KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team used an 18-4 run in the fourth quarter Saturday to pull away for a 60-51 win at University Arena over the Western Michigan Broncos.

"I told the players after the game that it's not always going to be pretty," said head coach Lisa Carlsen after NIU's third straight win. "I was proud of how hard we fought the whole game. That's really important for us now and for the rest of the season. If we want to be where we want to be it's going to take that kind of effort from everyone that steps onto the floor."

Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) led all scorers in the game with 20 points, adding seven rebounds and five assists. Koker was 9-for-15 from the field and had zero turnovers. Laura Nickel (Marshall, Wis./Marshall) and Brooke Stonebraker (Versailles, Ohio/Versailles) each had 11 points. Stonebraker also had seven rebounds.

"Our seniors played like seniors today and I expect them to continue that down the stretch," Carlsen said. "They have a lot of basketball left in them and a lot to prove. They played today with that sense of urgency that we need from them and that permeates to the rest of the team."

Western Michigan (10-13, 6-6 MAC) led 43-40 early in the fourth on a Lauren Audino layup and a Marina Asensio three-pointer. The Huskies came back with an Alecia Doyle (Carterville, Ill./SEMO) free throw and a Lexi Carlsen (Sycamore, Ill./Sycamore) three to give NIU a 44-43 win with 8:00 to play. An Asensio layup put the Broncos up 45-44 with 6:03 to go.

That would be Western Michigan's last lead of the game. Stonebraker scored back-to-back baskets to start a 14-2 run over 4:16 that gave NIU a 58-47 lead with 1:28 remaining in the game. Koker scored eight straight points in the run, making two threes, and Nickel capped the run with the layup that put the Huskies up 11. Western Michigan only got as close as seven the rest of the way. The Huskies shot 58.3 percent from the field in the final quarter, going 3-for-5 from the three-point arc.

"We were just good enough offensively and Chelby deserves a lot of credit for that," said Carlsen. "We were really good in the half court defensively. It took all five players on the floor recognizing what Western Michigan was trying to do offensively and who they were trying to work through."

NIU (12-12, 5-7 MAC) held Western Michigan's top two scorers, Asensio and Hannah Spitzley, to a combined two points in the first half. Koker scored eight points in the first quarter to stake the Huskies to a 12-11 lead. The Huskies used an 11-0 run in the second quarter to take a 24-15 lead with 5:02 to play until halftime. Nickel sparked the run with five straight points, including NIU's first three-pointer of the game at the 7:43 mark. Nickel had seven of the 11 points in the run as a Doyle layup made the score 24-15. Spitzley ended the NIU run with a basket at the 3:50 mark, but Brooke Blumenfeld (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) answered with two baskets of her own to give NIU its largest lead of the game, 28-17, with 3:09 left until halftime. Alli Carlson scored the final four points in the half to make the score 28-17.

The Huskies shot 49.0 percent from the field despite making just four of 16 three-point attempts. Western Michigan shot 40.4 percent and was 4-for-17 from long range. The Huskies outrebounded the Broncos 34-28, scoring seven points off six offensive rebounds. NIU had 15 assists on 25 made field goals. Carlson led Western Michigan with 11 points as Asensio added 10.

NIU wraps up its current three-game road swing on Wednesday, Feb. 19 at Ohio. Tip-off is at 6 p.m. CT.

— NIU—