DETROIT, MI - It came down to the last possession of the game, but the Northern Illinois University women's basketball team came away with a 65-63 win over the Detroit Mercy Titans at Calihan Hall Tuesday afternoon.
NIU (4-1) led 63-58 with 14.4 seconds left when Detroit Mercy's Amaya Burch knocked down a three-pointer to get the Titans within two, 63-61, with 4.4 seconds left in regulation. The Huskies called timeout to advance the ball, but the Titans earned a jumpball on the inbounds to get the ball back on the alternating possession. Emma Trawally Porta made a jumper with 0.6 seconds left to tie the game at 63-63.
Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) lobbed a pass from the sideline to an open
Emily Meinert (Galesburg, Ill./Parkland College) to beat the buzzer and get the Huskies their fourth straight win.
"Everything went perfectly," said Meinert about the game-winning play. "I told Chelby to throw it higher so I could go get it. Jayden [Marable] set a really good screen, and I was open and able to put it in. This was special."
"Emily's a great jumper, and we knew if we could get her some space around the rim she'd finish," head coach
Lisa Carlsen said. "We were lucky enough that it went in right before the buzzer."
A'Jah Davis (DeKalb, Ill./Montverde Academy [Fla.]) led NIU with 20 points and 11 rebounds for her first double-double of the season. Koker filled the box score with 12 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals.
Laura Nickel (Marshall, Wis./Marshall) had a season-high 11 points.
NIU opened the game on a 7-0 run in the first 2:48, with Davis scoring the first four and Koker the last three. Six points from Detroit Mercy's Amaya Burch got the Titans within three, 9-6, at the 4:47 mark. The Huskies held the Titans scoreless for the remainder of the first quarter as Nickel and Davis combined to go on a 7-0 run to give NIU a 16-6 lead after 10 minutes.
Detroit Mercy (1-3) went on a 6-0 run early in the second to get within five as a Maite Lara Garcia layup at the 7:15 mark made the score 17-12. Nickel answered with five straight points of her won, making a three and a layup to put the Huskies back up 10, 22-12, with 6:23 left until halftime. NIU took its largest lead of the half with just under 2:00 to go when a pair of
Grace Hunter (Monroeville, Ind./Bellmont) layups put the Huskies up 12, 31-19. NIU took a 31-21 lead into the break, shooting 38 percent from the field and holding the hosts to 27.6 percent.
The Huskies took their largest lead of the game early in the third. Four straight points by Davis and
Jayden Marable (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) to start the quarter put NIU up 14, 35-21, at the 8:22 mark. NIU led 39-29 when the Titans went on a 6-1 run capped by a Lucia Fleta Robles three to cut the lead in half, 39-34, with 3:42 to go in the third. The Huskies got the lead back up to 10 twice as a Meinert layup made the score 49-39 with 1:17 left in the quarter.
"We did a great job of being aggressive at times and that caused some problems for Detroit," Carlsen said. "Down the stretch we needed to just play the possession game. We got a couple of turnovers and slowed it down a little bit to make sure the people took the right shot."
NIU shot 43.3 percent from the field on Tuesday with Detroit Mercy shooting 41.4 percent. The Titans held a 42-34 rebounding edge, while the Huskies forced 17 turnovers and committed only 10. Burch led all scorers with 23 points and 11 rebounds for Detroit Mercy.
The Huskies are next in action Nov. 26-27 at the Navy Classic. NIU will take on the host Midshipmen on Saturday, Nov. 26 at 12:30 p.m. CT, followed by a matchup with the Richmond Spiders on Sunday, Nov. 27 at 2:30 p.m.
—NIU—
