Women's Basketball | November 23

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - After earning its first win of the season Tuesday night against Lindenwood at the NIU Convocation Center, the Northern Illinois University women's basketball team is in Puerto Rico this weekend to take on Radford and Indiana State in the Puerto Rico Clasico.

The Huskies will take on Radford Friday at 10 a.m. CT and Indiana State on Saturday at 10 a.m. Both games will be videostreamed and can be purchased for $12.99. Friday's game will be broadcast on WDKB 94-9 FM and the NIU Huskies and Varsity Network apps, while Saturday's game will be available online on the NIU Huskies and Varsity Network apps.

NIU (1-3) snapped its season-opening three-game losing streak Tuesday night with a 77-60 win over the Lindenwood Lions. The Huskies shot a season-high 48.3 percent from the field and 86.7 percent from the free throw line, leading to a season-high in points through four games.

Jayden Marable (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) led four Huskies in double-figure scoring with 18 points. She also tied a career-high with eight assists and had seven rebounds. Marable is second in the Mid-American Conference with 5.5 assists per game and a 2.75 assist/turnover ratio. Sidney McCrea (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Prairie) had 13 points off the bench, her second straight game with over 10 points.

Kortney Drake (Wilton, Iowa/Kirkwood CC) tied her career-high with 12 points for the second game in a row. Since being inserted into the starting lineup on Nov. 12, Drake is averaging 11.0 points and 2.7 rebounds per game while shooting 50 percent from the field. Redshirt-Freshman Brooke Blumenfeld (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) scored a career-high 10 points off the bench in 20 minutes.

This is NIU's first trip to Puerto Rico since 2017, when the Huskies split two games against Sacramento State and Albany. Friday's game will be first meeting all-time between the Huskies and Radford. Radford enters the weekend 2-3, coming off a 63-60 loss at UNC Greensboro on Nov. 18. Ashlyn Traylor-Walker led the Highlanders with 20 points as Taniya Hanner added 16 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Traylor-Walker leads Radford with 16.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.

Indiana State is 1-3 on the season after a 72-63 loss to Wright State on Nov. 18. The Sycamores had four players score in double figures against the Raiders led by Kiley Bess' 16 points. Chelsea Cain, Indiana State's leading scorer at 14.0 points per game, added 14 points and was 6-for-10 from the field. NIU is 4-2 all-time against Indiana State, winning the last meeting 47-43 on Dec. 22, 2011 at the NIU Convocation Center.

—NIU—