DeKALB – NIU women’s basketball (1-0) left its home opener victorious after defeating the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns (0-1) 57-55.
“I think it’s one of those games where I was really proud of our ability to stick together,” said NIU women’s basketball head coach Lisa Carlsen. “It was physical, it was tough, it wasn’t pretty at times, for sure, but this is a group that has played a lot of minutes, understands what we’re trying to accomplish, and they had to kind of just go through that, right? And we did. We did enough to win.”
The Huskies surged a late-game comeback after trailing for 31 of the 40 minutes. The matchup was the first leg of the Mid-American and Sun Belt Conference challenge, which will resume in February.
In her first game in over a year, sixth-year guard Chelby Koker picked up where she left off. Koker nearly posted a triple-double and finished as NIU’s leading scorer.
“There’s no chance we win today without her (Koker) on the floor,” Carlsen said. “She’s, for sure, one of the most competitive players that I’ve ever coached, and she’ll do whatever is asked of her and will do whatever it takes. And she’s a very special player.”
Koker was efficient from start to finish, posting 18 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists. Koker’s scoring success was backed by efficient shooting, sinking 83% of her shots.
“The coaches put me in a position where I know that I’m gonna have the ball a lot, so I know I need to be able to hit the people that are open,” Koker said. “My teammates did a great job hanging down shots when they needed to. So just executing what is asked to me, and with the help of my teammates, I think that really goes a long way.”
Another impactful Huskie was graduate student forward Brooke Stonebraker. Despite a sluggish offensive performance, Stonebraker was stout defensively, logging 4 blocks – including the game-sealing rejection.
“Something that we practice in practice all the time is last minute situations,” Stonebraker said. “You could say it’s nerve wracking, but it’s something we’ve done 100 times in practice, so that makes me feel a little bit more comfortable in that position.”
Stonebraker was scoreless until one minute into the fourth quarter and finished the game with 4 points. Despite the limited amount of offensive production, Stonebraker recorded the game-winning bucket with time expiring.
“I’m going to go out there and do my best every single time and do what I need to do,” Stonebraker said. “If that’s a lower amount of points, that’s the amount of points. If that’s a higher amount of rebounds, that’s it.”
Coming off the bench, Bradley University transfer junior forward Reagan Barkema was a spark plug. Barkema finished as the Huskies’ second-leading scorer with 12 points, including an instrumental three-pointer down the stretch.
Graduate student guard Lanay Wheaton headlined the Ragin’ Cajuns’ lineup. Wheaton was Louisiana’s leading scorer, totaling 17 points. Wheaton was also a factor defensively, picking up 5 steals.
After a back-and-forth first quarter, the Ragin’ Cajuns held control for the majority of the first half. Turnovers plagued the Huskies in the first half, as NIU accumulated 11 turnovers to Louisiana’s 5.
The turnovers and inefficient shooting caused the Huskies to go into halftime down 32-27.
The game continued in favor of Louisiana following halftime, as the Ragin’ Cajuns entered the fourth quarter with a 44-51 advantage. Louisiana led the entire third quarter.
The Huskies fought back, though, as Barkema drilled an equalizing three-pointer to even the contest at 55 late in the fourth quarter.
NIU and Louisiana traded missed baskets until Stonebraker sank her go-ahead putback layup with 29 seconds remaining in the ballgame. The bucket gave NIU its first lead since the second quarter.
The Huskies cemented the win after Stonebraker recorded a fourth block and sent Louisiana sophomore forward Uniyah Franklin’s game-tying shot attempt into the floorboard.
UP NEXT
The Huskies now face off against the University of Iowa at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. The game is available for listening through NIU All-Access, streaming is available through B1G+ and live stats will be provided by SIDEARM Sports.
Carlsen spoke on how the Huskies will prepare for the intense environment.
“It’s going to be a great opportunity (facing off against Iowa),” Carlsen said. “It’s going to be a great atmosphere, it’s going to be all of those things, but when the ball is thrown up and the tip happens for 40 minutes, we’re going to compete against them, just like we would anybody else on our schedule.”
