Women's Basketball | February 9
DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team hosts the Georgia Southern Eagles on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the NIU Convocation Center in the second round of the MAC-SBC Challenge. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ as well as the NIU Huskies and Varsity Network apps.
Saturday's game is NIU's Play4Kay game with the Huskies wearing their pink jerseys. Fans attending the game are also encouraged to wear pink. The Huskie Basketball 2024 pack is available for Saturday's game. This ticket deal includes four lower bowl tickets, four hot dogs, four sodas and four chips for just $40. Go to niuhuskies.com/2024PACK and enter the promo code 2024 PACK.
It is also the final Scholarship Saturday game of the season. If the attendance threshold of 150 students is met, one lucky student will be randomly selected to win a $1,500 scholarship. The student must be in attendance when the winner is selected in the fourth quarter.
NIU (10-11, 4-6 MAC) notched one of its biggest wins in program history Wednesday night, defeating Ball State 76-71 in overtime at the Convocation Center. The Cardinals entered the night unbeaten in Mid-American Conference play and on a 14-game winning streak. The Huskies held the top shooting team in the league to 37.9 percent from the field and 22 percent from the three-point arc.
Sidney McCrea (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Prairie) led NIU with 17 points, scoring 12 in the second half and overtime. McCrea made three three-pointers while adding four rebounds and a team-high four assists.
Brooke Stonebraker (Versailles, Ohio/Versailles) posted her fifth double-double of the season with 13 points and 12 rebounds, adding a career-high three assists. Stonebraker is averaging 12.4 points and 8.7 rebounds per game, shooting 48.5 percent from the field.
NIU made nine threes against Ball State, its second game in the last three with nine makes from long range. Over the last three games the Huskies are 21-for-67 from the three-point line. The Huskies also outrebounded Ball State by 18, 52-34. It was the third straight home game that NIU outrebounded its opponent by double digits.
Georgia Southern (13-11, 3-9 SBC) is coming off a 62-54 loss to Southern Mississippi on Wednesday night. Senior guard Constance Thomas led the Eagles with 14 points. Georgia Southern leads the nation in rebounding with 47.5 rebounds per game, as well as offensive rebounds with 18.1 per game. Saturday's game is a rematch of last season's first-round Women's Basketball Invitational game, won by Georgia Southern 69-58.
The Huskies close out their current three-game homestand on Wednesday, Feb. 14 at 11 a.m. against Western Michigan for Education Day.
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