DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team led by as much as 17 points over the Eastern Michigan Eagles Wednesday night at the NIU Convocation Center but needed a 9-2 run late in the game for a 72-65 win.
"I loved the way we came out of the locker room and played really good basketball in the first half," said head coach
Lisa Carlsen. "You would figure Eastern was going to have a run in them. I thought we weathered the storm and did what we needed to do to make sure that we had a victory at the end."
Nia Ahart (Detroit, Mich./Colgate) led four NIU Huskies in double figure scoring with a career-high 20 points. The graduate student guard was 6-for-10 from the three-point line.
Janae Poisson (Matteson, Ill./Marian Catholic) made 5-of-9 threes for 17 points.
A'Jah Davis posted her 20
th double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds, adding a career-high seven assists.
Jayden Marable (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) scored in double figures for the fourth straight game with 12 points while dishing out four assists.
NIU (12-13, 9-8 MAC) shot 50 percent from the field in the first half to take a 38-26 halftime lead. Eastern Michigan scored the final four points of the half and rolled that into a 9-2 run as a Ce'Nara Skanes three-point play at the 8:38 mark of the third quarter put the score at 40-31. The Eagles got within seven after five straight points from ZaNiya Nelson made the score 43-36. The Huskies went back up 12, 48-36, at the 6:02 mark following a Davis layup and Poisson three. Eastern Michigan got within seven once again, but a pair of Ahart threes put the lead back up to 10 for the Huskies, 54-44, at the 3:45 mark. The Eagles closed the quarter on an 8-2 run to get within four, 56-52, heading into the fourth.
Sparked by a Lachelle Austin layup, Eastern Michigan (7-17, 4-13 MAC) went on an 8-3 run early in the final quarter to get within one points, 61-60, with 4:59 to play. Davis put in a layup with 4:01 left to give NIU a 63-60 lead but the Eagles' Danielle Rainey knocked down a three to tie the game with 3:38 to go. Poisson broke the tie with a three-pointer at the 2:31 mark, then made another triple to give NIU a six-point lead, 69-63, with 1:36 left. Austin put in another layup with 0:45 to get Eastern Michigan within four, but Ahart made her sixth three with 0:31 remaining to make the final score 72-65.
"I love it when I can see the ball go in the rim," Ahart said. "My teammates kept telling me to keep shooting and be confident. It helps me keep going, especially when we get stops."
The Huskies opened the game with a 10-2 run over the first 4:10. Davis and Marable scored eight of those 10 points. Ahart put NIU up by 10 with back-to-back threes, giving the home team an 18-8 lead with 3:12 left in the opening quarter. Her third three of the game gave NIU a 21-10 lead with under 2:00 to go in the first. Back-to-back
Emily Meinert (Galesburg, Ill./Parkland College) layups sparked a 9-1 run in the second quarter that gave NIU its largest lead of the game. Poisson capped the run with her first three of the night, making the score 30-13 with 6:05 left until halftime.
The victory was NIU's sixth in its last seven games at the Convocation Center. NIU shot 44.6 percent from the field and was 11-for-23 from the three-point line. The Huskies outrebounded the Eagles 42-35, turning 11 offensive rebounds into 12 second chance points. Austin led Eastern Michigan with 18 points off the bench.
The Huskies go on the road on Saturday, Feb. 26 for a 12 p.m. game at Ball State.
--NIU--
