DEKLAB, Ill. – A late second quarter surge by Ball State proved to be too much to overcome as the Northern Illinois University women's basketball team fell to the Cardinals, 72-50, in the Convocation Center Saturday afternoon.
 
 "I didn't think that we did a very good job, especially on the offensive end, of taking care of the basketball," said NIU head coach Lisa Carlsen. "That had really been what had gotten us to winning some ballgames, is having opportunities to score. When you turn it over as much as we did, especially in spurts, good things aren't bound to happen.
 
"You have to credit Ball State for a lot of that. They're a great basketball team. I thought they did a nice job of disrupting things for us on the offensive end. We didn't handle it very well, allowed them to get some easy run outs and that put us in the situation we were in."
 
NIU (13-12, 5-9 MAC) had its worst shooting performance of the season as the Huskies shot 28.6 percent from the field, hitting 18-of-63. It was the lowest shooting percentage for NIU since March 9, 2015 when the Huskies shot 28.3 percent in a 49-44 los to Central Michigan. Ball State (21-4, 10-4 MAC) shot 38.7 percent from the field, including 42.9 from three-point territory.
 
Four Cardinals finished in double figures, with Jasmin Samz leading the way with a game-high 18 points, going 7-of-10 from the field, including 4-for-4 from three-point land.
 
Two Huskies finished in double digits with Courtney Woods (Brisbane, Australia/St. Margaret's Anglican School) led the way. The NIU junior finished with 12 points and nine rebounds, while Kelly Smith (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead), who returned to action after missing last week's game, also finished in double digits with 11 points.
 
With NIU trailing, 23-16, with 6:24 left in the first half, the Huskies went on a 6-0 run to close the gap to one with 2:43 left in the half. Unfortunately, that would be as close as NIU would get. Ball State responded with an 11-0 run in the final two minutes of the first half to take a 34-22 lead into the break.
 
Another Ball State run in the third quarter put the game out of reach for the Huskies. NIU pulled to within five points in the first half of the third quarter, 40-35, but the Cardinals closed out the third quarter with an 18-0 run to take a 58-35 advantage into the fourth.
 
NIU returns to the floor Wednesday, Feb. 21, when the Huskies travel to Central Michigan. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. CT. Fans can watch the game live on ESPN3 or listen on 1360 AM & 98.9 FM WLBK.
 
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