Women's Basketball | March 4

DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team looks to continue its stellar play at the NIU Convocation Center this season when it hosts the Central Michigan Chippewas on Saturday, March 5 at 1 p.m. for Senior Day. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
 
Tickets can be purchased online at NIUHuskies.com/MyHuskies or by calling the NIU Athletics Ticket Office at 815-753-PACK (7225).
 
Following Saturday's game, NIU will honor four seniors from this season's team – Nia Ahart (Detroit, Mich./Colgate), Mikayla Brandon (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais), Paulina Castro (Elgin, Ill./Harvest Christian), and Errin Hodges (Pontiac, Ill./Evansville Central [Ind.]).
 
NIU (13-14, 10-9 MAC) enters the final game of the regular season in sixth place in the Mid-American Conference at 10-9, tied with Bowling Green and Western Michigan. The Huskies could move up to fourth with a win Saturday and losses from both Bowling Green and Ball State. NIU was the four-seed at the 2017 MAC Championship when the Huskies reached the title game.
 
The Huskies are 9-3 at the Convocation Center this season, having won six of its last seven home games. NIU brings a four-game home court winning streak into Saturday's regular season finale. In the last four home games the Huskies have averaged 73.5 points per game and won by an average of 10.0 points per game. NIU has held eight opponents to 65 points or less at the Convocation Center this season.
 
Saturday's game features the top two rebounders in the MAC this season in NIU's A'Jah Davis (DeKalb, Ill./Montverde Academy [Fla.]) and Central Michigan's Jahari Smith. Davis leads the league with 11.9 rebounds per game with Smith second at 10.4. On Wednesday night, Davis scored a career-high 30 points at Toledo and added 10 rebounds for her 22^nd double-double of the season. Her previous career-high was 26 points, set on Dec. 16 at DePaul. Davis has 322 rebounds on the season, tying her for second-most in a single season with Tammy Hinchee who had 322 in the 1989-90 season. She is eight boards away from passing Ally Lehman for the NIU single-season rebounds record. Lehman had 329 rebounds in the 2015-16 season.
 
Central Michigan (4-24, 2-17 MAC) lost 75-69 at home to Ball State Wednesday night. The Cardinals closed the game on a 13-0 run to get the win. Molly Davis led Central Michigan with 17 points, adding five assists and five rebounds. Jahari Smith had a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds. Smith is second in the MAC in rebounding at 10.4 boards per game. Davis is the league's fifth-leading scorer at 18.6 points per game. 
 
The MAC will release the bracket for the 2022 MAC Championship at the conclusion of Saturday's games, with quarterfinal action taking place on Wednesday, March 9 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland. For tickets, click on the following link.
 
--NIU--