DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team was within five points of Mid-American Conference leaders Ball State with under four minutes to go in the third quarter Saturday afternoon at the NIU Convocation Center, but the visiting Cardinals closed the quarter on a 12-2 run and pulled away for an 81-62 win.
 
"We knew we had our hands full with Ball State and the success they've had this year," said head coach Lisa Carlsen. "I thought defensively in the first half we did a decent job of containing them and executing the gameplan. Ball State is one of those teams that's going to take full advantage of your miscues, and we had spurts in the second half where we left them go on a run."
 
Brooke Stonebraker (Versailles, Ohio/Versailles) led NIU with 17 points, eight rebounds, three blocks and three steals. Alecia Doyle (Carterville, Ill./SEMO) and Brooke Blumenfeld (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) each had nine points for the Huskies. Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) had eight points with a team-high five assists and four rebounds.
 
"When you look at the shots that I took, all that credit goes to my teammates for rotating the ball and finding the open shot," Stonebraker said. "A lot of mine were layups from pick-and-roll or rotating the ball on offense, so the credit goes to them for getting me the ball in a position to score."
 
Ball State (16-4, 8-0 MAC) got out to a fast 6-0 lead on three-pointers from Madelyn Bischoff and Lachelle Austin, extending the lead to 11-4 at the 4:52 mark of the first. A Sidney McCrea (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Prairie) three-pointer with 4:28 to go in the quarter sparked an 11-2 run for NIU to close the period. The Huskies made three three-pointers in that stretch with a Laura Nickel (Marshall, Wis./Marshall) triple giving NIU its first lead of the game, 15-13.
 
NIU (8-11, 2-6 MAC) took its largest lead early in the second as a Doyle three put the Huskies ahead 18-13. The Cardinals then scored eight straight points, capped by an Alex Richard tip-in, to take a 23-18 lead with 4:52 to go in the second quarter. The Huskies responded with a 7-1 run over the next 2:36, getting a McCrea three and a Doyle layup to go back in front 25-24. Ball State scored the last seven points of the half to take a 31-25 lead to the locker room.
 
The Huskies fell behind by nine, 42-33, midway through the third quarter. NIU cut the deficit to five with 3:41 to play in the period as threes from Koker and Lexi Carlsen (Sycamore, Ill./Sycamore) made the score 44-39. Maliyah Johnson then scored five straight points to put Ball State up 10, 49-39, with 1:12 left in the third. The run extended to a 12-2 run to end the period as a Becki three put the Cardinals up 56-41. The Cardinals led by as much as 23 in the fourth quarter as the visitors extended their winning streak to 10 games.
 
Ball State shot 43.3 percent from the field despite being held to 20 percent from long range. The Huskies shot 36.5 percent for the game and was 8-for-27 from the three-point arc. The Cardinals held a 45-35 rebound margin and scored 12 points off 19 NIU turnovers. Becki led all scorers with 20 points as Austin added 17.
 
NIU is back at the Convocation Center on Wednesday, Jan. 29 to take on Central Michigan. Tip-off is at 6 p.m. Tickets are on sale at NIUHuskies.com/tickets and by calling the NIU Athletics Ticket Office at 815-753-PACK (7225).
 
--NIU--