WEST LAFAYETTE, IN – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team got off to a fast start Sunday afternoon against the Purdue Boilermakers at Mackey Arena, but a 21-11 third quarter helped propel the Boilermakers to a 68-63 win.
 
"When we go back and watch this, we're going to see a lot of good things," said head coach Lisa Carlsen. "I think, for the most part, defensively we did a good job of trying to keep them in check. Obviously they got a little comfortable in the third quarter and we let them go on a little bit of a run. We rebounded from that and we had some looks and some layups that didn't go down."
 
Courtney Woods (Brisbane, Australia/St. Margaret's) led NIU with 16 points and four assists. Riley Blackwell (Plainfield, Ind./Plainfield) and Gabby Nikitinaite (Orpington, Kent, UK/Coopers School) each added eight points as all 10 Huskies that played scored. Ally May (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) led the Huskies with six rebounds.
 
NIU (2-3) came out firing in the first quarter. The Huskies opened the game on an 11-3 run in the first 2:49 with Woods and Nikitinaite scoring all 11 points and making three three-pointers. Purdue answered with a 7-0 run to get within one at 11-10 with 5:33 to play in the first but a Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) three got the Huskies back up by four with 5:07 left in the half. The Boilermakers used a 9-2 run capped by a Cassidy Hardin three to take a 19-16 advantage with 1:23 left in the quarter, but NIU tied the quarter with a Mikayla Brandon (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) triple 13 seconds later. Five of the Huskies' six made field goals in the first quarter came from the three-point line as the period ended in a 19-19 tie.
 
"We shot it well and forced them to take some perimeter shots instead of letting them establish some things inside," Carlsen said about the opening quarter. "That set the tone for the game. Our kids did a good job of believing from a possession to possession basis."
 
Purdue (4-0) took the lead at the start of the second quarter as a Hardin three-pointer put the Boilermakers ahead 22-19 at the 8:55 mark. NIU then went on a 12-2 run over the next five minutes to take a 31-24 lead. A'Jah Davis (DeKalb, Ill./Montverde Academy [Fla.]) had four points in that stretch as Grace Hunter (Monroeville, Ind./Bellmont) added her first career points with a three-pointer. Woods' third three-pointer of the half gave NIU a 35-26 lead with 1:41 to go in the half, the Huskies' largest lead of the first 20 minutes. Purdue cut the deficit to five, 35-30, by halftime on baskets by Ae'Rianna Harris and Tamara Farquhar. NIU scored 12 points off eight Purdue turnovers in the half and was 8-for-14 from the three-point line.
 
The Boilermakers quickly erased NIU's lead with a Dominique Oden jumper and Karissa McLaughlin three-point play in the first 22 seconds, tying the game at 35. After Blackwell made a layup that briefly put NIU back ahead, Oden made back-to-back threes to spark a 14-4 run over 5:13 that gave Purdue a 49-41 lead with 3:03 left in the third. The Huskies cut the deficit to five by the end of the quarter as a Nikitinaite three made the score 51-46. The Boilermakers took their largest lead of the game with 6:56 to play in the fourth, opening the final quarter on a 9-0 run to take a 60-46 advantage.
 
NIU held Purdue to one field goal for the remainder of the game which helped the Huskies go on one last run. Woods and Myia Starks (Plainfield, Ill./Nequa Valley) combined for nine of NIU's 13 points in a 13-2 run over 3:57 that got the Huskies within three, 64-61, with 0:21 left. After Kayana Traylor split a pair of free throws with 19 seconds left, Woods made a layup to cut the deficit to two, 65-63, with 13 seconds to go. That was as close as NIU would get as Purdue went 3-for-4 from the foul line in the last 11 seconds to come away with the 68-63 win.
 
 
The Huskies' late rally in the fourth helped boost their field goal percentage for the game to 36.9 percent. Purdue shot 37.7 percent from the field and was 13-for-17 from the free throw line while NIU was 6-for-9. The Boilermakers outrebounded NIU 44-40 while the Huskies forced 17 Purdue turnovers while committing 14. Traylor led Purdue with 16 points and nine assists as Oden added 15.
 
NIU head to Las Vegas to play in the South Point Shootout November 29-30. The Huskies take on Tennessee Tech on Friday at 3:15 p.m. central.
 
--NIU--