IOWA CITY, IA – NIU women’s basketball (1-1) entered the national stage Wednesday, facing off against the University of Iowa Hawkeyes (1-0). The Huskies couldn’t keep up, falling 91-73.
NIU played in front of a sold out crowd, as it was the Hawkeyes season-opener as well as its 2024 Final Four banner presentation. Iowa finished last season as the national runner up after losing in the 2024 NCAA Championship game.
“I think we competed for 40 minutes,” said NIU women’s basketball head coach Lisa Carlsen. “I was proud of our resiliency. You know, Iowa did a great job of taking advantage of a lot of our miscues and that’s what good teams are going to do. So, if there’s one thing we have to get better at, we have to do a better job of taking care of the basketball.”
NIU turned the ball over 25 times, which amounted to 27 points off turnovers for the Hawkeyes. The Huskies, in comparison, scored 14 points off turnovers.
NIU played the game without its best player, sixth-year guard Chelby Koker. Koker led the Huskies in scoring on Monday but missed the game due to an undisclosed lower body injury.
“She’s kind of nursing a lower body injury,” Carlsen said. “It was one of those situations where, you know, it’s probably better that we don’t put her out there unnecessarily right now.”
Filling in for Koker, junior guard Alecia Doyle was second in scoring for the Huskies. Doyle totaled 14 points, grabbed 3 rebounds and swiped 3 steals.
“I did whatever I needed to do to help my team win,” Doyle said. “Our starting PG (Koker) is out right now, so I had to be the follow up PG and so I feel like I was just kind of doing whatever I needed to do to help my team win.”
Another standout for the Huskies was graduate student forward Brooke Stonebraker. For the second game in a row, Stonebraker had a slow start offensively, finishing the first half with 3 points.
Despite the slow start, she logged 15 points and left the game as NIU’s leading scorer.
“That just goes to show the type of player that Brooke (Stonebraker) is,” Carlsen said. “I think she was one-for-seven in the first half, right? Second half, she comes and she just kind of trusts the process. You know, (she) knows what she can get and what she can’t. I thought she did a good job of exploiting that.”
Stonebraker also came down with 4 rebounds.
Senior guard Lucy Olsen led all players in scoring, punishing NIU’s defense throughout the game. The shifty, five-foot-ten facilitator amassed 19 points, as well as 7 assists and 1 steal.
“You have to make sure you move your feet, you’re always on your toes,” Doyle said in regard to guarding Olsen. “She’s (Olsen’s) a good player.”
The first quarter was back and forth as the Hawkeyes ultimately left the frame with a 15-14 advantage. NIU demonstrated strict defense in the first quarter, holding the Hawkeyes to 5-19 shooting from the field.
Iowa began to pull away in the second quarter, swiftly igniting a 12-0 run. Sloppy defensive play and failed opportunities on offense pursued for the Huskies, forcing NIU into halftime down 45-34.
Junior Forward Regan Barkema led the Huskies in scoring in the first half, profiting off of the three ball. Barkema gathered 9 first-half points after shooting 3-for-4 from behind the arch.
That’s what we expect from Reagan (Barkema),” Carlsen said. “Somebody can go in, play that forward position and really stretch the floor. She’s a confident shooter anytime she has a look from three we want her to let it fly.”
Coming out of halftime, the Hawkeyes kept their foot on the gas. After outscoring NIU 27-18 in the third quarter, Iowa created a 72-52 lead going into the final frame.
NIU excelled in the fourth quarter, outscoring Iowa for the first time of the night. Despite the late-game push, it was not enough to overcome the Big Ten powerhouse.
Hawkeye freshman guard Taylor Stremlow cemented the victory thanks to a steal with 22 seconds left in the game which allowed Iowa to dribble the time out.
UP NEXT
NIU resumes its out-of-conference play at 1 p.m. Sunday against the University of St. Thomas at the Convocation Center in DeKalb. Listening will be available through Stream the World and live stats will be available through SIDEARM Sports.
