Women's Basketball | December 19
DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team begins it's final Mid-American Conference slate on Saturday at Central Michigan. Tip-off at McGuirk Arena is at 12 p.m. CT with the game broadcast on ESPN+ with the radio broadcast exclusively on NIUHuskies.com.
Saturday's game starts the Huskies' 33
rd and final MAC season before becoming a member of the Horizon League next year. It is the second time NIU has started MAC play before Christmas, hosting Toledo at the Convocation Center on Dec. 10, 2020. NIU won last season's conference opener at Toledo 59-58 on New Year's Day.
Freshman guard
Emilie Sorensen (Waukee, Iowa/Waukee) led NIU in scoring with 17 points at Purdue Fort Wayne on Dec. 14, tying her season-high set against Western Illinois back on Nov. 11. She was 6-for-8 from the field and made a season-high five three-pointers on six attempts. Sorensen was a perfect 4-for-4 from the three-point arc in the second quarter, posting her second double-figure scoring quarter of the season with 12 points.
Senior forward
Teresa Mbemba (Benguela, Angola/Presbyterian) tied a career-high with three blocks at Purdue Fort Wayne. She enters conference play eighth in the MAC with 0.9 blocks per game. Over the last five games Mbemba is shooting 60 percent from the field and averaging 10.8 points per game over that stretch.
NIU (2-8) has won three straight meetings against the Chippewas and four of the last five. The Huskies shot over 50 percent from the field and the three-point line last season in an 80-75 win over Central Michigan at the Convocation Center.
Central Michigan (6-4) snapped a two-game losing streak on Wednesday night in a 91-41 win at Valparaiso. The Chippewas raced out to a 16-2 lead after the first quarter and shot 51.5 percent from the field for the game. Sophomore forward Ayanna-Sarai Darrington led Central Michigan with 22 points and was a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line. Madi Morson added 15 points. Morson leads the Chippewas in scoring at 14.7 points per game with Darrington adding 13.8 points per game. Central Michigan is second in the MAC in three-point percentage at 33.3 percent and third in rebound margin at +7.0.
NIU wraps up its current six-game road trip on Monday, Dec. 29 at St. Thomas at 2 p.m. CT.
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