Women's Basketball | February 20

DeKALB, Il. – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team heads to Kalamazoo, Mich. on Saturday looking for the season sweep of the Western Michigan Broncos.
 
Tip-off is at 12 p.m. CT at University Arena with the game broadcast on ESPN+. The radio broadcast will be available on NIUHuskies.com.
 
NIU (5-21, 2-12 MAC) won the first meeting against Western Michigan 64-56 at the NIU Convocation Center on Jan. 21. The Huskies shot a then-season high 46.8 percent from the field and 40 percent from the three-point line. Emilie Sorensen (Waukee, Iowa/Waukee) led all scorers with a season-high 22 points, going 6-for-8 from the field with three three-pointers. Nadechka Laccen (San Juan, Puerto Rico/St. Bonaventure) added 14 points which all came in the second half.
 
Nevaeh Wingate (Liverpool, N.Y./St. John's) and Sa'Mahn Johnson (Columbus, Ohio/Reynoldsburg) both had a game-high 17 points Wednesday night in a 70-67 loss at Kent State. Wingate also had five rebounds and was 6-for-6 at the free throw line. She has scored in double figures in six straight games, averaging 16.2 points per game in that stretch.
 
Johnson scored in double figures for the seventh time this season. She was two points shy of tying her season-high 19 points set at Indiana State on Dec. 3. Johnson was 7-for-8 from the free throw line as NIU shot 85.7 percent against Kent State, making 18-of-21 attempts. It was the second straight game the Huskies shot over 80 percent from the foul line and third in the last five games.
 
Western Michigan (7-17, 3-10 MAC) is coming off a 67-63 loss at Bowling Green Wednesday night. The Broncos led 54-50 with 7:32 remaining in regulation when the Falcons went on a 10-3 run to take a 60-57 lead. WMU shot 41.7 percent from the field and made 10 threes in the game. De'Ahna Richardson led the Broncos with 13 points as Alli Harness added 12. Kailey Starks, Western Michigan's leading scorer at 12.9 points per game, had 11 points and seven rebounds. Starks is seventh in the MAC in free throw percentage at 76.4 percent.
 
NIU is next in action on Saturday, Feb. 28 when it hosts Eastern Michigan in the first game of the Cram The Convo doubleheader. Tip-off is at 1 p.m. For tickets, log on to NIUHuskies.com/tickets or call the NIU Athletics Ticket Office at 815-753-PACK (7225).
 
--NIU--