THE NEED TO KNOWS
No. 4 NIU (20-10) vs No. 8 Western Michigan (19-12)
Cleveland, Ohio (Quicken Loans Arena)
Tipoff: March 10, 10 a.m. Central
Video: ESPN3
Radio: WLBK 98.9 FM/1360 AM
Live Stats: MAC-Sports.com
 
MATCHUP DETAILS
NIU trails Western Michigan in the all-time series, 36-22
 
FREE THROWS
• The Huskies first lead with 34 seconds left in regulation was its only lead.
• Wednesday's 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.
• The 22-point deficit was also tied for the 10th largest in NCAA history entering this season and the largest in Mid-American Conference history.
• NIU is No. 5 in the nation in scoring offense, averaging 85.7 points per game, and have scored at least 90 points 10 times.
• The semifinal appearance is the program's first since 2007 and it's fourth since the tournament began playing at Quicken Loans Arena in 2000.
• The Huskies are the only team in the country with five players averaging 10-or-more points per game.
• Point guard Ally Lehman is just five assists shy of setting NIU's single season assist record and six from registering a new career record.
•  Mikayla Voigt's 19 points led the Huskies versus the Bobcats on Wednesday, matching her career-high she's previously met three times.
•  Cassidy Glenn scored five points versus OU, hitting NIU's first and last shots of the game.
• NIU's victory against the Eagles on Feb. 25 set the program record for MAC wins in a season.
• NIU has overcome deficits of 10-points or larger five times this season and 10 times in the last four years, the highest total by a four-year class at NIU in the last 12 years.
• 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.
 
WHERE HAVE YOU HEARD THIS ONE BEFORE?
• With 34 seconds left in regulation and NIU trailing Ohio, 71-70, Cassidy Glenn made the game-winning layup
• The time difference between Glenn's first basket, three-pointer with 8:51 left in the first quarter, and her last, the game-winning layup with 34 seconds left, spanned 38:17 on the game clock.
• She registered eight rebounds, two assists and two steals in 33 minutes on the floor.
• Defensively, the New Lenox, Ill., helped disrupt Ohio forward Quiera Lampkins to 6-of-17 from the field.
• Glenn drained a buzzer-beating trey at the end of regulation versus Buffalo on Jan. 28, 2016 to help the Huskies to a 76-74 win last season. The play was No. 4 on SportsCenter's Top-10 that evening.
• In seven of the team's last 12 victories, Glenn has accounted for the Huskies go-ahead basket.
 
NOT FOREIGN TERRITORY FOR THE HUSKIES
• Since Head Coach Lisa Carlsen arrived in DeKalb, Northern Illinois University has made a living of overcoming deficits of 10 points or larger.
• The 22-point comeback versus Ohio, NIU's fifth double-digit comeback of the season and the eighth over the last two seasons, was the largest in Mid-American Conference history and tied for the largest in NCAA Division I postseason history.
• On March 8, 2013, Washington overcame a 22-point deficit to Oregon in the First Round of the Pac-12 Tournament.
• It also tied for the 10th-biggest comeback in NCAA history.
• The Huskies last double figures comeback was against Western Michigan at the NIU Convocation Center on Feb. 4. Down 30-16 with 6:16 left in the second quarter, the Huskies  closed the half on a 14-2 run to close the gap to two points at halftime, 32-30.
• NIU would go on to win by five, 67-62, in its lone win over the Broncos. The Huskies were unable to complete an 18-point comeback at WMU in the season finale, falling, 90-77.
 
OTHER TIDBITS FROM WEDNESDAY
• Senior Ally Lehman finished the night 8-of-15 from the field with 17 points, seven rebounds and six assists. She was a perfect 6-of-6 in the second half of the game during the NIU comeback.
• The Huskies posted their best shooting performance in a quarter this season when they went 10-of-12 (.833) from the field.
• Northern Illinois' 28-point margin in the paint (44-16) was its largest over an opponent all season.
• After shooting 9-for-21 (.429) behind the arc in the first half, the Bobcats finished 4-of-17 in the second half with a 1-of-10 clip in the fourth period.
• Four Huskies scored in double-figures during the game, paced by Mikayla Voigt's 19-point effort.
• The Huskies 24 points in the first half was NIU's lowest total in the opening two periods this season.
• Northern Illinois University out rebounded Ohio 41-38 and had not outrebounded a foe since Feb. 15 at Miami (W, 63-61).
 
HUSKIES REGISTER 20TH WIN OF THE SEASON
• It was only fitting that NIU overcome a deficit larger than 20 points for its 20th win on Wednesday as it had not reached the plateau since the 1993-94 season.
• It is the sixth 20-win season in Northern Illinois University women's basketball history.
• Lisa Carlsen is also just the second coach in program history to record the feat as NIU Athletics Hall of Fame Jane Albright reached the mark five times in 10 seasons.
• NIU is the sixth team in the MAC this season to record 20 wins this season, joining Ball State, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Ohio and Toledo.
• Western Michigan is one win shy of 20 entering Friday morning's affair.
 
THE MILLENNIALS
• The NIU scoring duo of Ally Lehman and Courtney Woods have averaged over 15 points per game this entire season and have each scored over 500 points this season.
• The duo are the first Huskies to each score 500 points in a season since Cindy Connor and E.C. Hill in 1992-93 to record the feat.
• With her 12 points on Wednesday, Woods reached the mark and became just the third underclassmen to reach the plateau and the first since NIU's all-time leading scorer Lisa Foss scored 548 points as a sophomore in 1987-88.
 
DISHING DIMES
• After her six assist game versus Ohio on Wednesday night, Ally Lehman improved her season and career assist totals to 197 and 521, respectively.
• With five more helpers, Lehman would set a new single-season record at NIU and become just the second player in program history to reach 200 assists.
• Furthermore, with six more, the Nineveh, Ind., native would break the program record for assists in a career.
 
CRASH THEM HARD
• With seven rebounds on Wednesday, Ally Lehman put herself within three rebounds of becoming the first player in the MAC since Crystal Bradford in 2012-13 and 2013-14 to pull down 300-or-more rebounds in consecutive seasons.
• Lehman would become the first player in NIU history to record the feat.
• For her career, Lehman has crashed 971 boards and is sixth in the Huskie record book. She is 29 rebounds shy of becoming just the fourth player in NCAA Division I history to record 1,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 500 assists in a career.
 
WHEN LAST THEY MET
• Less than a week ago, NIU closed the regular season at Western Michigan, seeking a win to clinch the No. 3 seed in the tournament.
• A slow finish by the Huskies in the first quarter quickly found WMU ahead by double figures at the second media timeout with 4:34 left in the first half.
• The Huskies trailed by 18 in the third quarter, they made a valiant comeback effort to seven points with seven points with 2:28 left, 82-75, on a basket by Kelly Smith.
• Cassidy Glenn led the Huskies with 20 points off the bench in the game, the second game this season an NIU bench player accounted for at least 20.
 
HOW THEY GOT HERE
• Western Michigan, who earned the No. 8 seed, hosted No. 9 Miami in the First Round of the MAC Tournament on Monday night.
• The Broncos defeated the RedHawks at University Arena, 73-66, to advance to Cleveland and take on regular season champion Central Michigan.
• WMU didn't back down from its bitter rival as it went toe-to-toe with CMU until the Chippewas took a nine-point lead with 4:34 left in the fourth quarter.
• The Broncos would finish the game on a 17-3 run, hitting a three-pointer with 11.4 seconds left to take a 65-63 lead.
• After causing a turnover on the defensive end of the floor - the Chips 18th of the game • Bronco captain Meredith Shipman iced the game with two free throws to finish the upset over the top-seeded Chippewas, 67-63.
 
TOP-FOUR HISTORY
• The Huskies top-four finish in the Mid-American Conference was its fourth all-time and its first since 2009 under former Head Coach Carol Owens.
• NIU's finish punches its ticket to Cleveland where it will play its first game at Quicken Loans Arena since 2014.
• It is tied for the highest finish by Northern Illinois University as a MAC member while its 12 #MACtion wins are its most ever.
• In their other conference affiliations - the Mid-Continent, Midwestern and the North Star Conferences - the Huskies finished in the top-four eight times.
• In six of those seasons, NIU advanced to the tournament championship and went 4-2 in the final.
• In NIU's other fourth-place finishes, Jane Albright's 11-7 team in 1984-85 paved the way for a No. 4 seed in the MAC Tournament. The Huskies first accomplished the feat in 1983-84 under Cherri Block.
 
UNPARALLELED EFFICIENCY AT THE LINE
• All season, Northern Illinois has posted marksman like efficiency at the free throw line, shooting over 80 percent 17 times.
• Ranked seventh nationally, NIU has made 478 shots from the free throw line, 88 makes behind the national leader and MAC foe Kent State.
• However, amongst opponents ranked in the top-10, the Huskies have attempted at least 50 fewer shots at the charity stripe and are the only team with fewer than 650 attempts.
• NIU's 78.6 clip at the line puts them at seventh nationally in free throw percentage while its 608 attempts are 37th most in the NCAA this season.
 
AND THAT'S WHY THEY ATTACK
• There's a reason why the Huskies attack the basket so often and the free-throw line is a large part of that system as they average 16.5 points per game at the charity stripe.
• NIU proved that on Saturday afternoon as it found itself trailing by 18 in the third quarter.
• After drawing 11 fouls, the Huskies went to the line 12 times and made 10 attempts. After the Broncos loosened its defensive grip, NIU shot 8-of-14 from the field and closed the gap to seven points at the end of the frame.
• Northern Illinois University is 13-3 when attempting 20-or-more free throw attempts.
 
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 84.4 points per game in its last eight road affairs, shooting .454 from the field with six players averaging double figures.
• Ally Lehman has scored 20.4 points per game in that stretch, three points more than her nearest teammate Courtney Woods 17.3 point average.
• In fact, in MAC road games, the Nineveh, Ind., native is also averaging 9.5 rebounds 6.5 assists with two 10-assist games.
• 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.
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE MACHINE
• In the last 60 games, Ally Lehman has recorded 32 double-doubles with two triple-doubles.
• Through the Huskies 30 outings this season, Lehman has recorded the feat 17 times, setting NIU's single season record.
• The Nineveh, Ind., is ranked ninth in the country in double-doubles and is the only guard ranked in the top-30. Lehman has also reached the mark in one to four games fewer than those above her on the list.
• Eleven times this season, Lehman registered a points-rebounds double-double while recording the accomplishment six times with points-assists, also setting the program's record for 10-assist games in a season and a career.
• With her diversity in reaching the double-double mark, she is sixth at NIU in career rebounds with 971 and is second all-time in assists with 521.
• She is just 36 boards from becoming the sixth Huskie - the first guard - to crash 1,000 boards. Lehman is 14th at NIU in scoring at 1,406 points.
• With her ascension into the 1,000-rebound club, Lehman would become just the fourth player in NCAA Division I history to record 1,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 500 assists in a career.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
• The Mid-American Conference Championship is slated for Saturday, March 11 with a 10 a.m. Central tipoff. The game will air live on CBS Sports Network.
• The NCAA Selection Show will air live on ESPN at 6 p.m. Central on Monday, March 13.
• If NIU does not advance to The Big Dance, the Huskies could earn a berth to the WNIT, which also be announced next Monday.