BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team earned its first road win of the season at Stroh Center Wednesday evening, defeating the Bowling Green Falcons 66-52.
 
"Our defense was consistent all night, and we got much better flow and spacing on offense in the second half," said head coach Lisa Carlsen. "We created our own offense and got into positions to be successful."
 
Redshirt-Junior Ally May (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) led NIU with a career-high 18 points and five steals, adding 15 rebounds for her third double-double of the season. Mikayla Voigt (Slinger, Wis./Kettle Moraine Lutheran) added 12 points with three three-pointers. Myia Starks (Plainfield, Ill./Nequa Valley) and Gabby Nikitinaite (Orpington, Kent, UK/Coopers School) each had 11 points. Errin Hodges (Evansville, Ind./Central) had six points and a career-high 12 rebounds off the bench.
 
"Ally really set the tone for us in the first quarter," Carlsen said. "She anchored our defense and got some good looks underneath and made them."
 
After trading baskets to start the game, NIU (10-6, 2-2 MAC) went on a 6-0 run capped by a May layup to take an 8-3 lead with 6:41 to play in the opening quarter. Bowling Green responded with an 8-0 run highlighted by a pair of three-pointers from Morgan McMillen to go ahead 11-8 with 2:42 remaining in the first. NIU held the Falcons scoreless for the remainder of the quarter, as a May layup and Voigt three put the Huskies ahead 13-11 at the end of the first.
 
Bowling Green (7-8, 0-4 MAC) opened the second quarter with back-to-back Angela Perry layups to take a 15-13 lead at the 7:33 mark. NIU then went on an 8-2 run over the next 2:57 as a pair of Nikitinaite free throws put the Huskies back in the lead, 21-17, with 4:34 to play until halftime. The Falcons responded with eight of the next 10 points, with Molly Dever's three at the 1:55 mark giving the hosts a 25-23 lead. The Huskies tied the game on a May layup, but Bowling Green scored the final five points of the half to take a 30-25 lead. NIU shot 30.6 percent from the field in the first half, but was just 1-for-12 from the three-point line.
 
The Huskies got off to a fast start in the third quarter. Layups by Nikitnaite, May, and Starks put NIU in the lead 31-30 with 7:27 to go, forcing a Falcons timeout. The lead grew to four points at the 5:21 mark when a Voigt three-pointer made the score 36-32. After Bowling Green scored five straight points to take a 47-46 lead, Starks sparked a 5-0 run with a three-point play as NIU went up 41-37 with 1:15 left in the third. The run extended into the fourth quarter as a Ninni Salmi (Kauhajoki, Finland/San Francisco) three and May layup put the Huskies ahead 50-41 with 7:16 to play, capping a 14-4 run. NIU grew its lead to double digits with 5:19 remaining when a Nikitinaite three made the score 55-44.  
 
NIU shot 55.6 percent in the fourth quarter to get to 40.6 percent for the game. The Falcons were held to 33.9 percent from the field as the Huskies outrebounded Bowling Green 47-40. NIU scored 18 points off of 19 Falcons turnovers. McMillen led all players with 20 points. NIU's 52 points allowed tied a season-low set against Chicago State on Dec. 21.
 
The Huskies are back in action at the NIU Convocation Center on Saturday, Jan. 19 when the Akron Zips come to DeKalb for a 1 p.m. game. Fans named Jim, Pam, Dwight, or Michael can receive free admission Saturday as part of NIU's "The Office" day promotion. For tickets, log on to NIUHuskies.com/tickets.
 
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