MILWAUKEE, WI – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team wrapped up its seven-game road trip Thursday night with a 78-65 loss to the Milwaukee Panthers at the Klotsche Center.
"Unfortunately, we've had a long road stretch and haven't had great success while we've been on the road," said head coach
Lisa Carlsen. "It's all a learning process and its still early in the season. Every game presents different situations and different things to learn from. We'll learn from this one and move forward, get finals taken care of, and we need to keep moving forward as conference play gets closer."
Courtney Woods (Brisbane, Australia/St. Margaret's) and
Grace Hunter (Monroeville, Ind./Bellmont), who made her first career start Thursday night, each led the Huskies with 19 points. The duo was a combined 16-for-25 from the field and 4-for-10 from the three-point arc.
Riley Blackwell (Plainfield, Ind./Plainfield) pulled down a team-high nine rebounds to go with six points and two blocks.
NIU (3-5) used a 9-3 run early in the third quarter, capped off by five straight points from Hunter, to take a 43-33 lead with 6:13 remaining. It was the Huskies' largest lead of the game. Milwaukee responded with a 10-0 run over the next 3:11 as a pair of Sydney Levy threes helped the Panthers tie the game at 43. Levy's third triple of the quarter gave Miwaukee it's first lead of the game, 46-45, with 2:24 to play. Trailing 49-46, NIU scored the final five points of the quarter on a Woods layup and a
Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) three before the buzzer to take a 51-49 advantage into the fourth.
Milwaukee (3-5) scored the first four points of the final quarter with an Emma Wittmershaus layup giving the Panthers a 53-51 lead. A Woods three-pointer sparked a 9-3 Huskies run over 1:52 seconds, putting NIU ahead 60-56 with 7:09 to play in the game. After the Panthers tied the game at 60 with 6:03 on the clock, Hunter made her third three-pointer of the game to give NIU a 63-60 lead. Milwaukee then got back-to-back threes from Levy and Lizzie Odegard to go up 66-63 with 4:01 to play. Hunter got NIU within one at the 2:52 mark, but that would be the Huskies' final points of the night. The Panthers closed the game on a 12-0 run to win 78-65.
NIU opened the game with 7-2 run in first 4:40, capped by Hunter pull-up three in transition. Hunter and Woods had NIU's first 11 points, as the Huskies took an 11-7 lead on a Woods jumper with 3:09 left in the quarter. That basket started a 7-0 run for NIU that included an
Abby Woollacott (Rockford, Ill./Rockford Lutheran) layup and a
Paulina Castro (Elgin, Ill./Harvest Christian) three-pointer and gave the Huskies a 16-7 lead with under a minute to play in the first quarter.
Milwaukee got a three from Levy to close the first quarter and start the second, getting the Panthers within three 16-13 with 9:09 to play in the half. NIU then went on a 7-0 run over the next 1:41 to take its largest lead of the first half, 23-13, with 6:32 to play. The Panthers closed the gap to four with 4:35 left in the half before a Koker three got NIU back up by seven, 26-19, with 3:37 remaining in the second quarter. NIU took a 34-28 lead at halftime when
A'Jah Davis (DeKalb, Ill./Montverde Academy [Fla.]) put in a layup to beat the buzzer.
The Huskies shot 40 percent from the field Thursday night but just 24.1 percent from the three-point line. Milwaukee made 12 three-pointers in the game and shot 36.2 percent from the field. NIU held a slim 42-41 advantage on the glass but committed 15 turnovers to Milwaukee's nine. Levy led all scorers with 27 points, making 8-of-12 three-pointers.
NIU returns to the NIU Convocation Center December 19 and 20 to host the Compass Challenge. The Huskies take on Eastern Illinois on December 19 at 7 p.m., then either Southern Illinois or Western Illinois on December 20 at 7 p.m. Tickets for the Compass Challenge, and for all remaining home games including flex passes, are available now at NIUHuskies.com/tickets or by calling the NIU Ticket Office at 815-753-PACK (7225).
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