After traveling Wednesday to the southside of Chicago, NIU women’s basketball defeated the winless Chicago State University Cougars 77-68.
“This will be one we go back and look at and have to continue to challenge each other,” said NIU women’s basketball head coach Lisa Carlsen. “I told the players after the game, ‘We were too good individually to not expect more of ourselves,’ you know, and I think this will be a good game to look at in that aspect and talk a little bit about, you know, what, what we didn’t do very well, and the expectation that we have to be better.”
With the victory, the Huskies improve to 2-2 on the season as the Cougars fall to 0-7.
After suffering a fractured nose against the University of St. Thomas on Nov. 10, junior guard Alecia Doyle had a monstrous game. Doyle led all scorers with a season-high 21 points.
“When you play a team sport you can’t always think of yourself – you got to put yourself out of the way and think of your teammates,” Doyle said. “I’m fighting to win every single game, and I just love the game of basketball.”
Battling with a protective mask on, Doyle also added 3 rebounds and 1 assist.
Graduate student forward Brooke Stonebraker was another key contributor for the Huskies, finishing with 17 points – another season-high. Stonebraker also grabbed 8 rebounds, matching her season-high.
“You don’t want them to get second-chance points on the defensive end, and then offense, you do want those second-chance points,” Stonebraker said. “I know the team depends on me to go in and rebound, so that is expected of me.”
NIU’s rebounding success extended beyond Stonebraker, as the Huskies’ amassed 44 boards. In comparison, the Cougars came down with 31.
NIU was also more efficient shooting the ball. The Huskies held Chicago State to 37% shooting from the field, compared to the Huskies’ 47%.
Junior center Josie Hill led the Cougars in scoring with 16 points, more than half of which came in the fourth quarter. Hill also picked up 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block and 1 steal.
Chicago State drew first blood after the game remained scoreless through roughly the first 2 minutes. The frame continued in sluggish fashion, as Chicago State maintained the lead and left the quarter with a 17-16 lead.
Thanks to 6 first-quarter points by Doyle, the Huskies gained momentum heading into the second quarter. Shortly into the second quarter, the Huskies took the lead as Doyle drilled a pullup jumper.
After regaining the advantage, NIU applied pressure without letting up. The Huskies outscored the Cougars 27-9 in the second quarter, rounding out the half with a 43-26 lead.
“We got a lot of stops during that stretch too (the second quarter),” Carlsen said. “And for a majority of the game, we just weren’t very good at that. But in the second quarter, I thought that was the difference.”
Thanks to a productive second quarter, NIU had two players eclipse double-digit points in the first half. Doyle led the Huskies with 14 first-half points, as redshirt sophomore forward Brooke Blumenfeld added on 12 of her own.
“Her (Blumenfeld) running to the rim, her putting herself in the post, that’s where she’s best at, and that’s where she helped us in the second quarter,” Doyle said.
Coming out of halftime, the Huskies held the lead for the remainder of the game. The third quarter was back-and-forth, though, as NIU barely outscored Chicago State 20-19.
The Cougars flipped the script in the fourth quarter, opening the frame with a 14-4 run to slim their deficit to 67-59. Hill punished the Huskies throughout the quarter, picking up 10 points – including a three-ball to bring the Cougars within 9 points.
Chicago State came as close as six points in the final 10 minutes.
Despite the late-game push, redshirt senior guard Sidney McCrea eliminated the Cougars’ chance of a comeback by giving the Huskies a nine-point lead with an instrumental three-pointer.
“It (McCrea’s three-pointer) was definitely a big sigh of relief,” Doyle said.
The Huskies held firm for the final minute, eventually dribbling the ball out to secure the victory.
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Carlsen praised the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers ahead of their matchup at noon Sunday.
“It’ll be a great test for us again on the road,” Carlsen said. “Kyle’s (Milwaukee women’s basketball’s head coach Kyle Rechlichz) done a great job with that team. She’s got a couple of pretty high powered scorers, and so we’ll have to be better from a consistency standpoint than we were tonight.”
As NIU nears conference play, the Huskies will resume their out-of-conference slate on the road at UW-Milwaukee Panther Stadium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Live streaming for the game will be available through ESPN+, with live stats available through SIDEARM Sports and listening provided by Stream the World.
