LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team was stymied by the defense of the Georgia Southern Eagles in Friday night's first round of the Women's Basketball Invitational, scoring just 58 points in a 69-58 loss at the Clive M. Beck Center.

A'Jah Davis (DeKalb, Ill./Montverde Academy [Fla.]) led the Huskies with 12 points and eight rebounds. Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) had 10 points and seven rebounds, one shy of her season high. Tara Stauffacher (Columbus, Wis./Wisconsin) had 10 points off the bench.

Georgia Southern (21-8) raced out to a 9-2 lead in the first 2:44 behind five points from Eden Johnson. NIU got back in the game at the free throw line as Koker and Laura Nickel (Marshall, Wis./Marshall) made four straight foul shots to make the score 9-6 with 6:27 to go in the first. NIU got within two at the 5:05 mark when a Grace Hunter (Monroeville, Ind./Bellmont) three put the score at 11-9. The Eagles responded with a 7-2 run sparked by a Terren Ward three-point play to take an 18-11 lead with 3:09 left in the first. Koker and Davis combined to score six of the next eight points in the game to get NIU back within three, 20-17, with 1:27 to go. Le'Andrea Gillis doubled the lead with a three to give Georgia Southern a 23-17 advantage.

Gillis' three sparked a 16-2 run that was capped at the 5:45 mark of the second quarter on a Ward layup as Georgia Southern took a 36-19 lead. Stauffacher made a three with 5:20 to go in the quarter, but that was NIU's only field goal in the second. NIU was a perfect 6-for-6 from the foul line in the second quarter, but just 1-for-13 from the field as the Eagles took a 40-26 halftime lead.

NIU (16-15) fell behind by 17 early in the third before Stauffacher's second three sparked a 9-2 Huskies run. Nickel capped the scoring spurt with a jumper that got the Huskies within 10, 47-37, with 5:53 to go in the quarter. Janae Poisson (Matteson, Ill./Marian Catholic) closed the gap to eight when her three at the 2:39 mark made the score 50-42. Georgia Southern got up by 13 but baskets by Davis and Sidney McCrea (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Prairie) put the score at 55-46.

The two teams traded baskets early in the fourth, but it was Georgia Southern that was able to build on its lead. Ward scored the first five points in a 10-2 Eagles run that put Georgia Southern up by 15, 67-52, with 5:36 to go. NIU went over five minutes without a field goal before a Stauffacher layup at the 4:01 mark put the Huskies within 13. The Huskies only got as close as 11 the rest of the way.

"We needed to make something happen in the second half," said head coach Lisa Carlsen following the game. "I was proud of our effort in the second half. We did a lot of good things as far as the effort we had on the floor and we got some good looks. If we knock a few of those down we would have been in a different situation."

NIU shot 32.2 percent from the field and was held to 5-for-26 from the three-point line. The Huskies made 15 of 16 free throws. NIU held Georgia Southern 11 points under its scoring average for the season despite the Eagles shooting 49 percent from the field. Ward led all players with 21 points and nine rebounds. Simone James added 11 points.

The Huskies take on North Dakota in the consolation bracket on Saturday, March 18. Tip-off is at 4 p.m. CT.

—NIU—