BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team could not keep up with the blistering three-point shooting of the Bowling Green Falcons Wednesday night in an 81-52 loss at Stroh Center.

Bowling Green (11-9, 6-5 MAC) made 14-of-22 three-pointers on the night to shoot 63.6 percent from three-point range. The Falcons finished the game shooting 55.4 percent from the field while holding the Huskies to under 33 percent.

"They shot the heck out of the ball tonight," said head coach Lisa Carlsen. "I felt like we had some good looks offensively in the first half that we needed to knock down. We knew they were going to shoot the ball well at home and we had to be able to keep pace, especially in the first quarter. We have to have a short memory and get ready for our next game Saturday."

NIU's (9-12, 6-7 MAC) only lead came with 8:31 to play in the opening quarter when Janae Poisson (Matteson, Ill./Marian Catholic) put in a three to give the Huskies a 3-0 lead. The Falcons' Kadie Hempfling responded with a three to start an 11-3 Bowling Green run that put the hosts up 11-6 with 6:03 left in the first. NIU got back within three at the 2:42 mark when A'Jah Davis (DeKalb, Ill./Montverde Academy [Fla.]) scored four straight points to make the score 15-12. Bowling Green was 5-for-6 from the three-point arc in the first quarter, as triples from Hempfling at Morgan Sharps in the final 1:30 put the Falcons ahead 25-16 at the end of the period.

Bowling Green pulled away for good in the second quarter, opening the frame with 12 unanswered points to take a 37-16 lead with 5:19 remaining until halftime. Davis ended a nearly 5:00 field goal drought for NIU with consecutive baskets that made the score 37-20 at the 4:16 mark. Elissa Brett and Zoe Miller then combined to score eight points in an 8-2 Falcons run over the next 2:34 seconds that gave Bowling Green a 45-22 advantage. The Huskies scored the final five points of the half with Paulina Castro (Elgin, Ill./Harvest Christian) beating the buzzer with a three to make the halftime score 45-27.

The Falcons shot over 60 percent from the field in the third quarter and led by as much as 30. NIU tied Bowling Green 17-17 in the fourth quarter to make the final score 81-52. Brooke Stonebraker (Versailles, Ohio/Versailles) and Sidney McCrea (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Prairie) combined to score 11 points in the final quarter.

Poisson and Davis both led the Huskies in scoring with 12 points each. Davis added 10 rebounds for her 16th double-double of the season, putting her one away from tying Ally Lehman's record of 17 set in the 2016-17 season.

NIU is back at the Convocation Center on Saturday, Feb. 12 when the Buffalo Bulls come to DeKalb for a 1 p.m. game on Play 4 Kay Day. The game is the first of a doubleheader with the NIU men's basketball team taking on Toledo at 3:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at NIUHuskies.com/MyHuskies or by calling the NIU Athletics Ticket Office at 815-753-PACK (7225). Huskie Flex Plans are still available for the 2021-22 basketball season. Purchase vouchers for $6 each and use them throughout the season to attend Huskie men's and women's basketball home games. Simply redeem vouchers for tickets at the box office prior to the game.

—NIU—