DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team was held to 28.4 percent shooting from the field Sunday afternoon in a 73-49 loss to the Drake Bulldogs at the NIU Convocation Center.
 
"Sometimes when you play a basketball game you look at the stat sheet and it doesn't necessarily tell the whole picture," said head coach Lisa Carlsen. "I think we're going to look at the stat sheet and it's really going to tell the picture. When you play a team as good as Drake, you can't give them second chance opportunities. We didn't do a good enough job on the glass and we didn't shoot the ball well enough to keep ourselves in the ballgame."
 
The Huskies shot over 30 percent from the field in just one quarter on Sunday and was held to 5-of-31 from the three-point line. Drake outrebounded NIU 57-42 in the game and turned 19 offensive rebounds into 10 second chance points.
 
For the second straight game, senior guard Myia Starks (Plainfield, Ill./Nequa Valley) led NIU in scoring. The Huskies' point guard had nine points and tied a career-high with six steals. Ally May (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) added seven points and five rebounds. Riley Blackwell (Plainfield, Ind./Plainfield) and Abby Woollacott (Rockford, Ill./Rockford Lutheran) each led NIU with seven rebounds and Courtney Woods (Brisbane, Australia/St. Margaret's) tied a season-high with five assists.
 
NIU (4-7) took its only lead of the game 14 seconds in on a Blackwell jumper. Drake responded with a 13-2 run over the next 4:27, with six points from leading scorer Sara Rhine, to take a 13-4 lead at the 5:06 mark. The Huskies defense held Drake to one field goal over the final five minutes, going on an 8-2 run that included five points from May to close within three points of the Bulldogs, 15-12, at the end of the quarter.
 
Drake (8-4) opened the second quarter on an 11-2 run as threes by Maggie Negaard, Brenni Rose, and Becca Hittner put Drake up 26-14 with 7:46 to go. A Woollacott layup started a 6-0 run for NIU to get the Huskies within six, but the Bulldogs went on a 12-2 run with nine points from Rhine to take a 38-22 lead with 0:30 left in the first half. The Huskies scored the last basket of the half on a Mikayla Brandon (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) layup to get within 14 at the break.
 
"We did have strings where we were pretty good defensively, but shooting the ball the way we did and giving possessions away is not what you want to do against a team like Drake," Carlsen said.
 
The Huskies closed the gap to 10 early in the third quarter. NIU got back-to-back threes from Starks and Grace Hunter (Monroeville, Ind./Bellmont) to cap an 8-0 run that made the score 42-32 with 7:38 to go. Drake then held NIU scoreless for over six minutes to build a 50-32 lead before a Starks steal and layup with 1:22 left in the third made the score 50-34. The Huskies got as close as 13 points in the fourth quarter as a Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) layup made the score 57-44 with 6:40 to play. Drake then went on a 15-3 run over 3:06 to take a 72-47 lead with under three minutes to play.
 
"We just need to continue to stick together and rally when things aren't going our way," said May with conference play on the horizon for the Huskies.
 
Drake shot 40.6 percent from the field and scored 29 points off 20 NIU turnovers. The Huskies forced 23 turnovers but scored only 13 points off of those Bulldogs miscues. Rhine led all scorers with 18 points. Rose had a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
 
NIU opens Mid-American Conference play on Saturday, January 4 at Ohio. Tip-off is at 1 p.m.
 
--NIU--