DEKALB, Ill. ­– A staunch defensive effort late helped propel the Northern Illinois University women's basketball team (9-4, 1-1) to an 81-79 victory over Kent State (8-6, 1-1) at the Convocation Center Wednesday night.
 
"I never have a doubt that these guys understand not giving up until the final buzzer and that's what you saw tonight," said NIU head coach Lisa Carlsen. "There were times that it wasn't pretty, but I think there were spurts, especially in the second half where you can look at where people stepped up and were able to push us over the edge. We found a way at the end to do what we need to do at both ends of the floor."
 
The NIU defense held the Golden Flashes without a field goal the last 4:12 of the game, while the Huskies outscored Kent State 9-3 during that stretch. All nine Huskie points came off the hands of Courtney Woods (Brisbane, Australia/St. Margaret's Anglican School).
 
Trailing 76-72 with 4:12 following a McKenna Stephens three-pointer, Woods sparked the Huskie rally when she hit back-to-back-threes to give NIU a 78-76 with 3:10 left in the game. The Huskie junior then hit a pair of free throws to push the lead to four, 80-76, with 2:36 left in the contest.
 
Kent State used their free throw shooting to pull to within one in the final minute of the game. Jordan Korinek hit a pair of free throws at the two-minute mark, while Megan Carter hit the backend of a one-and-one with 55 seconds left in the game.
 
Carter had a chance to give Kent State the lead with four seconds left, but Kelly Smith (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) came up with the block and the Golden Flashes were forced to inbounds the ball with two seconds left. Mikayla Voigt (Slinger, Wis./Kettle Moraine Lutheran) intercepted the inbounds and was promptly fouled.
 
Woods was quickly fouled on the successive inbounds, sending the Aussie to the line for two shots. She missed the first, but made the second. Out of timeouts, Kent State had to move the ball the length of the floor for a game-winning or game-tying basket. The inbounds sailed all the way down to the other end of the floor, untouched, giving the ball to the Huskies under their own basket with one second left.
 
Kent State led much of the night, taking leads into the second, third and fourth periods. The Golden Flashes held their largest lead of the game, eight points, with 8:05 left in the game. However, the Huskies kept pushing and pulled off the comeback.
 
"The difference in the second half was we did a much better job of being aggressive and trying to the rim," Carlsen said. "Not only giving the ball to our post players, but our guards, off the bounce, were able to get to the paint and I think that was the difference."
 
Woods tied her career-high in points, which she scored in NIU's victory over Western Illinois earlier this season. The Huskie guard was 11-of-19 from the field, including 7-of-10 from three-point territory. She went a career-best 10-of-12 from the free throw line and tallied five rebounds.
 
Myia Starks (Oswego, Ill./Neuqua Valley) tallied 16 points, going 6-of-8 from the field and 4-of-6 from the line and making four steals before fouling out. Smith also finished in double figures, scoring 11 points.
 
The Huskies return to the court Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018 when NIU plays host to Buffalo. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT. Tickets are available at NIUHuskies.com. Fans can watch the game live on ESPN3 or listen on WSQR 92.9 FM and 1180 AM.
 
-NIU-