DeKALB, IL - The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team played its first home game in over five weeks on Saturday, falling 74-56 to the Ball State Cardinals at the NIU Convocation Center.

It felt great to be on the home court today in front of our crowd," said head coach Jacey Brooks. "It gave us some momentum to start the game. Kudos to Ball State. We know they are a good team and very talented. Coming into this game, I knew we had to have a well-played effort for 40 minutes if we wanted to compete with them. The fact that we had it to 10 in the fourth quarter, I was really pleased with. I felt that we played our best basketball of the season. If we continue to grow like we have, I'm really excited with what this squad is about."

Nadechka Laccen (San Juan, Puerto Rico/St. Bonaventure) and Nevaeh Wingate (Liverpool, N.Y./St. John's) led the Huskies with 13 points each. Wingate also led NIU with five rebounds. Teresa Mbemba (Benguela, Angola/Presbyterian) had 11 points in 30 minutes off the bench, going 5-for-10 from the field.

NIU (2-11, 0-2 MAC) erased an early 7-2 Ball State lead with a 5-0 run, capped by an Mbemba layup, to tie the game 7-7 with 6:40 left in the first quarter. The Cardinals got a three from Grace Kingery and an Aniss Tagayi layup to go up 12-7 less than a minute later. The Huskies answered with a 7-2 run over the next 2:52 as a pair of Wingate free throws tied the score at 14. The Cardinals wrapped up the first quarter on a 9-0 run, with five points from Bree Salenbien putting Ball State ahead 23-14.

Ball State (11-4, 3-0 MAC) extended its lead to 14 early in the second when a Zhen Verburgt three-pointer made the score 30-16. The Huskies got as close as 12 at the 3:03 mark when Laccen split two free throws to put the score at 34-22. The Cardinals shot 63.6 percent from the field in the quarter, and were 4-for-5 from the three-point line with a Zuri Ransom three putting the Cardinals up 45-26.

The Huskies held Ball State without a field goal for the first 3:34 of the third quarter, going on a 7-2 run in that stretch to get within 13 at 47-34. Marta Hermoso (Seville, Spain/McNeese) sparked the run with a three-pointer at the 8:50 mark, NIU's first of the game. Mbemba converted a three-point play with 5:40 to go to cut the deficit to 12, 52-40. The Huskies shot 43.8 percent from the field in the third and held Ball State to 0-for-6 from the three-point arc, closing the quarter on a 6-0 run to make the score 58-46 going into the fourth. That 6-0 run turned into an 11-2 run as a Serracanta three-point play with 8:14 to play got NIU within nine, 60-51, with 8:14 to play. It would be as close as the Huskies got.

Ball State shot 51.9 percent from the field, holding NIU to 39.6 percent. The Cardinals were 9-for-24 from the three-point arc while the Huskies were only 2-for-13. NIU scored 16 points off of 18 Ball State turnovers.

"This is where we are and this is the foundation," Brooks said. "You force a really good team to 18 turnovers and them to just 12 offensive rebounds, I think that's very good and we limited our turnovers. Those are key things for me.  When you break it up into smaller goals, and you see results, I think that's going to continue to help us put 40 minutes together. Happy with the effort and we'll continue to get back to work. If we go out there (on Wednesday) with the same caliber, I think we have a good chance to win."

Towers and Kingery led Ball State with 17 points apiece. Towers also had a game-high nine rebounds.

NIU goes on the road Wednesday, Jan. 7 for a matchup at Buffalo. Tip-off is at 5 p.m. CT with the game broadcast on ESPN+ and locally on 94-9 WDKB.

—NIU—