DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team looks to bounce back from last Saturday's 68-65 loss to Western Michigan when it goes to Ball State for a 6 p.m. CT matchup Wednesday night.
NIU (8-15, 4-8 MAC) had a last-second chance to force overtime on Saturday but came up short. The Huskies erased a nine-point fourth quarter deficit to tie the game at 55 with 6:52 remaining in regulation.
Courtney Woods (Brisbane, Australia/St. Margaret's) led the Huskies with 18 points and seven rebounds as
Myia Starks (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) added a season-high 16 points. Starks has scored in double-figures in each of the last four games, averaging 13.8 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in that stretch.
With her 18 points last Saturday, Woods now has 2,086 career points. She is now 17 points away from passing
Carol Owens (1985-90) for second place on the NIU women's basketball career scoring chart. Over the last nine games, Woods has averaged nearly 22 points per game while shooting 49.3 percent from the field and 46 percent from the three-point arc. She has scored at least 20 points in six of the last nine games with a season-high 32 in the Huskies' overtime win at Bowling Green on February 8. Woods is currently leading the Mid-American Conference in free throw shooting at 87.8 percent and is third in scoring at 18.5 points per game.
Ball State (17-7, 9-3 MAC) is currently on a four-game winning streak after earning a 69-58 win at Buffalo last Saturday. Thelma Dis Agustsdottir led the all scorers with 26 points, adding seven rebounds. The Cardinals held Buffalo to 34.3 percent shooting from the field and 5-for-25 from the three-point line. Ball State leads the MAC in scoring defense allowing 62.8 points per game, as well as field goal percentage defense and three-point field goal percentage defense. Oshlynn Brown leads Ball State with 12.7 points and nine rebounds per game. The Cardinals are 9-1 at Worthen Arena this year and 6-0 in MAC games.
NIU is back in action at the NIU Convocation Center on Saturday, February 22 for "Cram The Convo". The Huskies take on Central Michigan at 1 p.m. in the first game of the doubleheader with the NIU men's basketball team taking on Central Michigan at 3:30 p.m. Prior to the women's game, NIU will honor the five seniors on this season's team – Woods, Starks,
Ally May (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead),
Ninni Salmi (Kauhajoki, Finland/San Francisco), and
Abby Woollacott (Rockford, Ill./Rockford Lutheran).
Beginning when the doors open at noon, the first 1,250 fans attending Saturday's doubleheader will receive a NIU Basketball replica jersey, supported by Northwestern Medicine. Tickets for Saturday's doubleheader, including flex passes, are available now at NIUHuskies.com/tickets or by calling 815-753-PACK (7225).
--NIU--
