DeKALB, IL – It was a record-setting night for Northern Illinois University women's basketball forward Courtney Woods (Brisbane, Australia/St. Margaret's) Thursday night against Eastern Illinois, as the redshirt-senior made five three-pointers to become the Huskies' all-time leader in career threes as NIU defeated the Panthers 61-48 in the opening night of the Compass Challenge.
 
"I can honestly say I wasn't a shooter when I came in to NIU and now I have this record," said Woods following Thursday night's win. "It's a massive credit to this program, my teammates, and my coaches for getting me to this point and helping me with my shot. It's great to reach an awesome record like this."
 
Woods entered the night with 275 three-pointers, three behind Kylie York's 278 from 2006-10. She finished the night with five threes to give her 280 for her career and a game-high 25 points. Woods also had six rebounds and led NIU in assists for the seventh consecutive game with three. The redshirt-senior forward also moved into fourth place on the NIU all-time scoring chart with 1,834 points.
 
"Courtney is a great scorer and she was a great scorer the day she walked on campus," said head coach Lisa Carlsen. "We expect her when she has looks at three to knock them down, and she does a great job of that. Her growth in other areas of her game have been the most impressive. It's not necessarily what she'll be known for, but there were a lot of possessions that I'm going to be really proud of her on the defensive end. There were other areas of the game that she helped us win tonight and her teammates recognize how hard she works at those."
 
After falling behind 31-27 at halftime, Woods sparked an NIU comeback in the third quarter. She opened the period with a three-point play 31 seconds into the game to get the Huskies within one. Eastern Illinois (5-4) extended its lead to seven, 37-30, with 7:43 to play in the third on six straight points from Abby Wahl.
 
NIU (4-5) then put the clamps on the Panthers defensively, holding Eastern Illinois scoreless over the next 6:15. NIU went on an 11-0 run over that stretch with Woods and Mikayla Brandon (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) were a combined 6-for-6 from the foul line to put the Huskies up by four, 41-37, with 2:16 to play. The Panthers were able to close the gap to two before Woods split a pair of free throws with 0:07 left in the third to put NIU up 45-42 heading into the fourth. NIU was 9-for-11 from the foul line in the third as Eastern Illinois did not attempt a free throw.
 
"It was a little bit of a slow start for us," Carlsen said. "I think that happens sometimes when you have a big layoff, but I thought defensively we did a really nice job and that's what kept us in the game early. What won us the game is our consistency on the defensive end and being able to rebound the basketball."
 
Woods' third three-pointer of the game put NIU ahead 48-43 at the 6:17 mark of the fourth, sparking a 10-3 run over 3:45 which included the forward's record-tying triple and baskets by Brandon and Grace Hunter (Monroeville, Ind./Bellmont) that gave the Huskies a 55-46 lead. NIU saved its best defense for the final quarter, holding Eastern Illinois without a field goal for the first 6:39 and just 2-for-13 in the period. Woods closed the game with her record-breaking three-pointer with 1:58 to go in the game, then made her 280^th career triple with 0:19 left to make the final score 61-48.
 
NIU finished the game shooting 32.8 percent from the field and 70.6 percent at the foul line. Eastern Illinois shot 30.3 percent from the field, 16.7 percent from the three-point arc, and was just 3-for-7 at the free throw stripe. The Huskies outrebounded the Panthers 52-43 with Brandon and Myia Starks (Plainfield, Ill./Nequa Valley) leading the way with seven boards each. The Huskies' other double-digit scorer in the win was freshman A'Jah Davis (DeKalb, Ill./Montverde Academy [Fla.]), who scored all 10 of her points in the second quarter to help NIU get within four at halftime after trailing 14-5 in the first quarter. Wahl led Eastern Illinois with 18 point and 11 rebounds.
 
The Huskies will take on Southern Illinois in the championship game of the Compass Challenge presented by Holiday Inn Express and Suites Sycamore on Friday night at 7 p.m. All kids age 13 and under can receive $3 tickets for Friday's game. SIU defeated Western Illinois 79-65 in Thursday's first game.
 
--NIU--