Women's Basketball | January 2

DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team is back in action at the NIU Convocation Center on Saturday afternoon, hosting the reigning Mid-American Conference champion Ball State Cardinals. Tip-off is at 2 p.m.
 
Tickets are on sale now at NIUHuskies.com/tickets. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ with the radio call exclusively on NIUHuskies.com.
 
NIU (2-10, 0-1 MAC) wrapped up its six-game road trip on Monday afternoon, falling 64-46 at St. Thomas. Junior forward Nevaeh Wingate (Liverpool, N.Y./St. John's) led all scorers with 17 points, going 5-for-6 from the free throw line. It was her seventh double-figure scoring effort this season and third in the last five games. Wingate is second in the MAC in free throw attempts with 62.
 
Teresa Mbemba (Benguela, Angola/Presbyterian) added 12 points and five rebounds against the Tommies in 19 minutes off the bench. Over the last seven games Mbemba is averaging 10.7 points per game and shooting over 60 percent from the field.
 
Ball State (10-4, 2-0) has started conference play 2-0, winning 78-74 over Eastern Michigan on Dec. 20 and at Akron 102-73 on Wednesday afternoon. The Cardinals shot 50 percent from the field against the Zips and outrebounded them by 15, 50-35. Tessa Towers led Ball State with 22 points and added 13 rebounds. Bree Salenbien added 14 points and six rebounds, going 3-for-5 from the three-point arc. Salenbien leads the Cardinals in scoring at 15.3 points per game with Towers adding 13.3 points per game.
 
Saturday's game is the first of two meetings between the Huskies and Cardinals this season. Ball State snapped a two-game NIU winning streak in the series last season with an 81-62 win at the Convocation Center on Jan. 25, 2025.
 
The Huskies are next in action on Wednesday, Jan. 7 at Buffalo. Tip-off is at 5 p.m. CT.
 
--NIU--