DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team made a season-high 11 three-pointers Wednesday in an 81-63 win over the North Dakota State Bison at the NIU Convocation Center for Education Day.
"I felt like we got great shots today," said head coach
Lisa Carlsen. "I thought a lot of people did a lot of good things. We got a lot of good looks everywhere, especially from behind the arc."
All 12 Huskies that dressed Wednesday played, with nine different Huskies scoring.
Courtney Woods (Brisbane, Australia) led the Huskies with 25 points, going 10-for-17 from the field with six rebounds and four assists.
Mikayla Voigt (Slinger, Wis./Kettle Moraine Lutheran) made five three-pointers on her way to 17 points.
Errin Hodges (Evansville, Ind./Central) also scored in double-figures with 11 points, adding a team-high seven rebounds.
"To get everyone on the floor today was awesome," said Woods. "It's such a different feeling when you're out there compared to practice. Now that they have a taste of it, they're going to want it even more. It's competitive for minutes right now. I feel like everyone did their job today and I think we looked good today."
After falling behind 4-0 early, NIU (3-2) got threes from Woods and Voigt to take a 6-4 lead with 8:22 to play in the first quarter. The Bison's Michelle Gaislerova then scored five of the next seven points to put North Dakota State ahead 9-8. That would be the Bison's last lead of the game. Sparked by a
Myia Starks' (Oswego, Ill./Nequa Valley) jumper and Voigt triple, the Huskies closed the quarter on a 16-6 run to take a 26-15 lead. Voigt had two threes in that stretch with Woods adding five points as well.
NIU extended its lead to 15 points with 5:19 to play in the second quarter when a Hodges layup capped a 7-2 Huskies run that made the score 35-20. NIU took a 43-28 lead into halftime when
Paulina Castro (Elgin, Ill./Harvest Christian) made the Huskies' fifth three of the half with seven second remaining. The Huskies shot 50 percent from the field in the first half and turned the ball over just once.
In the third quarter, the NIU offense continued to pour in. The Huskies went on a 13-3 run over 3:06 to take a 60-35 lead, getting three-pointers from Woods, Voigt, and
Gabby Nikitinaite (Orpington, Kent, UK/Coopers School). Nikitinaite added another three-pointer at the 1:26 mark to put NIU ahead by 26, 65-39. NIU led by as much as 28 early in the fourth quarter, which allowed the Huskies to play a number of reserves.
"We played really great team basketball today," said Voigt, who tied a season-high with her 17 points. "We shared the ball very well, and that just makes our jobs as shooters a lot easier. It was also great to see a lot of our teammates get some playing time in the second half. I know we were really pumped when some of our teammates made those big threes in the second half. It was really fun to see."
Both teams shot 41.9 percent from the field in the game. The Huskies shot 41.6 percent from the three-point line, making 11 of 36 attempts. The Bison outrebounded the Huskies 47-35, but NIU forced 17 NDSU turnovers while only committing two. NIU scored 22 points off those 17 turnovers.
"I thought we did a great job of taking care of the basketball," Carlsen said. "I also think we did a really good job of sharing the basketball. Those are two things that are really important for us going forward if we want to continue to be contenders every time out."
NIU travels to Montana this weekend to play in the Lady Griz Classic Dec. 1-2. The Huskies will take on Montana on Saturday at 3 p.m., followed by a game against either UC Davis or Nevada on Sunday at 1 p.m.
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