DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team rallied from 17 points down heading into the fourth quarter to defeat the Toledo Rockets 67-66 Saturday afternoon at the NIU Convocation Center.
"Today was a big win for us," said head coach
Lisa Carlsen after Saturday's victory, which snapped a three-game losing streak. "We just beat a great basketball team and I think it really can propel us, from a confidence standpoint, to hopefully getting back to playing Huskie Basketball."
The 17-point comeback was NIU's largest since coming back from 20 points down in the first quarter of a 79-78 win at Bowling Green on Feb. 3, 2021. Seniors
A'Jah Davis (DeKalb, Ill./Montverde Academy [Fla.]) and
Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) led the charge in the final quarter, combining for 23 of the 31 Huskie points.
"I knew what my team needed, and that was to come in and be effective in the fourth," said Davis, who finished with a game-high 22 points. "I was trying to do my job to the best of my ability and me and Chelby are very good playing off each other.
NIU (9-4, 1-1 MAC) trailed Toledo 53-36 heading into the final quarter. The Huskies cut the deficit to six in the first 3:16 of the quarter as Davis and Koker combined to go on an 11-0 run. After a Lonasia Brewer basket put the Rockets up 55-47, back-to-back threes by Koker and
Sidney McCrea (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Prairie) got the Huskies with two 55-53 at the 4:52 mark of the fourth.
"We talked at the end of the third that if we could get back to a single-digit ballgame that we were back in it," Carlsen said. "I thought we got shots throughout the course of the game. We got great shots at the end and stayed relentless on the glass."
Those two threes were the catalyst for a 10-2 NIU run over 1:55, capped by a
Grace Hunter (Monroeville, Ind./Bellmont) layup from
Jayden Marable (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) that tied the game at 57 with 3:36 to go. The Huskies took their first lead of the game with 3:06 remaining as two Koker free throws put NIU up 59-58. Toledo took back the lead on two Khera Goss foul shots with 2:57 to go, with the two sides trading the lead up until the final 22 seconds.
Toledo (10-3, 1-1 MAC) led 66-64 with 0:22 left after Goss split two free throws. On NIU's next possession, Davis had three shots at tying the game and finally converted the third to tie the game at 66 with 10 seconds left. Toledo called timeout to advance the ball but turned it over as McCrea stole the inbounds pass from Justina King giving NIU the ball the with 7.2 seconds left. The Huskies got the ball down low to Davis who was fouled on a layup with 1.4 seconds remaining. Davis made the first free throw to make the score 67-66 but missed the second. Toledo got the rebound but could not get a desperation heave off as the Huskies completed the comeback and halted the Rockets' seven-game winning streak, as well as their 14-game road winning streak.
"This game was huge for us," said Koker. "But in terms of the MAC, anyone can win on any day. We're definitely not going to get too high on this game because come Wednesday it's another battle."
The Rockets opened the game on an 8-2 run and led 17-7 at the 2:27 mark of the first on a Jayda Jansen layup. The Huskies closed the gap to five by the end of the quarter, closing on a 7-2 run as a Davis three-point play made the score 21-16. NIU went cold from the field in the second quarter, making just 3-of-20 shots from the field as Toledo took a 33-23 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Davis led all scorers with 22 points and 11 rebounds for her eighth double-double of the season. Koker finished with 21 points, six assists and four rebounds. Quinesha Lockett led Toledo with 18 points. NIU shot 52.6 percent from the field in the fourth quarter and finished at 35.3 percent for the game. Toledo shot 41.7 percent from the floor and held a 48-38 rebounding edge.
The Huskies go on the road on Wednesday, Jan. 11 to face Western Michigan. Tip-off in Kalamazoo is set for 6 p.m. CT.
--NIU--
