INDIANAPOLIS - The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team could not keep up with the red-hot three-point shooting of the IUPUI Jaguars in an 85-72 loss at The Jungle Wednesday afternoon.

IUPUI (5-6) made 17 threes, a season-high and the most allowed by the Huskies this season. The Jaguars shot 58.6 percent from the three-point line and 51.9 percent overall. IUPUI made its first seven three-point attempts of the game to build a 27-7 lead with 2:49 to go in the first quarter. The Huskies closed the quarter on an 11-2 run, sparked by a Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) layup and Janae Poisson (Matteson, Ill./Marian Catholic) three, to get within 11, 29-18.

"It's hard to win games when the opponent goes 17-for-29 from three," said head coach Lisa Carlsen. "I was proud of our resilience and our fight back. We found our defensive intensity and that got us back in the game."

NIU (8-3) used another big run to close the first half. Trailing 38-21, the Huskies got a three-pointer from Grace Hunter (Monroeville, Ind./Bellmont) to spark a 12-2 run over the last 4:17. NIU scored the last eight points of the half, with four coming from Tara Stauffacher (Columbus, Wis./Wisconsin) and a Sidney McCrea (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Prairie) layup before the horn to make the halftime deficit seven, 40-33.

The Huskies closed the gap to two with 5:28 to go in the third quarter. A'Jah Davis (DeKalb, Ill./Montverde Academy [Fla.]) scored four of NIU's first six points in the frame, making a layup at the 6:58 mark to make the score 46-39. After IUPUI's Rachel Kent split two free throws, the Huskies scored six unanswered points with another Davis basket putting the score at 47-45 with 5:28 left in the third. The Jaguars closed the quarter on a 12-3 run, making three straight three-pointers to take a 59-48 lead going into the fourth. Kent made the last two threes of the quarter, and made seven total in the game.

NIU got as close as eight points twice in the fourth quarter as a Stauffacher layup and an Emily Meinert (Galesburg, Ill./Parkland College) basket made the score 72-64 with 4:08 to play. That would be as close as the Huskies would get. IUPUI made its free throws down the stretch to finish with the 85-72 win.

"We just had too many stretches, on both ends of the floor, where we kind of lost our focus," Carlsen said. "We rushed a few shots, probably took a couple ill-advised shots early in the shot clock, and gave up too many open looks. We were able to get out of a big hole to get within striking distance, but it felt like we reverted back a little to how we played in the first."

NIU shot 42.4 percent from the field, but was just 8-for-28 from the three-point line. Koker led NIU in scoring with 17 points and added five rebounds and three steals. Stauffacher had a career-high 11 points, going 4-for-4 from the foul line. Davis was two points shy of her seventh consecutive double-double, finishing with eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

Kent led IUPUI with 24 points, as Turner added 22.

NIU opens Mid-American Conference play on Wednesday, Jan. 4 at Central Michigan. Tip-off is at 6 p.m.

--NIU--