MISSOULA, Mont. – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team shot a season-high 56.7 percent from the field and 60 percent from the three-point line Sunday in a 98-69 win over the Nevada Wolf Pack at the Lady Griz Classic at Dahlberg Arena.
 
Courtney Woods (Brisbane, Australia/St. Margaret's) led all scorers with 28 points, going 10-for-14 from the field and 4-for-5 from the three-point line. She was named to the All-Tournament Team after averaging 23 points per game in NIU's two games. Mikayla Voigt (Slinger, Wis./Kettle Moraine Lutheran) made five three-pointers on her way to a season-high 21 points.
 
Three other Huskies scored in double-figures Sunday. Gabby Nikitinaite (Orpington, Kent, UK/Coopers School) scored 16 points off the bench, one shy of tying her career-high. She was a career-high 10-for-10 at the free-throw line. Myia Starks (Oswego, Ill./Nequa Valley) had 12 points and three assists. Ally May (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) scored 10 points and pulled down six rebounds.
 
NIU (4-3) opened the game on a 7-2 run with a Woods three-pointer at the 7:24 mark of the first. Nevada then got four straight points from Terae Briggs to cut the Huskies' lead to one, 7-6, with 6:33 to go in the quarter. The Wolf Pack eventually tied the game at 12 with 5:01 to play on a Jade Redmon jumper. The Huskies then went on an 8-2 run over the next 2:00, as baskets by Starks and Woods put NIU ahead 20-14. The Wolf Pack closed the deficit to one, 22-21, at the end of the quarter.
 
The Huskies opened the second quarter on a 10-1 run, getting threes from Woods and Voigt, to take a 32-22 lead with 6:47 remaining in the half. NIU's lead extended to 15 at the 3:11 mark when three consecutive three-pointers by Voigt and Woods gave the Huskies a 41-26 advantage. The Huskies outscored Nevada 25-13 in the quarter to take a 47-34 halftime lead.
 
Nevada (1-6) got within nine points early in the third quarter as an Amaya West jumper made the score 49-40. NIU then went on a 10-2 run, capped by three-pointers from Woods and Voigt, to go up 59-42 with 5:40 to play in the third. The Wolf Pack battled back and got within 10 by the end of the third quarter, 68-58. The Huskies put the game away in the fourth. NIU scored the first 10 points of the final quarter, with threes from Voigt and Ninni Salmi (Kauhajoki, Finland/Makelanrinne Sports/San Francisco) putting NIU ahead 78-58 with 7:40 to play. The lead grew to 28 as Nikitinaite scored six straight points in an 11-0 run that gave the Huskies a 91-63 lead with 4:30 remaining. All told, NIU outscored the Wolf Pack 30-11 in the final quarter, shooting almost 70 percent from the field while holding Nevada to 23.5 percent from the field.
 
The Huskies held a 42-28 rebound advantage, bolstered by a team-high nine from freshman Mikayla Brandon (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais). NIU also assisted on 16 of 34 made field goals. Nevada was held to 40 percent shooting from the field and made only three of 18 three-point attempts.

NIU is back in action on Friday, Dec. 7 when the Huskies take on the Southern Illinois Salukis at 7 p.m. in Carbondale as part of the Compass Challenge.

--NIU--