DeKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team was within five points of the Bowling Green Falcons with 7:47 to play Saturday afternoon, but the Falcons made four three-pointers down the stretch to pull away for a 65-48 win at the NIU Convocation Center.
 
"I was proud of our effort for 32 minutes today," said head coach Jacey Brooks following the game. "The wheels came off in the fourth quarter. We fell behind and found a spark at the start of the fourth quarter. We wanted to get within five by the media timeout and we got there in the first two minutes. Bowling Green hit some big shots, but it's hard to win when you shoot 57 percent from the free throw line and are 1-for-12 from three."
 
NIU (3-12, 1-3 MAC) was down 42-28 with 1:23 to go in the third quarter and scored the last three points on free throws from Nevaeh Wingate (Liverpool, N.Y./St. John's) to get the deficit to 11, 42-31. The run extended to an 11-2 run in the fourth quarter. Teresa Mbemba (Benguela, Angola/Presbyterian) scored six of the Huskies first eight points, making back-to-back layups to get NIU within five 44-39 with 7:47 to play.
 
"She battled through some foul trouble early but helped us in the second half," Brooks said about Mbemba's performance Saturday. "Teresa was aggressive from the perimeter tonight and finished at the rim. She has given us a spark off the bench and helped us get in a rhythm with our post players."
 
Bowling Green (9-6, 2-2 MAC) answered NIU's run with a 10-2 run of its own, bookended by three-pointers from Paige Kohler and Lauren Gerken, to take a 54-41 lead with 5:02 to play. The Falcons held NIU without a field goal for over four minutes and stretched the lead to 21 in the final 1:30.
 
The Huskies raced out to a 10-4 lead in the first quarter, punctuated by a pair of Mbemba layups at the 5:05 mark. The Falcons got as close as two as Joniyah Bland-Fitzpatrick scored four straight points to make the score 10-8 with 4:07 left in the opening quarter. NIU then scored six of the next eight points as baskets from Wingate, Cyra Conwell (Chicago, Ill./Butler College Prep) and Maria Serracanta (Sabadell, Spain/Mercer) put the Huskies up 16-10 in the final minute.
 
The Falcons scored six straight points to tie the game at 16-16 on a Johnea Donahue layup with 8:33 to go in the second quarter. NIU took back the lead 19-16 but went almost five minutes without a field goal. Bowling Green went on a 9-0 run, sparked by a Kaia Woods three-pointer, to take a 25-19 lead with 1:50 to go in the half. Marta Hermoso cut the deficit in half with a three-pointer at the 1:31 mark, which wound up being the last points of the first half and sending NIU to the locker room down 25-22.
 
Mbemba led NIU with 15 points, making 6-of-8 shots from the field. Wingate added 14 points, four rebounds, three assists and a career-high six steals. Conwell led the Huskies with a season-high eight rebounds. Kendal Moxey led five Falcons in double figure scoring with 15 points and eight rebounds.
 
The Huskies shot 39.5 percent from the field but were held to 1-for-12 from the three-point line. Bowling Green shot 45.1 percent from the field, including going 9-for-12 in the fourth quarter. The Falcons scored 21 points off 19 NIU turnovers.
 
NIU goes on the road to take on Toledo on Wednesday, Jan. 14. Tip-off at Savage Arena is at 6 p.m. CT.
 
--NIU--