Northern Illinois University issued the following announcement on Nov. 28
The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team held an opponent to 50 points of less for the first time in over two seasons Sunday afternoon in a 69-50 win over the Milwaukee Panthers at the NIU Convocation Center.
The Huskies moved to 3-0 on the home floor this season. This is the best home start for NIU since the 2018-19 season when the Huskies won their first seven games in DeKalb. The Huskies held Milwaukee to 35.5 percent shooting in the game and 2-for-22 from the three-point arc. NIU scored 21 points off 19 Panther turnovers and held a 41-36 rebound margin. Sunday's game was the lowest points allowed by NIU since an 88-47 win over Bowling Green on Feb. 6, 2019.
NIU (3-1) opened the game on a 9-1 run, holding the Panthers without a field goal for the first 6:17 of the game. Errin Hodges (Pontiac, Ill./Evansville Central [Ind.]) and A'Jah Davis (DeKalb, Ill./Montverde Academy]) combined for seven of the nine points. Despite shooting just 25 percent from the field in the opening quarter, Milwaukee scored eight of the final 12 points to make the score 13-9 heading into the second.
Sparked by a pair of Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) three-pointers, NIU went on a 16-2 run to start the second quarter to build a 29-11 lead at the 2:31 mark. The advantage grew to 19 points after back-to-back Koker layups put the Huskies up 19, 33-14, with 0:45 left until halftime. Megan Walstad made a layup in the final 20 seconds to make the halftime score 33-16. Koker outscored Milwaukee 10-7 in the quarter as NIU kept the Panthers to 24.1 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes.
"I was really happy with our defensive intensity, especially in the first 20 minutes," said head coach Lisa Carlsen. "That really established what we were going to have success with as we got going offensively. The starting unit was good defensively and good on the glass. As we were able to string some scores together, that gave us some separation going into the locker room."
Milwaukee (3-4) scored the first six points of the third quarter to get within 11, 33-22, at the 8:25 mark leading to an NIU timeout. The Huskies responded with the next five points as a pair of Davis free throws and a Mikayla Brandon (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) three to go back up by 16, 38-22. NIU took its largest lead of the game at the 2:11 mark of the quarter. Janae Poisson (Matteson, Ill./Marian Catholic) made back-to-back threes to start a 10-2 NIU run over a stretch of 1:41, capping it off with a layup to put the advantage up to 21, 52-31. Poisson had 10 of her 15 points in the third quarter, scoring just before the quarter buzzer to make the score 56-37. The Panthers got as close as 12 points in the fourth quarter with a Walstad jumper making the score 59-47 with 5:39 to play.
"I was really trying to focus on the defensive end more than anything," Poisson said of her big third quarter. "I knew I was going to hit a shot eventually and my teammates had confidence in me. I knew the next time I was going to shoot it, I was going to shoot."
Koker led NIU with 18 points, making 7-of-15 shots from the field while adding seven rebounds and three assists. Davis had a second consecutive double-double with 16 points and a game-high 11 rebounds, adding a career-high four steals. Brandon also had a career-high with four steals to go with her 12 points and five rebounds. Walstad led Milwaukee with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
NIU goes on the road next weekend for the Compass Challenge, hosted by Western Illinois. The Huskies take on the Leathernecks on Friday, Dec. 4 at 6 p.m., followed by a 4 p.m. matchup against either Southern Illinois or Eastern Illinois on Saturday, Dec. 5.
Original source can be found here.
Alerts Sign-up