YPSILANTI, MI – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team led the Eastern Michigan Eagles 37-33 at halftime at the EMU Convocation Center in the first round of the 2020 Mid-American Conference Women's Basketball Tournament Monday night, only to see the Eagles shoot over 53 percent in the second half to come from behind and win 76-69 to advance to the quarterfinals.
 
Courtney Woods (Brisbane, Australia/St. Margaret's) led NIU in scoring for the 109^th time in her 130-game career as a Huskie, scoring 18 points with seven rebounds and a game-high five assists. She finishes her NIU career as the program's second all-time leading scorer with 2,216 points, all-time leader in three-pointers made with 323, as well as 773 rebounds, 326 assists, and 155 steals.
 
"Courtney did a nice job of scoring the basketball, which is what we needed her to do," said head coach Lisa Carlsen. "We're obviously going to miss her. Her ability to score the basketball for the last five years is something that I don't know if we'll see a Huskie do anytime soon. She's going to be a tough one to replace, as well as all our seniors. Hopefully our young kids got a taste of what tournament play is all about. Nobody wants to not end in Cleveland and hopefully that's something that we can continue to build towards and put ourselves in a better position next year."
 
Myia Starks (Plainfield, Ill./Nequa Valley) and A'Jah Davis (DeKalb, Ill./Montverde Academy [Fla.]) each had 14 points with Davis pulling down seven rebounds. Ally May (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) led NIU with nine rebounds and added eight points.
 
NIU (11-19) grew its halftime lead to eight early in the third quarter on layups from Starks and Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) that put the Huskies ahead 41-33. The Huskies led 47-40 with 5:22 left in the third when a pair of Areanna Combs free throws started a 10-1 Eastern Michigan run over the next 2:22. Courtnie Lewis capped the scoring spurt with a three at the 3:00 mark to give the Eagles a 50-48 lead. NIU responded with the next four points as two Starks foul shots put the Huskies up 52-50 with 2:15 to go. The Eagles scored the last six points of the third with a Jenna Annecchiarico fadeaway jumper giving Eastern Michigan a 56-52 advantage going into the final quarter.
 
Eastern Michigan (15-15) extended its lead to five points on an Annecchiarico three, taking a 59-54 lead with 9:12 remaining in the game. The Huskies closed to within three, 61-58, at the 5:55 mark following baskets from May and Woods. The Eagles shot 70 percent from the field in the fourth quarter and took a 73-65 lead with 0:58 on two Combs free throws. NIU got as close as five points but the Huskies were 0-for-7 from the three-point arc in the fourth quarter and could get no closer.
 
"Eastern Michigan got some easy ones in transition and we didn't string enough stops together," Carlsen said. "They took advantage of our turnovers and got uncontested layups which we would want back. When the momentum shifted in their favor, I thought we got a little tight on the offensive end and maybe didn't get the good shots we were looking for."
 
NIU opened the game with six points in the first two minutes on jumpers from Koker and May. Eastern Michigan responded with an 8-2 run capped by four straight points from Lewis to tie the game at eight with 4:49 to play in the first quarter. Woods broke a 15-15 tie at the 1:40 mark with her first three-pointer of the game, sparking a 7-0 run capped by a Davis layup that put NIU ahead 22-15 at the end of the opening quarter.
 
Eastern Michigan closed within four points early in the second quarter as a Corrione Cardwell three made the score 24-20 with 8:18 left in the first half. The Huskies used a 7-0 run over 2:16 in the quarter to take its largest lead of the game, 36-24, at the 4:23 mark of the second. Davis scored the final five points of that stretch for NIU. The Eagles held NIU without a field goal for the last 4:59 of the first half, closing the second quarter on a 9-1 run to make the halftime score 37-33.
 
NIU finished the game shooting 37.9 percent but was 2-for-17 from the three-point line. Eastern Michigan shot 42.2 percent and scored 19 points off 15 NIU turnovers. The Huskies dominated the glass, outrebounding the Eagles 55-36. Combs led all players with 23 points and 10 rebounds.
 
The Huskies finish the 2019-20 season with an 11-19 record, going 7-11 in MAC play.
 
--NIU--