DeKALB, IL - Senior forward
A'Jah Davis (DeKalb, Ill./Montverde Academy [Fla.]) of the Northern Illinois University women's basketball team set a new NIU career double-doubles record Wednesday night in the Huskies' 73-63 win over the Eastern Michigan Eagles at the NIU Convocation Center. With the win, NIU clinched a berth in next week's Mid-American Conference Tournament at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland.
"It's humbling, but I feel a lot of the credit goes to my teammates and coaches," said Davis on becoming NIU's new career double-double leader. "I feel a lot of credit has to go to my teammate
Brooke Stonebraker, who has made me better from day one as a freshman."
Davis had a game-high 19 points and 11 rebounds, locking up her 51
st career double-double with her 10
th rebound at the 9:29 mark of the fourth quarter. She surpasses Tammy Hinchee who had 50 double-doubles from 1986-1990. Davis also had a game-high five assists. She now has 991 career rebounds, moving into sixth all-time at NIU past Ally Lehman who had 990 from 2013-2017.
The Huskies had three other players score in double figures on the night.
Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) had 15 points, three rebounds and three assists. Sophomore forward
Laura Nickel (Marshall, Wis./Marshall) scored a career-high 14 points, with 10 coming in the second half.
Janae Poisson (Matteson, Ill./Marian Catholic) had 10 points off the bench and made two threes to give her 250 three-pointers in her career.
"We had great balance tonight," said head coach
Lisa Carlsen. "A lot of people at different times stepped up and hit some big shots. We needed to shoot the ball better because we struggled offensively against Eastern Michigan the first time we played them, and we did tonight."
NIU (16-12, 8-9 MAC) erased an early 8-3 deficit with an 8-0 run, sparked by two Davis free throws, to take an 11-8 lead with 4:55 to go in the first. The Eagles responded with the next five points to take a 13-11 lead on a Tayra Eke layup at the 2:39 mark. Back-to-back threes from Koker and
Sidney McCrea (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Prairie) started an 11-2 run for the Huskies to end the quarter, giving NIU a 22-15 lead. Koker scored 10 points in the quarter with two threes and four free throws. Both teams scored nine points in the second quarter as a Nickel layup in the final seconds gave NIU a 31-24 advantage at halftime.
Nickel scored five of NIU's first seven points in the third quarter, putting in a three at the 8:00 mark to put the Huskies up 10 38-28. That three came in the middle of a 10-2 Huskies run, of which Nickel and Davis scored all 10, to give NIU a 43-30 lead with 6:25 left in the third. The Huskies took their largest lead of the game with 4:10 to go in the quarter on an
Emily Meinert (Galesburg, Ill./Parkland College) layup which put NIU up 16, 50-34.
Eastern Michigan (14-14, 6-11 MAC) closed to within seven with 0:29 left in the third when an Olivia Smith jumper capped a 13-4 Eagles run that made the score 54-47. Davis made the final basket of the quarter to give her 17 points on the night and put the NIU lead up to nine at 56-47. The Huskies put the game away in the fourth, shooting 54 percent from the field. NIU got the lead back up to 16 with 3:02 to play as a Meinert layup and free throw made the score 73-57.
"That's a big way to end the regular season at home," Carlsen said. "It was a gutsy performance by a lot of people and a big win for us. It gives us the opportunity to make sure we can play next week in Cleveland. I know this group is excited to go and hopefully make some noise."
NIU shot 42.6 percent from the field and made 9-of-24 three-point attempts. The Eagles shot 50 percent from the floor but the Huskies held Eastern Michigan to 4-for-12 from the three-point line. NIU also outrebounded the Eagles 34-30. Lachelle Austin led Eastern Michigan with 16 points.
The Huskies close the regular season on Saturday, March 4 at Kent State with a 1 p.m. CT tip-off at the M.A.C. Center.
--NIU--
