ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Senior guard Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) led all players with 26 points and a career-high seven steals as the Northern Illinois University women's basketball team won it's eighth straight game with a 67-56 victory over the Lindenwood Lions Monday night at Hyland Arena.
"It's hard to win on the road sometimes and you just have to find a way," said head coach Lisa Carlsen following the game. "There were segments of the game where we looked good and some where we struggled to score. I thought we got great looks but couldn't get the ball in the basket. We needed to dig in and find a way to get it done and we did that making free throws down the stretch."
Koker tied her season-high in points set in the Huskies' last game at Eastern Illinois on Dec. 3. She was 7-for-13 from the field and 12-for-13 at the free throw line. A'Jah Davis (DeKalb, Ill./Montverde Academy [Fla.]) recorded a double-double for the fifth straight game. The senior forward had 12 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
"It was a great performance from Chelby tonight," Carlsen said. "She was really good against a very active defense. We feel great when she has the opportunity, especially in tight situations, to close out games at the free throw line."
NIU (8-1) took its largest lead of the game with 3:41 to go. A Davis layup made the score 53-32, capping a 14-2 run sparked by four straight Koker points. Lindenwood scored the final four points of the quarter, then got an Alana Striverson three early in the fourth to cut the NIU lead to 14, 53-39. After a pair of Koker free throws, the Lions went on a 10-0 run bookended by Emily Benzschawel threes to get within six, 55-49, with 4:01 to play.
Koker and Jayden Marable (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) then scored NIU's next six points, extending the lead back to 10 61-51 with 1:04 to go. The Huskies went 6-for-8 at the free throw line in the final minute to get the 67-56 win.
NIU opened the game on an 11-3 run over the first 4:49. Koker and Davis both scored four points and Poisson capped the run with a three-pointer. The Huskies went up by 10, 17-7, at the 3:08 mark on Grace Hunter's (Monroeville, Ind./Bellmont) first three of the night. Lindenwood cut the deficit in half with five straight points from Devin Fuhring, but NIU closed the quarter on a 7-2 run with a Laura Nickel (Marshall, Wis./Marshall HS) layup putting the Huskies up 24-14 after one.
Koker scored the first five points for NIU in the second quarter, with her three-point play at the 6:06 mark making the score 29-19. That was the catalyst for an 11-0 run for the Huskies, punctuated by a Brooke Stonebraker (Versailles, Ohio/Versailles) layup and Hunter three that gave NIU it's largest lead of the half/game, 37-19, with 3:32 to go in the quarter. The Lions closed the half on a 9-2 run with a Paige Craft layup in the final seconds making the score 39-28 at the break.
Lindenwood (0-8) scored the first points of the third quarter, but the Huskies responded with a 9-0 run. Koker scored the first four points of the spurt as a Davis layup and Emma Carter (Bristol, Vt./Franklin Pierce) three put the Huskies up 48-30 with 5:21 to go.
NIU shot 37.9 percent from the field and was 17-for-22 at the free throw line. The Huskies scored 17 points off 21 Lindenwood turnovers. NIU also held a 38-30 rebounding edge. Fuhring led the Lions with 12 points off the bench.
The Huskies return home on Saturday, Dec. 17 to face SIUE. Tip-off at the NIU Convocation Center is at 12 p.m. For tickets, log on to NIUHuskies.com or call the NIU Athletics Ticket Office at (815) 753-PACK (7225). General Admission tickets are $6 with reserved seats at $8.
—NIU—
