CLEVELAND - The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team did not keep pace with the three-point shooting of the Kent State Golden Flashes on Wednesday afternoon, falling 75-68 in the Mid-American Conference Women's Basketball Championship quarterfinals at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
"You have to credit Kent State for shooting the ball well and we knew we needed to do a better job of defending them from behind the arc," said head coach
Lisa Carlsen. "I was proud of this group's effort in the second half. We continued to fight, but Kent State had an answer every time we tried to make a run."
Kent State (21-9) made 9-of-18 three-point attempts in the first half to take a 38-25 lead. Clare Kelly and Katie Shumate combined for four threes in the first quarter to help the Golden Flashes build a 22-10 advantage. The Huskies closed the gap to eight with 6:52 left in the second quarter when back-to-back
A'Jah Davis (DeKalb, Ill./Montverde Academy [Fla.]) layups made the score 25-17. Kent State answered back with threes from Katie Shumate and Casey Santoro to go up by 14, 31-17, with 5:43 to go in the half.
Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) scored five straight points for NIU to once again put the deficit at eight, 31-23 with 3:10 remaining until halftime. Clare Kelly scored five straight points of her own, including Kent State's ninth three of the half, to put the Golden Flashes ahead 36-23 in the final minute of the quarter.
The Huskies scored the first five points of the third quarter on a Davis layup and
Jayden Marable (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) three to make the score 38-30 with 8:05 to go. Kent State built its lead up to 14, 44-30, with a 6-0 run capped by a Jenna Batsch putback at the 5:31 mark. Marable and Davis combined to score all 18 NIU points in the third quarter, scoring the last five points to put the Huskies within eight at 51-43 going into the fourth.
NIU (16-14) got within five points with 8:22 to go in the game. Back-to-back layups from Davis and Koker made the score 54-49. The Golden Flashes extended their lead to 10 with 4:08 to go on baskets from Shumate and Corynne Hauser to go up 64-54. Marable responded with the next five points for NIU, with her three at the 3:07 mark once again putting the Huskies within five at 64-59. That was as close as NIU got. Kent State went on a 10-3 run over the next 2:28 to go ahead 74-62 as Santoro went 6-for-6 at the foul line.
The Golden Flashes were 11-for-26 from the three-point line in the game, while NIU made 6-of-17 three-point attempts. The Huskies shot 41.5 percent from the field to Kent State's 41.9 percent and outrebounded the Golden Flashes 42-37.
Davis led all players with 26 points and 12 rebounds for her 22nd double-double of the season and 53rd of her career. Marable added 20 points, going 8-for-16 from the field and tying a career-high with three three-pointers. Senior
Emily Meinert (Galesburg, Ill./Parkland College) pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds. Shumate led Kent State with 20 points and 12 rebounds as Kelly and Lindsey Thall each added 16 points.
"Regardless of the stage, I'm going to go out and do my best at providing what the team needs," said Davis after posting her third career double-double in the MAC Tournament.
"Everybody will know about A'Jah for years to come," Carlsen said reflecting on the Huskies' season. "She's etched her name in the record books. We had some big wins this season, whether it be DePaul at home or our wins over Toledo, Ball State and Bowling Green. We had the talent to win big games, but sometimes it comes down to matchups and we didn't matchup great with Kent State this year."
—NIU—
