CLEVELAND, Ohio – Sophomore
Gabby Nikitinaite (Orpington, Kent, UK/Coopers School) posted her first career double-double Wednesday as the seventh-seeded Northern Illinois University women's basketball team lost 72-56 to the second-seeded Ohio Bobcats in the Mid-American Conference Tournament quarterfinals.
"You obviously have to give Ohio all the credit tonight," said head coach
Lisa Carlsen. "We didn't do a very good job of taking care of the basketball, so unfortunately that was the probably the difference in the game. They have a lot of weapons on the floor and they can do a lot of different things, and I thought they exploited that early. We just put ourselves in a hole that was really tough to get out of."
Nikitinaite led all players with 23 points and a career-high 11 rebounds. The sophomore was 8-for-18 from the field with four three-pointers.
Mikayla Voigt (Slinger, Wis./Kettle Moraine Lutheran) had 14 points and eight rebounds, Voigt made three threes in the game to give her 260 for her career, tying her with
Courtney Woods (Brisbane, Australia/St. Margaret's) for second all-time at NIU.
Ohio (26-4) got off to a fast start as Erica Johnson scored the first five points of the game in less than a minute. NIU got within two with 5:53 to go in the opening quarter when Nikitinaite scored five straight points for the Huskies to make the score 9-7. The Bobcats then went on a 10-0 run over the next 3:25, with Johnson scoring seven points, to go ahead 19-7 with 2:28 left in the quarter.
Errin Hodges (Pontiac, Ill./Evansville Central [Ind.]) got the Huskies within 11 when she made a three at the first quarter buzzer, making the score 23-12.
Sparked by five straight points from Nikitinaite, NIU (19-13) opened the second quarter on a 6-0 run to get within five, 23-18, at the 6:56 mark. Ohio responded with a 10-4 run over the next five minutes, as an Amani Burke three put the Bobcats up 33-22 with 1:56 to play. The Bobcats led 37-25 at the half, shooting 41.7 percent from the field while NIU shot 30 percent.
NIU got within 13 points twice in the third quarter, but an 8-0 Ohio run put the Bobcats up by 21 53-32 at the 3:49 mark. The Huskies went on a 9-3 run in the fourth quarter, highlighted by a pair of Voigt threes, to get back within 13 with 3:59 to go but that was as close as the Huskies got.
Ohio shot 43.5 percent from the field, as the Huskies shot 34.5 percent. NIU outrebounded the Bobcats 48-32, its second-highest rebound margin of the season. Wednesday marked the first time this season NIU lost a game in which it outrebounded its opponent. Ohio turned 22 NIU turnovers into 22 points. Gabby Burris led the Bobcats with 19 points as Johnson had 18 points, 10 rebounds, and four steals.
"It's been a great year and I'm super proud of all of what this team has done," Voigt said. "That toughness is something that this program is built on and that's what is going to lead the training in the offseason and I know that what's going to get this team back here next year."
--NIU--
