DEKLAB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team recorded its third-straight win after rallying to defeat Bowling Green, 73-68, in the Convocation Center Saturday afternoon.
 
"Like most MAC wins, that was a hard-fought 40 minutes," said NIU head coach Lisa Carlsen. "I knew we were going to be in a situation where we were going to need a couple people to step up and I think we had that. Anybody that stepped on the floor gave us quality minutes."
 
NIU (13-11, 5-8 MAC) outshot Bowling Green (10-14, 2-11 MAC), 35.8-35.6 from the field, While the Falcons were an impressive 11-of-32 from three-point territory, Saturday's game was won at the free throw line. The Huskies converted 21-of-24 free throw attempts, led by Courtney Woods (Brisbane, Australia/St. Margaret's Anglican School). The Huskie junior was a perfect 10-of-10 from the charity stripe helping her to her eighth double-double of the season.
 
Woods finished the day with a game-high 29 points and 12 rebounds, all on the defensive end of the floor and was one of three Huskies in double digits. Abby Woolacott (Rockford, Ill./Rockford Lutheran) added a career-best 19 points, while Mikayla Voigt (Slinger, Wis./Kettle Moraine Lutheran) followed with 15. Like Woods, Voigt was perfect from the line hitting all six of her free throw attempts.
 
The Huskies trailed by 11 points with a little over a minute left in the first half. However, NIU went on a 6-0 run to end the half and the Huskies went into the break down, 35-30. A pair of second half scoring outbursts and strong defense helped push NIU past Bowling Green.
 
Down 46-42 with 5:29 left in the third, the Huskies went on a 14-3 run to close out the quarter and take a 56-49 lead into the fourth. Bowling Green responded with a 9-2 run in the opening minutes of the quarter to tie the game, 58-58, with 7:38 left in the game. The Falcons took a 61-60 lead with 7:01 left in the contest. That would be their last lead of the game.
 
NIU went on a 9-2 run the next five minutes to wrestle control of the game and open up a 69-63 lead with 1:44. The Huskies went 4-for-4 from the free throw line down the stretch to seal the win.
 
"Any time you look at the fourth quarter, especially late in the game, you're going to look at key possessions and hopefully good things happen," Carlsen said. "I think we had a couple of those. Courtney hit a big three that was huge for us and down the stretch, we were able to keep the ball alive on the offensive glass."
 
Riley Blackwell (Plainfield, Ind./Plainfield) hauled in a career-best 10 rebounds, but NIU was outrebounded 48-44. However, the Huskies won the turnover battle, committing a season-low nine turnovers on the day. They are the fewest turnovers for NIU this season since the second game of the year at Iowa.
 
NIU will return to the floor on Saturday, Feb. 17, when the Huskies play host to Ball State as part of a doubleheader at the Convocation Center. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. CT. Fans can watch the game live on ESPN3 or listen on 1360 AM & 98.9 FM WLBK.
 
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