KENT, Ohio - Senior forward A'Jah Davis (DeKalb, Ill./Montverde Academy [Fla.]) became the sixth player in Northern Illinois University women's basketball history to reach 1,000 career rebounds on Saturday as the Huskies closed the regular season with a 73-58 loss to the Kent State Golden Flashes at the M.A.C. Center.

After play on Saturday, NIU finished the season tied for fifth in the Mid-American Conference with Akron at 8-10. The Huskies earned the fifth seed in the MAC Tournament, which starts Wednesday in Cleveland, by way of beating Akron in the only meeting between the two teams and will play Kent State in the quarterfinals.

"We've been fairly consistent about getting ourselves there [to Cleveland] the last few years," said head coach Lisa Carlsen. "It's going to take a collective effort to make a run. We have some upperclassmen that feel like they have something to prove in the tournament, so from a mentality standpoint I like where we're at right now."

Davis recorded her 21st double-double of the season with 11 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Her 12 rebounds put her at 1,003 for her career. Davis also broke her own NIU single-season rebounds record as she now has 351 on the year, passing the 349 she had a season ago.

"I know rebounding is my job, and if that's what it takes to get in the record then that's what it takes," said Davis about joining the 1,000-rebound club. "It goes to show rebounding is a pride thing and it's what I pride myself on."

NIU (16-13, 8-10 MAC) and Kent State traded runs to start the game. The Golden Flashes opened on a 6-0 run before the Huskies rattled off eight straight points, geting threes from Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) and Jayden Marable (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) to take a two-point lead at the 6:00 mark of the first quarter. Katie Shumate then scored five straight points for Kent State, sparking a 10-0 run that put the Golden Flashes ahead 16-8 with 2:47 left in the opening quarter. Kent State shot 41 percent from the field in the first to take a 20-13 lead.

The Huskies came back to tie the game midway through the second quarter. NIU went on a 9-0 run over 4:00 to level the game at 22 with 4:12 to go until halftime. Laura Nickel (Marshall, Wis./Marshall) started the rally with a three and Grace Hunter (Monroeville, Ind./Bellmont) capped it with two free throws. The Golden Flashes ended the quarter by scoring eight of the last 12 points with a Shumate layup with 0:39 left giving Kent State a 30-26 halftime advantage.

Kent State (20-9, 12-6 MAC) quickly extended its lead to nine on a Shumate three and a Casey Santoro layup to start the third, making the score 35-26. NIU knocked the deficit down to five with 3:50 left in the third when a Davis layup put the score at 40-35. Kent State closed the quarter on a 12-3 run, making four straight threes to take a 52-38 lead going into the fourth.

Janae Poisson (Matteson, Ill./Marian Catholic) went on an 8-1 run by herself to get NIU back in the game, making back-to-back threes to make the score 53-46 with 7:17 remaining. Kent State responded with three-pointers from Shumate and Clare Kelly to put Kent State back up by 13, 59-46, with 6:09 to play. The Huskies would only get as close as nine points the rest of the way as the Golden Flashes shot 66.7 percent from the field in the fourth to come away with the 73-58 win.

Poisson led NIU with 12 points, making 5-of-10 shots from the field. Koker added 10 points, two rebounds and two assists. Santoro led all scorers with 19 points, adding seven rebounds and four assists. Shumate had 17 points and seven rebounds. Kent State was 13-for-28 from the three-point line with the Huskies making 8-of-19 three-point attempts. The Golden Flashes scored 19 points off of 15 NIU turnovers.

NIU and Kent State will play in the second quarterfinal on Wednesday, March 8 at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. Tip-off is at approximately 12:30 PM CT.

—NIU—