DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team led early in the fourth quarter against the Toledo Rockets Thursday night at the NIU Convocation Center, but a late run gave the Rockets an 82-79 win the Mid-American Conference opener for both teams.
 
"That's what MAC games generally look like, coming down to the last couple possessions and the team that's going to be able to execute in those situations is going to have a lot of success," said head coach Lisa Carlsen following Wednesday's game. "We needed to be better defensively and we needed to take care of the basketball."
 
Sophomore guard Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) led the Huskies with her first career double-double, scoring a team-high 23 points with a game and career-high 13 rebounds. A'Jah Davis (DeKalb, Ill./Montverde Academy [Fla.]) also had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Janae Poisson (Matteson, Ill./Marian Catholic) made four three-pointers on her way to 13 points off the bench. Paulina Castro (Elgin, Ill./Harvest Christian) had 11 points and a team-high three assists.
 
NIU (2-2, 0-1 MAC) scored the last four points of the second quarter to get within one point of Toledo, 34-33, at halftime. The Huskies then scored the first six points of the third on layups from Koker, Davis, and Mikayla Brandon (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) to take a 39-34 lead two minutes into the second half for NIU's first lead of the game. Sparked by a pair of Sophia Wiard threes, Toledo went on a 10-2 run over the next 4:19 to take a 44-41 lead with 3:41 to go in the third. The Rockets led 48-45 when Poisson sparked a 7-0 run with a pair of three-pointers to put NIU up 52-48 with less than a minute remaining in the third quarter. The Rockets scored the last four points of the third to tie the game at 52.
 
Toledo (3-0, 1-0 MAC) traded baskets early and often to start the fourth quarter, with a Koker layup giving the Huskies a 62-60 lead with 7:43 to play. The Rockets took the lead right back with three straight three-pointers from Wiard and Mali Morgan-Elliott to take a 69-62 advantage at the 6:23 mark.
 
The Huskies got within a point three times in the last three minutes as a Riley Blackwell (Plainfield, Ind./Plainfield) three with 18 seconds left put the score at 80-79. NIU had the ball with nine seconds left and a chance to take the lead, but a Toledo steal and foul sent Wiard to the free throw line where she made two foul shots to give the Rockets an 82-79 lead. NIU had one last shot to force overtime but Castro's corner three was off the mark and the clock ran out on the Huskies.
 
Toledo led by as much as 10 in the first quarter and led 19-13 after the first quarter. Wiard led all scorers with 42 points as Quinesha Lockett added 15 and six rebounds.
 
NIU returns to non-conference play on Sunday, December 13 at Bradley. Tipoff in Peoria is set for 2 p.m. with the game broadcast on ESPN+.
 
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