DeKALB, IL – Sophomore guard Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) of the Northern Illinois University women's basketball team scored a career-high 28 points Wednesday night but a 27-19 third quarter powered the Ohio Bobcats past the Huskies 77-67 at the NIU Convocation Center.
 
"We need Chelby to make us go and she did that for sure tonight, especially after she settled in the first half of the first quarter," said head coach Lisa Carlsen. "I thought she really handled the pressure that they put on.  We're a better team when she's on the floor running the show."
 
Koker was 10-for-17 from the field and made a career-high six three-pointers. She also added eight rebounds and a career-high eight assists. A'Jah Davis (DeKalb, Ill./Montverde Academy [Fla.]) and Janae Poisson (Matteson, Ill./Marian Catholic) each had 12 points. Davis, along with Errin Hodges (Pontiac, Ill./Evansville Central [Ind.]), had nine boards as Mikayla Brandon (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) led all players with 10. The Huskies outrebounded Ohio 48-35 for the game.
 
NIU (2-4, 0-2 MAC) bounced back from an early 10-5 deficit in the first quarter when Poisson and Koker combined for three three-pointers in a 9-2 run that put the Huskies ahead 14-12 with 1:08 to go in the period. The Huskies led 16-15 after the first on Jayden Marable's (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) layup in the final seconds.
 
Ohio (3-1, 1-1 MAC) opened the second on a 6-0 run with a Peyton Guice three putting the Bobcats up 21-16 with 8:02 to go in the half. Once again, NIU strung together three consecutive triples as Brandon, Koker, and Poisson gave the Huskies a 25-21 lead. Cece Hooks and Erica Johnson combined to score 10 of the Bobcats' next 12 points as Ohio came back and built a 33-29 lead. Emily Meinert (Galesburg, Ill./Parkland College) made it a two-point game before halftime with her layup in the final minute.
 
The Huskies took an early 36-35 lead early in the third on a Grace Hunter (Monroeville, Ind./Bellmont) triple and Koker layup. With the game tied at 37, a Johnson jumper kickstarted a 13-4 Ohio run that gave the Bobcats a 50-41 lead with 3:33 remaining in the quarter. Ohio grew its lead to 12, 57-45, on a Guice three and Hooks layup. The Bobcats shot 52 percent from the field in the third quarter to take a 10-point lead, 60-50, into the fourth. Koker scored NIU's first 12 points of the fourth quarter, and 15 of the 17 in the entire quarter, but the Huskies only got as close as seven in the final ten minutes.
 
"We knew that the Bobcats were going to provide quite a challenge for us," Carlsen said. "There were spurts during the ballgame where we'd be really happy with how we were able to contain them. We'll learn from this game and continue to grow. This young ballclub is definitely a bunch of workers and I appreciate that."
 
Hooks led all scorers with 26 points. Johnson and Burris each had 11 points with Johnson adding six rebounds and seven assists.
 
The Huskies play their final non-conference game of the regular season on Sunday, December 20 at Michigan State. Tipoff against the Spartans is at 2 p.m.
 
--NIU--