Davis records 54th double-double in Huskies’ final
Senior forward A’Jah Davis (25) looks for an opening to pass the ball in the first half of the game on Jan. 25. (Nyla Owens | Northern Star)
March 23, 2023
NIU senior forward A’JAh Davis recorded the 54th double-double of her collegiate career last Sunday, 71-56 against the UIC Flames in the Women’s Basketball Invitational at the Clive M. Beck Center.
Davis finished the game with 17 points and 17 rebounds, recording her 23rd double-double of the season. She is NIU’s all-time leader in double-doubles and is second all-time in rebounds with 1,048 career rebounds.
“It was a gutsy performance from A’Jah today,” said head coach Lisa Carlsen. “She went out and played her last game as a Huskie with a lot of determination and grit and gave us everything she had.”
It was also seniors Janae Poisson and Emily Meinert last game. Poisson had six points, two rebounds and two assists. She finished her career with 1,268 points and sits in fourth all-time at NIU with 254 career three-pointers. Meinert had two points and an assist.
Carlsen mentioned how this season was a season to be proud of despite losing in the first round of the Mid-American Conference playoffs.
“Nobody is going to be able to take away the fact that we beat some teams that are still alive in the postseason,” said Carlsen. “We had wins against Ball State, Bowling Green and Richmond that are all still in the WNIT. We beat the Mid-American Conference champions Toledo who won their first NCAA Tournament game … Our seniors have put us in a position of understanding and raising the expectations of this program, along with all they’ve done statistically, and those are things I’m really proud of.”
NIU shot 3-for-15 from the three-point line, shooting 20% from three and 38% from the field. UIC shot 39.1% from the field and outrebounded the Huskies 42-31. Flames senior forward Josie Filer led all scorers with 22 points and added six rebounds for UIC.
“UIC is a really good defensive team, and they made it difficult for us on every catch,” Carlsen said. “They did a great job on the glass. They’re defense forced to take a lot of tough shots and we didn’t get great looks at three. We needed to rebound better, especially in the first half, and keep them out of the lane.”