Women's Basketball | March 5

Box Score DeKalb, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team fell to the Toledo Rockets by a score of 79-70 inside the NIU Convocation Center on Wednesday night.

"We knew we would have our hands full with Toledo," head coach Lisa Carlsen said. "They have had a great year. I am proud that we fought all the way to the end. There are some possessions we would want back that can make the difference in a tight ballgame."

Chely Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) led all scorers with 24 points while Sidney McCrea (Cedar Rapids, Iowa./Prairie) and Brooke Stonebraker (Versailles, Ohio./Versailes) both added 12 points in the game.

With the defeat the Huskies were eliminated from contention for the Mid-American Conference Tournament.

Sammi Mikonowicz led Toledo with 19 points and seven rebounds.

The game was the final home game for NIU's four seniors Chelby Koker, Brooke Stonebraker, Sidney McCrea and Laura Nickel (Marshall, Wis./Marshall).

Stonebraker opened the scoring before a 9-0 run by Toledo pushed the Rockets ahead 9-2 with 7:32 left in the first quarter. Brooke Blumenfeld (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) and Lexi Carlsen (Sycamore, Ill./Sycamore) before a pair of Koker free throws cut the Huskies deficit to 11-8. Koker followed a rocket bucket with a three-pointer to make it 13-11. The Rockets held off the Huskies in the first and led 19-15 after the first quarter.

The second quarter started back-and-forth as Stonebraker cut NIU's deficit to 29-25 with 4:33 left in the first half. A 5-0 run by Toledo extended their lead to nine. Threes by Koker and McCrea helped cut it to just five before a last-minute bucket by Hannah Noveroske put the Rockets
up 38-31 at half.

Toledo opened the second half on a 7-0 run to push ahead 45-31 with 7:45 left in the third quarter. A 10-3 run capped off by a pair of free throws from Alecia Doyle (Carterville, Ill./SEMO) cut the Huskies back to a seven-point deficit. Toledo was able to follow the Huskies' run with a 9-0 run of their own to push the Huskies down 59-41 late in the third.

The Huskies cut the deficit to as low as 10 at 66-56 with 5:17 left in the furth quarter but were unable to claw the Rockets back.

NIU will be back in action on Saturday, March 8 as the Huskies travel to take on Miami in the season finale.

-- NIU --