Women's Basketball | December 6

DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team takes on a ranked opponent for the first time in three seasons on Sunday afternoon when it faces the #10 Iowa State Cyclones at 1 p.m. CT at Hilton Coliseum.
 
Sunday's game will be broadcast locally on 94-9 WDKB as well as on ESPN+.
 
NIU (2-6) last faced a ranked opponent on Nov. 7, 2022 when the Huskies opened the season at #9 Notre Dame. The Huskies are coming off a 69-61 loss at Indiana State on Wednesday night. NIU trailed by 18 points early in the second quarter but rallied to take a 55-53 lead with 5:38 to go. NIU shot 38.5 percent from the field and scored 20 points off of 14 Indiana State turnovers.
 
Freshman guard Sa'Mahn Johnson (Columbus, Ohio/Reynoldsburg) led NIU with 19 points, 10 of which came in the fourth quarter. It was Johnson's third game in double-figure scoring out of the last four. Over that stretch Johnson is averaging 11.8 points per game and 17-for-25 from the free throw line.
 
The Huskies had a season-high 33 bench points Wednesday night. Johnson's 19 points was bolstered by Teresa Mbemba's (Benguela, Angola/Presbyterian) 10 points and seven rebounds. NIU has had at least 20 bench points in each of the last three games. Wednesday night was the first time since Dec. 30, 2023 NIU had two players score in double figures off the bench.
 
Iowa State (9-0) stayed perfect on the season last weekend with wins over Marquette and Indiana in Fort Myers, Fla. The Cyclones beat Indiana 106-95 on Nov. 30. Audi Crooks led all scorers with 47 points, going 19-for-25 from the field for the highest individual scoring performance in the country so far this season. Crooks leads all of Division I in scoring at 27.3 points per game and is second in field goal percentage at 73.8 percent. Iowa State is third in the nation in scoring at 94.8 points per game.
 
NIU will be off this coming week for finals and will next play at Purdue Fort Wayne on Sunday, Dec. 14 at 1 p.m. CT.
 
--NIU--