Women's Basketball | March 4

DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team looks to keep it's Mid-American Conference Tournament hopes alive Wednesday night as the Huskies host Toledo at the NIU Convocation Center at 6 p.m. in the final home game of the regular season.
 
Tickets for Wednesday' game are available now at NIUHuskies.com/tickets and by calling the NIU Athletics Ticket Office at (815) 753-PACK (7225). The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and WDKB 94-9 FM, as well as the NIU Huskies app and TuneIn.
 
NIU (13-15, 6-10 MAC) stayed in the race for the MAC Tournament last Saturday with an 84-77 double overtime win over Bowling Green on Senior Day at the Convocation Center. The Huskies erased a 21-point third quarter deficit as a Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) putback beat the fourth quarter buzzer to tie the game at 64. Koker scored 23 of her game-high 28 points in the second half and overtimes, going 11-for-12 from the free throw line. It was her fourth 20-point game of the season.
 
Koker was named MAC Player of the Week on Tuesday for the second time in three weeks. She averaged 20.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game in NIU's games against Kent State and Bowling Green last week. In her last nine games Koker is averaging 16.2 points per game. Koker was the MAC Co-Player of the Week on Feb. 18 after her 20-point game in NIU's win at Western Michigan. This is the third time in the last four weeks NIU has had a MAC Player of the week and the fourth time this season.
 
The Huskies enter the final week of the regular season at 6-10 in the MAC, one game behind Western Michigan and Central Michigan who are tied for seventh at 7-9. NIU holds the head-to-head tiebreaker against Central Michigan and will need a win over Toledo Wednesday night to secure the head-to-head tiebreaker against Western Michigan.
 
NIU won the first meeting at Toledo on Jan. 1 59-58, snapping the Rockets 20-game home court winning streak. The Huskies held the Rockets to 32.3 percent from the field and 4-for-23 from the three-point line. Toledo is 21-6 on the season and 12-4 in league play, tied for second in the MAC with Buffalo and two games behind first place Ball State. The Rockets have won nine of their last 10 games after Saturday's 80-70 win over Central Michigan. Kendall Carruthers led Toledo with 20 points as Sammi Mikonowicz had 18 points and five rebounds. Toledo shot 54.4 percent from the field on Saturday despite being 5-for-19 from the three-point line. Mikonowicz leads the Rockets with 13.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.
 
NIU closes the regular season on Saturday, March 8 at Miami. Tipoff at Millett Hall is set for 12 p.m. CT.
 
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