DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team was unable to overcome a hot-shooting Miami team as it fell to the RedHawks, 77-62, at the NIU Convocation Center Wednesday night.
Miami (13-8, 5-5) shot 48.5 percent from the floor, including 38.9 percent from three-point territory. Five RedHawks finished in double figures with Savannah Kluesner leading the way with a team-high 16 points.
Courtney Woods (Brisbane, Australia/St. Margaret's Anglican School) led a trio of double-digit scorers for NIU (10-11, 2-8) as the Huskie junior turned in her sixth double-double of the season with 17 points and 10 rebounds, both game highs.
Mikayla Voigt (Slinger, Wis./Kettle Moraine Lutheran) moved seven points closer to 1,000 for her career as she added 16 points and five assists, while senior
Kelly Smith (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) finished with 13 points and eight boards.
"Obviously, we're not happy with the result," said NIU head coach
Lisa Carlsen. "We definitely didn't play a good 40 minutes of basketball, but I think you have to credit Miami. Defensively, especially, they did a really nice job of disrupting us on the offensive end.
"It felt like we struggled to get in any kind of a flow. I believe that affected us on the defensive end as far as the ability to lock in and get stops, especially in key situations."
The Huskies committed 18 turnovers on the night and Miami capitalized, turning them into 23 points. One of those turnovers came at a time when NIU was mounting a rally.
After falling behind by 12, 62-50, early in the fourth quarter, NIU went on an 8-0 run to cut the Miami lead to 62-58 with 5:45 left in the game. With an opportunity to pull within two, a cross-court pass went wide and out of bounds and Miami took possession.
Miami's Leah Purvis, who finished with 14 points, hit a three-pointer on the RedHawks ensuing possession and the Huskies were unable to recover. Purvis' three keyed an 8-1 run by Miami to push its lead to 11 with 3:05 left to go.
Another three by Purvis, a lay up and three-pointer by Lauren Dickerson gave Miami a 15-point advantage with 1:53 left to play.
The Huskies came up empty on five of their last six possessions of the game. NIU turned the ball over three times and had three missed shots during that stretch.
"We'll go back and look at those possessions where we either didn't get an opportunity [to score]," Carlsen said. "I know we had a couple turnovers in that stretch that hurt us. When you're playing from behind there's going to be some key breakdowns on the defensive end where we didn't get stops or gave them second chance opportunities. Those are the things that come back to haunt you."
The Huskies return to action Saturday, Feb. 3, 2018 when NIU travels to Kent State. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT. Fans can watch the game live on ESPN3 or listen on 1360 WLBK AM.
-NIU-
