DeKALB, IL – Redshirt-Senior forward Courtney Woods (Brisbane, Australia/St. Margaret's) recorded her fourth double-double of the season Wednesday night to lead the Northern Illinois University women's basketball team to a 70-62 win over the Ball State Cardinals at the NIU Convocation Center.
 
"We just beat a really good basketball team," said head coach Lisa Carlsen. "I think when we go back and look at the second half, our composure was much better. I thought our execution was much better. We did a really nice on the glass and those are all keys and a lot of times the controllables that you need in order to have success against a good basketball team."
 
Woods led NIU with 20 points and 11 rebounds for her 20^th double-double of her career. She also led NIU with four steals. Myia Starks (Plainfield, Ill./Nequa Valley) was 7-for-9 at the free-throw line on her way to 15 points. Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) had 10 points off the bench, eight of which were scored in the third quarter.
 
"We can even get better from here," said Woods following her 13^th 20-point game of the season. "We still have to fine tune some stuff going into the next week but I feel like we're nearly there. We've gotten so much better individually throughout the year. I feel we're pretty confident that we can beat any team now."
 
NIU (10-18, 6-11 MAC) trailed 32-28 with 2:15 to play in the first half when Woods scored the last five points to give the Huskies' a 33-32 halftime lead. After an early layup from Thelma Dis Agustsdottir in the third quarter gave Ball State a 35-34 lead, NIU went on a 10-0 run over 3:53 to take a 43-34 lead at the 5:55 mark of the third quarter. Woods scored the first seven points of that stretch as Koker converted a three-point play to punctuate the run.
 
Ball State (20-9, 12-5 MAC) responded with a 7-0 run as a Jasmin Samz three-pointer cut the Huskies' lead to two, 43-41, with 4:22 to go in the third. The Huskies closed the quarter on a 9-3 run highlighted by a Koker three to take a 54-46 lead going into the fourth. The two sides traded baskets early and often in the final quarter as a Starks layup put NIU ahead 60-51 with 4:51 to play. Oshlynn Brown scored six straight Ball State points as part of a 9-4 run that got the Cardinals within four, 64-60, with 1:10 to go. That was as close as Ball State would get. NIU closed the game on a 6-2 run as Starks and Grace Hunter (Monroeville, Ind./Bellmont) went a combined 6-for-8 at the foul line to lock up the NIU win.
 
"It's always going to come down to free throws when you're playing in a tight game with the lead," Carlsen said. "I have a lot of confidence in whoever goes to the line in those situations. The five on the floor are people I believe are going to knock them down and I think our composure showed on the foul line the same way it showed in the half court."
 
NIU shot 42.4 percent from the field and outscored Ball State in the paint 38-30. The Huskies also held a 50-42 advantage on the rebounding end. Brown led Ball State with 20 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
 
The Huskies close out the regular season on Saturday at Toledo. Tip-off is at 1 p.m. CT.
 
--NIU--