DeKalb, Ill. – After entering the final rotation of Friday night's Quad Meet trailing Lindenwood by .325, the Northern Illinois University Huskies used a dominant performance by its floor squad to overcome the Lions, and notch wins over Kent State and Seattle Pacific at the Convocation Center.

NIU finished with a final team score of 194.500 to edge Lindenwood by .150 as the Lions totaled a 194.350. Kent State took third place with a score of 192.075, followed by Seattle Pacific at 190.625. The three wins in the meet improve the Huskies' record to 8-3 overall and 3-1 in the Mid-American Conference.

"With the struggles we had at times tonight, 194.500 is a respectable score," said NIU Head Coach Sam Morreale. "I feel like we did struggle in some places, but we never panicked or got down. It was not a very good landing day for us, and that can be the difference between 194.5 and 195. It's good to finish the home stand going 3-0 tonight and great to get another MAC win to improve to 3-1."

NIU's ability to bounce back and overcome mistakes was exemplified by freshman Morgan Hooper. After opening on vault with a "miss" and a score of 9.100, the Lincoln, Neb. native bounced back to win both the uneven parallel bars and balance beam events with career high scores of 9.825 and 9.875, respectively.

"Morgan had a pair of PRs (personal bests) and those came after a bad start on vault," Morreale said. "That's a sign of what I love about this team. She had a horrible start, but came back and was great on bars and beam.  Even the kids who fell off of beam, pulled it together and finished their routine strong, and that was important."

The Huskies' Anna Martucci (Clarkston, Mich./Our Landy of the Lakes HS) again led the floor squad effort, and won the floor exercise for the third time this season, scoring a 9.875 from her anchor position. Amanda Bartemio (Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata HS) (9.825), along with Allison Richardson (Marysville, Ohio/Marysville) (9.800) and Tara Kofmehl (Mesa, Ariz./Red Mountain HS) (9.800) all finished in the top four, followed closely by Ally Ferber (Woodbury, N.Y./Syosset HS) (9.775). The quintet gave NIU a floor score of 49.075, allowing the Huskies to surpass Lindenwood, which went 48.600 on balance beam in its final rotation.    
 
"The floor squad was super solid, another 49-plus score for them is good to see, and we needed them," Morreale said.

NIU also got three scores of 9.8 or higher on balance beam, helping mitigate several miscues on that event and giving NIU a team score of 48.200. Catherine Biddle (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central HS) led off beam with a 9.800, while Cinny Lamberti (Grayslake, Ill./Grayslake HS) tied her career high with a 9.825 to tie for third.

The Huskies finished their three-meet January home stand with a 6-1 mark and will be on the road for their next three meets at Southeast Missouri, Ball State and UIC, before returning to host Illinois State on March 1. NIU will also host the Mid-American Conference Gymnastics Championships in DeKalb on Saturday, March 23 at 2 p.m.
  
-- NIU --