LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team scored 99 points on Saturday afternoon, but needed a last-second three in overtime that was off the mark in a 102-99 loss to the North Dakota Fighting Hawks in the consolation round of the Women's Basketball Invitational at the Clive M. Beck Center.

Six Huskies scored in double figures on Saturday. Grace Hunter (Monroeville, Ind./Bellmont) had a season-high 18 points, one off her career-high, while pulling down a career-high six rebounds. She was 4-for-5 from the three-point line. Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) also had 18 points, 16 of which came in the second half and overtime.

A'Jah Davis (DeKalb, Ill./Montverde Academy [Fla.]) had 16 points and eight rebounds, moving into second place all-time at NIU with 1,031 career rebounds. Tara Stauffacher (Columbus, Wis./Wisconsin) and Laura Nickel (Marshall, Wis./Marshall) each had 11 points. Nickel added a career-high nine rebounds with a team-high five assists. Brooke Stonebraker (Versailles, Ohio/Versailles) had a career-high 10 points off the bench, going 4-for-4 from the field with two free throws.

"One of the things about a tournament like this is you have an opportunity to play a lot of different players and give them more minutes," said head coach Lisa Carlsen. "Grace is a great example of that. We put her in the starting lineup and she was really good for us and had great energy. Tara was really good as well. It was an opportunity for some of those kids that are coming back to showcase what next year can look like."

NIU (16-16) bounced back from an eight-point first quarter deficit in the second quarter. Stauffacher had six points in an 8-2 Huskies run to get NIU within two, 26-24, with 6:00 to go until halftime. The Huskies tied the game at 28-28 with 4:23 to go on back-to-back baskets from Stonebraker and Sidney McCrea (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Prairie). NIU took its first lead since 2-0 at the 1:10 mark of the quarter on a Jayden Marable (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) three which gave the Huskies a 37-36 lead. Juliet Gordon put in a layup in the final 0:30 to give North Dakota a 38-37 lead at halftime.

The Huskies opened the third quarter on a 7-0 run, with Hunter scoring the first five, to go up 44-38. North Dakota got as close as two with 3:43 left in the third when a Kacie Borowicz three-point play made the score 53-51. A Stonebraker jumper sparked a 10-4 NIU run over 2:55, putting the Huskies ahead 63-55 with less than a minute to go. The Huskies took their largest lead of the game with 6:34 to go in the fourth when a pair of Davis free throws put NIU up nine, 72-63. North Dakota chipped away at the Huskies lead, eventually taking an 83-81 lead on a Claire Orth three with 1:27 left in regulation. NIU came back to tie the game at 85-85 with 40 seconds left, and stopped the Fighting Hawks twice to send the game to overtime.

North Dakota (19-12) got two threes from DJ Davis and Joli Daninger in the first 1:15 of extra time to put the Fighting Hawks up 91-87. The Fighting Hawks led by six twice in overtime, and NIU cut it to three both times on triples from Hunter and Marable. Gordon split two free throws with 0:09 seconds to put North Dakota up 102-99, giving NIU a chance to tie the game. Nickel rushed the rebound up the floor and got the ball to Marable, whose last second heave missed the mark.

"When you score 99 points, you sure hope you win," Carlsen said. "Give North Dakota a lot of credit. Borowicz is a really good player and we didn't do a great job of making it tough for her early, but we adjusted later in the game. She just makes a lot of tough shots."

NIU shot 50 percent from the field for the first time in six games. The Huskies also made 11 three-pointers, as many as the last two games combined. NIU outrebounded North Dakota 41-36, scoring 21 second chance points off of 15 offensive rebounds. Borowicz led all scorers with 35 points and added six assists.

The Huskies close the 2022-23 season against the UIC Flames on Sunday, March 19 at 11 a.m. CT. It will be the first meeting between NIU and UIC since 2014.

—NIU—