Women's Basketball | November 29

EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team opens a stretch of six consecutive road games Sunday afternoon at Evansville. Tip-off at Meeks Family Fieldhouse is at 3 p.m. CT with the game broadcast locally on 94-9 WDKB as well as ESPN+.

NIU (2-4) won its second straight game last Monday night, defeating Chicago State 67-57 at the NIU Convocation Center. The Huskies came back from a double-digit deficit for the second time this season. NIU trailed 32-18 with 3:27 to go in the second quarter and cut the deficit to five at halftime before taking its first lead in the final minute of the third quarter.

The Huskies were 33-for-44 from the free throw line in the win, while the Cougars were 7-for-17. NIU had last made at least 30 free throws in a game on Jan. 7, 2017 with 31 in an 88-80 win over Ohio. The Huskies were 23-for-33 in the second half of Monday's win and scored 14 of their 20 fourth quarter points at the foul line.

Graduate guard Nadechka Laccen (San Juan, Puerto Rico/St. Bonaventure) was 10-for-12 at the free throw line against Chicago State and scored 14 points. She has scored in double figures in four of the last five games, averaging 14.4 points per game in that stretch.

NIU got a big scoring lift Monday night from senior forward Teresa Mbemba (Benguela, Angola, Presbyterian). Mbemba led all scorers with a career-high 19 points off the bench in 26 minutes. She is the second Huskie to score in double figures off the bench this season after Sa'Mahn Johnson (Columbus, Ohio/Reynoldsburg) had 14 in the Huskies' win at SIUE on Nov. 21. Mbemba scored 12 of her 19 points in the third quarter to help NIU take the lead against Chicago State.

Sunday's game is the fourth meeting all-time between NIU and Evansville. The Purple Aces lead the series 2-1, winning the last game 65-60 on Dec. 21, 2000 in Evansville. This season's Purple Aces are 1-5 after a 75-69 loss at SIUE last Tuesday. Sophomore guard Camryn Runner led Evansville with 18 points and six assists. Runner, last season's Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year, is averaging 17.2 points and 4.3 assists per game.

The Huskies will face another Missouri Valley opponent on Wednesday, Dec. 3 with a 6 p.m. game at Indiana State.

—NIU—