015).
• Entering the tournament with an average output of 8.6 points per game, freshman was scoreless versus Ohio, missing several good looks at the basket.
• However, the Matteson, Ill., native kept shooting in the final two games, averaging 11.5 points in the semifinal and final with 10 points versus WMU and 13 against Toledo.
• Poisson was 8-of-18 from the field (.444) and 4-for-8 behind the three-point line (.500) in the last two rounds of play to reach double figures for the 12th and 13th time this season.
• Her 10-point performance against the Broncos was her first game in double figures since Jan. 28 at Ball State when she accounted for 18 points.

SIXTH WOMAN OF THE TOURNAMENT
• While no such award is distributed in Cleveland at the MAC Tournament, media, fans and coaches alike would be hard pressed to find anyone more deserving than Renee Sladek for her consistent play in the Huskies three games.
• Under the bright lights of Quicken Loans Arena and her first games in the Cavaliers facility, the redshirt sophomore averaged 10.3 points per game, shooting .684 from the field with a 13-of-19 clip.
• During NIU's 22-point comeback, Sladek scored eight points in the first half to rally the Huskies back into the teens at halftime and finishing a perfect 5-for-5 from the field to contribute a then-season-high 12 points.
• Adding four more points in the semifinal against the Broncos, Sladek saved her best for the championship, matching her career-high of 15 points versus Toledo, going 6-for-11 from the field.
• The Merrill, Wis., native last scored 15 points on Jan. 21, 2015 in the Huskies 65-62 win at Ball State.

THE ROAD WARRIORS
• For the first time since 1993-94, NIU has won at least 10 road games following its 81-71 win at Eastern Michigan.
• The victory gave the Huskies their eighth road win in its last nine games away from the Convocation Center. NIU seven-straight games from Dec. 20 at UMKC and ended recently at Central Michigan Feb. 22.
• During the streak, five of the road wins were single-digit victories, including a one-point triumph on Jan. 11 at Kent State, 98-97, and a two-point win at Miami, 63-61.
• As a team, Northern Illinois University has averaged 85.6 points per game in its last nine road affairs, shooting .448 from the field with six players averaging double figures.
• Ally Lehman has scored 20.7 points per game in that stretch, five points more than her nearest teammate Courtney Woods 15.9 point average.
• In fact, in MAC road games, the Nineveh, Ind., native is averaging 21.3 points, 9.5 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game while shooting an incredible 51 percent from the field, accounting for over 25 percent of the team's offense.
• The 1993-94 Huskies were the last NIU team post at least 10 wins in true road games. The 1989-90 NIU women's basketball team, who won a program-record 26 games and was the first NIU team to reach the NCAA Tournament, claimed a record 12 road victories.

WHEN LAST THEY MET
• In their last meeting, the fourth meeting between the two programs, NIU and South Dakota State met in Las Vegas at the Lady Rebel Roundup at Cox Arena on the campus of UNLV.
• The Jackrabbits got off to a 31-18 start in the first half with 12 free throws proving to be the difference in the contest. The NIU defense slowed down SDSU in the second half, holding the Jacks to 24 points in the second half.
• The three Huskie seniors played in the contest with Amber Gray and Ally Lehman both starting while Cassidy Glenn played 17 minutes off the bench. Lehman accounted for four points and 11 rebounds in the 55-42 loss to South Dakota State.

THE RETURN TO FROST ARENA
• Thursday night's game in Brookings, S.D., will be the Huskies and Jackrabbits second meeting at Frost Arena.
• In a nip and tuck first half, NIU only trailed SDSU by three points at halftime, 30-27, and held the touted mid-major to just nine field goals on 28 attempts (.321) while the Huskies were 12-of-21 (.462).
• The Jacks attacked the paint in the second half and while they only made 22 attempts, they made 19 free throw attempts in the second half and converted 14 of those attempts.
• South Dakota State would claim the victory, 67-50, to improve to 9-4 while NIU fell to 4-4.
• In only her eighth appearance and sixth career start, Ally Lehman – the only suited Huskie to have played in Brookings – totaled five points, six rebounds and two steals in 29 minutes.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
• The Jackrabbits, one of the nation's premiere mid-major programs, has won at least 20 games in 10 of the last 11 seasons, including the last five. South Dakota State has been the Summit League's representative in the NCAA Tournament seven times in the last eight years.
• This season, SDSU owns a 22-8 record and finished third in the Summit League regular season with a 12-4 record behind champion Western Illinois.
• The Jaguars were outlasted South Dakota State in overtime of the Summit League Semifinal, 65-61, to end its tournament.
• Opening the season 7-2, the Jacks posted marquee wins over NCAA Tournament participants Creighton (63-56) and Northern Iowa (61-50), as well as Iowa (66-64).
• Four of the team's starters are averaging double figures this season, led by Madison Guebert's 15.2 average. SDSU is averaging 70.1 points as a team while holding opponents to 59.5 points per game.

LOOKING AHEAD
• The winner of the NIU-South Dakota State game will take on the winner of the Colorado-UNLV game. The Second Round contest will be played Saturday, Sunday or Monday with the site to be announced.