DeKALB – Senior forward A’Jah Davis broke the all-time NIU double-double record as the Huskies defeated Eastern Michigan University 73-63 and clinched a spot in the Mid-American Conference tournament.

Davis finished the game with 19 points on 8-for-17 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds, securing the record-breaking double-double. The DeKalb native recorded her 51st career double-double in her NIU career. 

“It’s humbling, but I have to give a lot of credit to my teammate (junior forward) Brooke Stonebraker, from day one as a freshman she has made me better,” Davis said. “I wouldn’t be in this position without her, to my coaches and my other teammates as well.”

Davis started the game scoring only four points on 1-for-7 shooting. Davis finished the first half with six points on 2-for-8 shooting while also grabbing five rebounds. Eastern Michigan double-teamed Davis heavily in the first half.

The victory over the Eagles clinched a berth in the MAC Tournament for the team. The Huskies will travel to Cleveland, Ohio next week, with the first game on Wednesday. NIU currently sits in fifth place in the MAC going into their final matchup this weekend.

“That was always the goal, maybe we didn’t take the most direct path, all the time but the league is never easy,” NIU women’s basketball head coach Lisa Carlsen said. ”You have to go through some of that, but at the end of the day we got the opportunity. I couldn’t be happier for everybody but especially for our seniors.”

At halftime, NIU led EMU 31-24. The Huskies’ leading scorer was senior guard Chelby Koker, as she totaled 10 points in the half, but was unable to score in the second quarter. Koker also grabbed three rebounds and added two assists. Redshirt sophomore guard Sidney McCrea was the second-highest Huskie scorer, scoring six points on an efficient 2-for-3 shooting performance from beyond the arch.

Koker was the Huskies’ second leading scorer behind Davis. Koker finished with 15 points on 4-for-9 shooting while also picking up three rebounds, three assists and two steals. 

Koker totaled 10 of her 15 points in the first quarter on 2-for-4 shooting from beyond the arc and 4-for-5 from the charity stripe. Koker played 27 minutes in this game after missing NIU’s previous game. 

Sophomore forward Laura Nickel was the third Huskie to score double-digit points in the contest. Nickel finished with 14 points on 5-for-6 shooting and also collected four rebounds. 

The fourth and final Huskie to finish the game with double-digit points was graduate Janae Poisson. Poisson had 10 points coming off the bench in 21 minutes and also totaled three rebounds and three assists. 

The Huskies’ final matchup of the season will take place at 1 p.m. Saturday against Kent State University in Kent, Ohio at the Memorial Athletic And Convocation Center. The game will be streamed on ESPN3 and live stats will be available via SIDEARM Stats.