IOWA CITY, Iowa - The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team shot 46.2 percent from long range Wednesday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena but could not overcome 25 turnovers in a 91-72 loss to the Hawkeyes.

"I was proud of our resilience throughout the night," said head coach Lisa Carlsen. "There's things we need to clean up, to be sure. We never stopped fighting and that was important in an atmosphere where not a lot of people are cheering for you."

Graduate forward Brooke Stonebraker (Versailles, Ohio/Versailles) led three Huskies in double-figure scoring with 15 points, 12 of which came in the second half. Alecia Doyle (Carterville, Ill./SEMO) had 14 points, three rebounds and three steals, making 7-of-8 free throw attempts. Sidney McCrea (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Prairie) had 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the three-point line. McCrea also added five assists.

NIU (1-1) trailed 8-4 with 6:46 to go in the first quarter before going on a 7-0 run to take an 11-8 lead. McCrea and Reagan Barkema (Story City, Iowa/Bradley) each made a three to put the Huskies up by three. Iowa responded with a 7-0 run of its own capped by an Addison O'Grady free throw to give the Hawkeyes a 15-11 advantage with 1:15 left in the first. The Huskies scored the last three points of the opening quarter, and added a pair of Doyle free throws to start the second with a 16-15 lead.

Iowa (1-0) took back the lead with a 12-0 run over 3:37, getting three-pointers from Kylie Feuerbach and Lucy Olsen to go up 29-16 with 5:11 to go until halftime. The Hawkeyes led by as much as 17 in the quarter when Feuerbach and Jada Gyamfi combined for seven straight points to make the score 38-21 with 2:31 to go until halftime. The Huskies closed the half on a high note, scoring eight of the last 10 points. Threes from Barkema and Lexi Carlsen (Sycamore, Ill./Sycamore) and a pair of Brooke Blumenfeld (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) free throws made the score 45-34 at the break.

The Hawkeyes took their largest lead of the game with 1:52 to go in the third quarter as a Teagan Mallegni three put Iowa up 72-47. NIU opened the fourth quarter making its first four shots from the field to get within 18, 81-63, with 6:36 to go. The Huskies shot 66.7 percent from the field and made four threes, including Shannon Blacher's (Burr Ridge, Ill./Montini Catholic) triple at the 5:06 mark that got NIU within 15 at 81-66 and was as close as NIU would get.

Iowa shot 52.1 percent from the field for the game after being held to 30 percent in the first quarter. The Hawkeyes outrebounded NIU 35-30 and turned 25 NIU turnovers into 27 points. The Huskies shot 49 percent from the field and was 11-for-14 from the free throw line.

"Whenever we had bad offensive possessions, not just turning the ball over but a bad shot, a rushed shot, they took advantage," said head coach Lisa Carlsen. "Every game going forward gives us an opportunity to learn something about ourselves. This will be a valuable film when we look at it."

Olsen led all scorers with 19 points and seven assists. Feuerbach added 14 points, nine rebounds and six steals.

The Huskies return to the NIU Convocation Center on Sunday, Nov. 10 to take on the St. Thomas Tommies. Tip-off is at 1 p.m. for Hometown Heroes Day. Tickets are available now at NIUHuskies.com and through the NIU Athletics Ticket Office at (815) 753-PACK (7225).

—NIU—