TOLEDO, OH – Redshirt-Senior forward Courtney Woods (Brisbane, Australia/St. Margaret's) became NIU's all-time leader in games played Saturday afternoon and had one of her better scoring days in her illustrious career as the Northern Illinois University women's basketball team defeated the Toledo Rockets 86-79 at Savage Arena Saturday afternoon in the final game of the regular season.
 
Woods passed Angela Lockett (1990-95) as the Huskies' career leader in games played with 129 Saturday. She led all scorers with a season-high 36 points, three shy of tying her career-high of 39. Woods scored 23 points in the second half alone with 16 coming in the final quarter.
 
"We just had such good ball movement and momentum in transition that I got a lot of good looks today and knocked them down," said Woods. "My teammates did a good job of finding me, because I usually don't get as many open looks as I did today."
 
Freshman Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) tied a season-high with 17 points, adding a season-high eight rebounds.
 
NIU (11-18, 7-11 MAC) and Toledo battled to a 38-38 halftime tie. The Rockets took a 45-44 lead on a Quinesha Lockett layup with 5:50 to play in the third quarter. That would be the Toledo's last field goal for the next 11 minutes. Sparked by a Koker three-pointer, the Huskies closed the third quarter on a 16-5 run to take a 60-50 lead going into the fourth quarter. Koker and Woods combined for 10 of the 16 points as NIU held the Rockets to 0-for-9 from the field to build a 10-point advantage.
 
Woods scored the Huskies' first seven points of the fourth quarter, putting NIU ahead 67-54 with her three-pointer at the 5:35 mark. Nakiah Black snapped Toledo's 0-for-13 field goal drought with a three with 4:47 to play to cut NIU's lead to 10. Toledo closed to within six with 3:22 to play on back-to-back three-pointers from Black and Mariella Santucci, making the score 69-63. NIU made its free throws down the stretch to come away with the win. Woods, Koker, and Riley Blackwell (Plainfield, Ind./Plainfield) were 12-for-12 at the foul line in the final minute to give NIU the 86-79 win.
 
"Courtney was good tonight, probably better than good, and Chelby really handled the environment well," said head coach Lisa Carlsen. "It's a lot for a freshman to come here and play that many minutes and play well, especially down the stretch. We kept them kind of at arm's length, but they kept shooting so we had to make free throws down the stretch. It was one of those playoff atmosphere-type games, where every possession was critical. Hopefully that is great preparation going forward, especially for Monday."
 
Toledo (12-17, 7-11 MAC) took a 19-17 lead after the first quarter, shooting 53.3 percent from the field. NIU opened the second quarter on a 9-2 run, as baskets from Woods, Koker, Myia Starks (Plainfield, Ill./Nequa Valley) and a three from Gabby Nikitinaite (Orpington, Kent, UK/Coopers School) put the Huskies ahead 26-21. The Rockets came back to tie the game at 32 with 2:06 left in the half on consecutive triples from Santucci and Mariah Copeland. Two more threes from Tatyana Davis gave Toledo a 38-36 lead but a Koker layup in the final seconds of the second quarter made the score 38-38 at the half.
 
NIU made a season-high 23 free throws in the game, shooting 88.5 percent from the foul line. The Huskies shot 45.9 percent from the field as Toledo shot an even 45 percent. NIU held a 40-33 edge on the glass, turning 14 offensive rebounds into 17 second chance points. Santucci led Toledo with 20 points and nine assists as Black and Tanaya Beacham each had 16 points.
 
The Huskies enter the 2020 Mid-American Conference Women's Basketball Tournament as the number 10 seed and will play at Eastern Michigan Monday night at 6 p.m. in the first round.
 
--NIU--