Women's Basketball | November 2
DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team opens the 2024-25 season Monday morning at 11 a.m. at the NIU Convocation Center against the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns on Education Day. The game is part of the first round of this season's MAC-Sun Belt Challenge.
Over 1,000 local elementary school students are expected to be in attendance for NIU's annual Education Day. Students will be able to get their face painted from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Monday. The first 100 NIU students in attendance will receive a meal voucher for a hot dog, chips and a drink.
Women's basketball season tickets, as well as single-game tickets, are on sale now at NIUHuskies.com and by calling the NIU Athletics Ticket Office at (815) 753-PACK (7225). Pricing starts at just $35 for general admission seats and $50 for reserved tickets located in section 103 as well as 111-113. Courtside seat season tickets for NIU women's basketball are available for $275 which includes the cost of a season ticket plus a $225 per seat license.
Head Coach
Lisa Carlsen enters her 10
th season at NIU. She is the third NIU women's basketball head coach to reach double-digit seasons on the bench. Carlsen is second all-time in wins at NIU with 134, getting the Huskies to the Mid-American Conference Tournament in Cleveland six times. NIU has made it to Cleveland five times in the last six years.
NIU took the floor at the Convo for the first time this season last Sunday (Oct. 27), defeating Benedictine 72-48 in exhibition action. The Huskies bounced back from a slow start from the field to shoot 43.5 percent, holding the Eagles to 32 percent. NIU dominated on the glass outrebounding Benedictine 51-25 with 20 offensive rebounds.
Brooke Stonebraker (Versailles, Ohio/Versailles) led all scorers with 12 points. The graduate forward led NIU last season with 11.4 points and 9.0 rebounds per game, earning All-MAC Third Team honors. She started all 31 games and was second in the MAC in rebounding. Junior transfer
Alecia Doyle (Carterville, Ill./SEMO) also scored in double figures with 10 points and added a game-high three steals. Doyle was a Second Team All-Ohio Valley Conference selection last season at Southeast Missouri, leading the Redhawks in scoring at 13.4 points per game.
Doyle is one of eight newcomers on this year's squad and one of five transfers, a group that includes
Reagan Barkema (Story City, Iowa) from Bradley,
Kiylynn Dawkins (Beaverton, Ore.) from Western Oregon,
Marta Hermoso (Seville, Spain) from McNeese State and
Maria Serracanta (Sabadell, Spain) from Mercer. Freshmen
Julia Sollberger (Peoria, Ill./Dunlap),
Makenzie Brass (Minooka, Ill./Minooka) and
Lexi Carlsen (Sycamore, Ill./Sycamore), the daughter of head coach
Lisa Carlsen.
Another key returner for the Huskies is guard
Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran). Koker is in her sixth year in the program after missing the 2023-24 season due to injury. A three-time All-MAC selection, Koker averaged 15.4 points and 3.4 assists per game in the 2022-23 season on her way to a spot on the All-MAC Second Team. Koker has scored 1,530 points in her NIU career and is the NIU career leader in free throw percentage (85.6 percent) and is sixth in three-pointers made with 199.
Monday's game is the earliest season opener in program history. NIU opened the 2019-20 season at home against Harvard on Nov. 5, 2019. It is the first meeting between the Huskies and Ragin' Cajuns. The Huskies went 1-1 in last season's MAC-SBC Challenge, losing 75-62 at Arkansas State before a 91-84 win over Georgia Southern in DeKalb. NIU has won its last three home openers.
Louisiana went 17-14 last season with a 10-8 mark in Sun Belt play. The seven-seed in the conference tournament, the Ragin' Cajuns defeated both Arkansas State and second-seeded Troy to reach the semifinals. Junior guard Jaylyn Names was named to this season's Preseason All-SBC Second Team. She is Louisiana's leading returning scorer at 8.3 points per game.
Following Monday's game, the Huskies head to Iowa City, Iowa to take on Iowa on Wednesday, Nov. 6 at 6:30 p.m.
--NIU--
