ATHENS, OH – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team committed a season-high 28 turnovers Saturday in an 87-67 loss to the Ohio Bobcats in the Mid-American Conference Opener at the Convocation Center.
 
"We didn't do a good enough job of taking care of the basketball in the first half," said head coach Lisa Carlsen. "You just can't give those possessions away. We have to have the ball in certain spots on the floor to have all of our options available. We have to go back and figure out why we're turning the ball over. Ohio is a lot to handle at a lot of positions and they made shots that we contested."
 
Gabby Nikitinaite (Orpington, Kent, UK/Coopers School) led NIU with 16 points off the bench. The junior guard was 4-for-7 from the three-point line and added three assists. Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) had 10 points and a team-high three steals in her first career start. Ally May (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) led all players with a season-high 10 rebounds and added eight points.
 
Ohio (8-4, 1-0 MAC) opened the game on a 7-0 run in the first 1:28 capped by an Erica Johnson three-pointer. NIU responded with the next five points, with a May three putting the Huskies within two at the 6:29 mark. The Bobcats then raced out to a 17-5 lead with 2:58 left in the quarter behind five straight points from Johnson. Trailing 22-12, NIU scored seven straight points on layups by Courtney Woods (Brisbane, Australia/St. Margaret's) and Mikayla Brandon (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) and another May triple to get within five, 22-17, with 0:04 to play. Johnson put Ohio back up by eight when she banked in a three at the buzzer to put the Bobcats ahead 25-17.
 
NIU (4-8, 0-1 MAC) got within seven early in the second quarter as back-to-back threes from Woods and Nikitinaite made the score 30-23 with 7:11 to go. Ohio then made four consecutive three-pointers with Gabby Burris' triple at the 5:31 mark putting the Bobcats up 42-25 and prompting an NIU timeout. The Bobcats capped a 17-2 run with an Amani Burke three-point play with 4:17 left until halftime, making the score 47-25. Ohio shot 56.3 percent from the field in the first half while going 9-for-17 from the three-point arc to take a 50-28 halftime lead.
 
The Huskies got as close as 19 points in the second half. Koker and May combined to go on a 7-2 run over 2:39 in the third quarter to make the score 54-35 with 5:47 left in the period. NIU also got a scoring lift late in the third as redshirt-sophomore guard Janae Poisson (Matteson, Ill./Marian Catholic) made her first two threes of the season in the final two minutes to put the score at 67-44. NIU's best offensive quarter came in the fourth as the Huskies scored 23 points and shot 53.3 percent from the field. Riley Blackwell (Plainfield, Ind./Plainfield) scored NIU's first seven points of the quarter, making a three at the 6:44 mark to make the score 74-51. Nikitinaite bookended an 8-0 Huskies run with a layup and a three-pointer with 0:41 left to get NIU within 20, 85-65.
 
NIU shot 42.6 percent from the field with Ohio shooting 46.3 percent. The Huskies outrebounded the Bobcats 39-33. Johnson led all scorers with 23 points as Burke added 22.
 
The Huskies are back in action at Miami Wednesday night at 6 p.m.
 
--NIU--