BUFFALO, N.Y. - The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team struggled to keep pace with the Buffalo Bulls on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Arena, falling 84-58.
NIU (9-12, 3-7 MAC) committed 18 turnovers which led to 14 Buffalo points. The Bulls shot 52.4 percent from the field while holding the Huskies, who lead the MAC in three-point percentage, to 26.1 percent from long range. Buffalo, second in the MAC in scoring defense allowing 57.7 points per game, held an opponent under 60 points for the 15th time this season.
Buffalo (19-2, 8-2 MAC) raced out to a 7-2 lead in the first 2:09, with Lani Cornfield scoring five straight points for the Bulls. NIU was down 12-6 with 4:34 to go in the opening quarter when a pair of
Lexi Carlsen (Sycamore, Ill./Sycamore) free throws sparked a 6-2 NIU run to get the Huskies within two, 14-12. Buffalo answered with five straight points capped by a Chellia Watson three-point play to take a 19-12 lead with 1:37 remaining in the quarter.
Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) scored five straight points for NIU to get the deficit back down to two 19-17 with 0:41 left. Koker had 11 points in the first quarter. The two teams traded baskets to end the first with Buffalo taking a 21-19 lead.
The Huskies took their first lead of the game early in the second as a Carlsen three-pointer put NIU ahead 22-21. Buffalo then held NIU without a field goal for over five minutes, going on a 12-2 run to take a 33-24 lead on a Kirsten Lewis-Williams layup with 4:23 to go until halftime. NIU got as close as five on back-to-back layups from
Maria Serracanta (Sabadell, Spain/Mercer) and
Shannon Blacher (Burr Ridge, Ill./Montini Catholic) to put the score at 33-28. Watson and Lewis-Williams combined for seven of Buffalo's last nine points in the half as the Bulls took a 42-33 lead into halftime.
After the two teams traded baskets early in the third, Watson knocked down a three to spark a 14-3 Buffalo run that put the Bulls ahead 58-40 with 3:12 to go in the third. Cornfield scored seven of her 17 points in that stretch. The Bulls held NIU to 3-for-12 shooting from the field in the quarter, taking a 62-42 lead into the fourth. Buffalo led by as much as 31 in the final quarter, shooting 75 percent in the fourth for the 84-58 win.
"We were not really good in any facet of the game today," said head coach
Lisa Carlsen. "We didn't handle Buffalo's physicality well in the second and third quarters. All credit to Buffalo, that's what they do. They're really good defensively and made us uncomfortable all game."
NIU shot 38.9 percent from the field and was 10-for-14 from the free throw line Saturday. Koker led NIU with 15 points and four assists, adding four rebounds.
Laura Nickel (Marshall, Wis./Marshall) had 11 points and six rebounds. Carlsen and
Brooke Stonebraker (Versailles, Ohio/Versailles) each scored eight points with Carlsen leading NIU with seven rebounds.
Watson led all scorers with 24 points as Lewis-Williams added 19. Cornfield led all players with eight assists and five steals while scoring 17 points. The Bulls outrebounded NIU 37-33 and scored 48 points in the paint to NIU's 24.
The Huskies return to the NIU Convocation Center on Wednesday, Feb. 5 to take on Kent State at 6 p.m. for National Girls & Women in Sports Day. NIU Athletics will host a pregame Youth Sports Clinic as well as a Panel Discussion. For more information on both events, click on the following link. Tickets for Wednesday night's game, and all remaining NIU home basketball games, are available at NIUHuskies.com/tickets and by calling the NIU Athletics Ticket Office at 815-753-PACK (7225).
—NIU—
