DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team made a season-high 15 three-pointers and got the first career double-double from freshman forward A'Jah Davis (DeKalb, Ill./Montverde Academy [Fla.]), but it was the Ohio Bobcats who came away with an 85-79 win Wednesday night at the NIU Convocation Center.
 
"I was really proud of the way we continued to fight for 40 minutes," said head coach Lisa Carlsen. "Ohio is a great basketball team and Erica Johnson hit some big shots for them tonight. I liked our resiliency. We're going to go back and look and see that we had opportunities to really close the gap, but we continue to get better. There were parts of the game tonight where we were better tonight than we have been in a long time."
 
Davis set season-highs with 17 points and 17 rebounds while playing 25 minutes. Ten of Davis' 17 boards came on the offensive glass. Courtney Woods (Brisbane, Australia/St. Margaret's) led NIU with 22 points, going 8-for-15 from the field with a season-high six three-pointers. Gabby Nikitinaite (Orpington, Kent, UK/Coopers School) made a season-high five threes to score 17 points.
 
"The game's been coming to me now throughout the last couple games," said Davis following her career night Wednesday. "After a night like this I'm way more confident. I know my ability and I know I can rebound very well."
 
Ohio (11-6, 4-2 MAC) raced out to a 9-2 lead in the first 1:52 on three consecutive three-pointers from Erica Johnson and Katie Barker. NIU chipped away at the Bobcats lead, getting within one at the 5:35 mark when a Davis putback made the score 13-12. The Huskies used a 7-0 run over 3:12 to take a 19-16 lead on a Nikitinaite triple. The Bobcats scored the final five points of the first quarter to take a 21-19 lead.
 
Davis put the Huskies back in front to start the second with back-to-back layups that put NIU up 23-21 with 8:20 left in the half. The Bobcats used a 13-1 run in a span of 5:14, getting nine combined points from Johnson and Deesh Beck, to take a 39-26 lead with 1:19 to go in the quarter. Woods got NIU within nine, 41-32, with a pair of threes in the final 1:05 but a Barker three at the end of the quarter gave Ohio a 44-32 halftime advantage.
 
NIU (5-12, 1-6 MAC) trailed by as much as 17 in the third quarter before getting hot from the three-point line to get back in the game. The Huskies' first three field goals of the quarter were triples from Woods, Riley Blackwell (Plainfield, Ind./Plainfield), and Grace Hunter (Monroeville, Ind./Monroeville) to close within 10, 51-41, at the 6:49 mark. Hunter's second three of the quarter capped a 9-2 NIU run that got the Huskies within five points 55-50 with 2:39 to go in the quarter. Nikitinaite made two threes in the final 2:00 to give NIU seven in the quarter, with the last one making the score 63-58 heading into the fourth. The Huskies shot 63.6 percent from the three-point arc in the third and 56.3 percent from the field.
 
The Bobcats opened the final quarter on a 10-3 run, getting six points from Johnson to take a 73-61 lead with 7:13 to play. NIU responded with a 9-3 run sparked by a Woods three-pointer to get as close as six points, 76-70, with 2:14 to go. The Huskies got as close as five points in the final minute but Ohio took advantage of being in the bonus for the final 7:13 of the game, going 12-for-20 at the foul line in the fourth quarter to come away with the 85-79 win.
 
NIU shot a season-high from the field for the second straight game, shooting 47.5 percent Wednesday night with a season-high 50 percent from the three-point line. Ohio shot 46.7 percent from the field. The Huskies outrebounded the Bobcats 37-35 but Ohio forced 17 NIU turnovers. Johnson led all scorers with 32 points, adding six rebounds and four assists.
 
The Huskies go on the road Saturday, January 25 to face Eastern Michigan. Tip-off is at 1 p.m. CT.
 
--NIU--