CHARLESTON, IL - The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team got a jumper from Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) with 2.2 seconds left and one last defensive stand to hold off the Eastern Illinois Panthers 71-69 at Lantz Arena Saturday afternoon for the Huskies' seventh straight win.
"It's tough to win on the road," said head coach Lisa Carlsen following the win. "Eastern [Illinois] is a great team, but we feel good with the pieces that we have that they're going to do what we need them to do and they're going to make the right decisions."
Koker scored a season-high 26 points, with 14 coming in the second quarter alone. She was a perfect 6-for-6 in the foul line. Senior forward A'Jah Davis (DeKalb, Ill./Montverde Academy [Fla.]) reached the career milestone of 1,000 points in the win. Needing 19 to reach the mark, Davis scored 20 and tied a career-high 21 rebounds. Jayden Marable (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) also had a career-high with eight assists.
NIU (7-1) led for a majority of the game before Eastern Illinois took its first lead at the 6:09 mark of the fourth on a Miah Monahan free throw that made the score 59-58. After trading baskets, Davis went on a 7-2 run by herself to give the Huskies a 67-63 advantage with 3:43 to go.
"She is just playing at a different level, especially in tight situations," Carlsen said about Davis' performance Saturday. "A'Jah understands that we need her to score the basketball and today I thought she was great on the glass. She and Chelby are the catalyst to what we do and they understand what we need to do to be successful."
Eastern Illinois (6-1) tied the game at 67 on a Lariah Washington jumper with 0:56 left. Davis eclipsed 1,000 career points on NIU's next possession, putting in a layup with 0:32 to go to make the score 69-67. Washington responded on the other end to tie the game again with 0:20 remaining. After an NIU timeout, Koker used a Davis screen to hit a step-back jumper with 2.2 seconds left to put the Huskies up 71-69. The Huskies then got the last defensive stop of the game, forcing Washington to give up the ball and holding the Panthers without a shot to hang on for the win.
"We wanted to run the clock down and put the ball in Chelby's hands on a high ball screen with A'Jah," Carlsen said about the game-winning shot. "We felt that, with the combination of those two, good things were going to happen. She was calm, read the defense and made the right play."
NIU opened the game on a 7-0 run capped by an Emma Carter (Bristol, Vt./Franklin Pierce) three at the 6:31 mark. The Huskies grew their lead to eight when a Carter jumper put the score at 14-6 with 1:21 left in the first. Lariah Washington and Miah Monahan then made back-to-back threes for Eastern Illinois to get the Panthers within two, 14-12, with 0:43 left in the opening quarter. Koker made the final basket of the quarter to give NIU a 16-12 lead.
The senior guard opened the second quarter by scoring the first five points, making a three with 7:38 left to put NIU up nine 21-12. NIU led 26-18 midway through the second when a Macy McGlone layup sparked a 7-0 Eastern Illinois run that put the hosts within one, 26-25, with 3:38 to go until halftime. NIU closed the half on a 12-3 run, with Koker scoring the final seven points. Koker had 14 points in the quarter as NIU took its largest lead of the half, 38-28, to the locker room.
NIU shot 36.8 percent from the field while Eastern Illinois shot 43.5 percent. The Huskies were 14-for-15 at the foul line with the Panthers making just 10 of 19 free throw attempts. NIU outrebounded Eastern Illinois 45-37 and scored 14 second chance points on 19 offensive rebounds. Washington led all scorers with 30 points.
The Huskies wrap up their five-game road trip on Monday, Dec. 12 at Lindenwood. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. CT.
—NIU—
