GAME INFO
Kent State (8-5) - NIU (8-4)
Date: Saturday, Jan. 3, 2018
Time: 6 PM CT
Location: DeKalb, Ill. • Convocation Center
TV: ESPN3
Radio: 1360 WLBK AM
 
NIU IN THE MAC
The Huskies are 167-233 all time in the Mid-American Conference after suffering a 67-65 setback at Miami in the conference opener. NIU was 33-39 during their first stint in the league (1982-86) and are 134-194 since rejoining the conference in 1997. NIU is 16-20 in league play under head coach Lisa Carlsen.
           
LAST TIME OUT
The Huskies suffered a 67-65 setback at Miami in the Mid-American Conference opener for both teams at Millett Hall Saturday. With 15.7 seconds left in the game and the Huskies trailing, 65-62, Courtney Woods nailed her first three pointer of the game to tie the contest, 65-65. However, a Huskie foul on the shot put Lauren Dickerson to the line for a pair of free throws. The RedHawk guard hit both shots to give Miami a 67-65 lead with three seconds left in regulation. The Huskies' full court inbounds pass was intercepted and Miami sealed the victory.

CARLSEN CLIMBING
Lisa Carlsen enters her third season as head coach of the NIU Women's Basketball team. She has a 40-35 record at NIU for a .533 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 224-198 in 15 seasons as a head coach. She is eight wins away from passing Alice Textor (1977-81) who tallied a 47-46 record.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Kent State leads the all-time series, 20-15, however, the Huskies have won the last two meetings, sweeping the season series in 2017. NIU is 9-6 versus the Golden Flashes at home and have won the last four meeting in the Convocation Center. The last Huskie loss at home came on Jan. 30, 2010 when NIU fell, 80-71. The Huskies' longest winning streak in the series is four, from Jan. 28, 2012 to Jan. 17, 2015. Kent State won seven straight meetings from 1998-2003.
 
WHEN LAST WE MET
A staunch defensive effort, hot second-half shooting and relentless rebounding helped push the Huskies to a 93-72 victory over Kent State at the Convocation Center on Jan. 25, 2017. Five players finished in double figures with Mikayla Voigt leading the way scoring 18 points. NIU hauled in a season-high 57 rebounds and held the Golden Flashes to 30 percent shooting from the field, while the Huskies 44.1 percent of their shots, including 47.4 percent in the second half. The Huskies also posted a 98-97 win at Kent State earlier in the season.
 
SEEING DOUBLE
Ally May recorded her second double-double of the season and the fifth double-double for NIU this year when she tallied 16 points and 11 rebounds at Miami. May and Courtney Woods each recorded a double-double against Western Illinois with Woods scoring 39 points and grabbing 11 rebounds while May tallied 10 points and 16 rebounds. Myia Starks recorded her first career double-double when she scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in NIU's game against Albany. Kelly Smith accomplished the feat when she scored 23 points and grabbed 10 boards at Chicago State on Nov. 20.
 
PURSUING 1,000
Mikayla Voigt is 120 points away from joining her teammates in the 1,000-career-point club with 880 career points following her four-point effort at Miami. 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.
 
DEFENDING THE GLASS
NIU tied its season high defensive rebounds at Miami hauling in 37 as the Huskie out-rebounded Miami 49-41. The Huskies lead the MAC and are eighth in the country in defensive rebounds, grabbing 31.1 a game. NIU ranks third in the league and 45th in country in rebounds per game, averaging 42.7.
 
MONEY FROM THE CHARITY STRIPE
Mikayla Voight, who entered the season as NIU's career leader in free throw percentage is currently (.841), three points ahead of Stephanie Raymond (2003-07), who owns an .839 free throw percentage. Voigt has hit 26-of-3 from the free throw line this season and 132-157 for her career.
 
STARKS STEPPING TO THE LINE
Myia Starks ranks second in the MAC and 18th in the nation free throw shooting after leads NIU from the free-throw line, going 33-of-37 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.
 
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 1,083 career points in 75 games at NIU, while Smith is right behind her with 1,074 in 99 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.
 
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.
 
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.