The word from Tennesee is not good.

With hopes of knocking off a national powerhouse and finally gaining some Top 20 recognition, the NIU women’s basketball team traveled to Vanderbilt University Monday night and came away empty…four points empty.

The Huskies’ 10-game winning streak came to a halt as the Lady Commodores (16-6) upset NIU (15-3), 87-83 in front of 392 boisterous hometown fans.

But not before Tammy Hinchee had her say in the matter. The senior came up with 21 points, 12 rebounds, 5 blocked shots and 4 steals, before fouling out with 1:28, to lead NIU in every category. And the amazing part of it is that Hinchee played on a sore knee.

“Tammy Hinchee played an exceptional game,” NIU coach Jane Albright said. “Even with a bad knee.”

The game was everything it was supposed to be. Any time two Top 30 teams meet, a see-saw battle with good defense and good shooting is expected—and it happened.

The only thing that wasn’t expected was VU’s Sarah Mannes to come up with 21 points because she came into the game averaging just two points an outing. Mannes played in another world as she didn’t miss a shot all night. She went 9-for-9 from the field and 3-for-3 from the free-throw line.

Mannes phenomenal shooting along with Wendy Scholtens game-high 23 points paved the way. There were 14 ties and 14 lead changes in the game. NIU was down by as many as five points early on in the first, 13-8. But the Huskies battled back to their biggest lead of the contest at the 5:20 mark, 27-21. The half ended in controversy. Denise Dove threw up a 35-footer at the buzzer and it hit nothing but net. The officials waved the basket saying that time had already elapsed, so NIU went into the lockerroom down by a bucket, 35-33.

“It took a while for us to get going in the first half,” an emotional Albright said. “In the second, we executed our offense well and got the shots we wanted.”

NIU jumped out to a 5-point lead with 14:25 left in the game on a Dove 15-footer (53-48). The Lady Commodores tied it at 53 and almost eight minutes later the score was still in a deadlock, 71-71. VU then took control of the game. The closest the Huskies would get was 83-82 on a Dove 3-pointer with 1:12 remaining. The game went to the free-throw line and VU’s Donna Harris, who ended 10 of 13 from the line, hit the last four free throws to preserve the win.

“We knew they were a good free throw shooting team,” Albright said. “They led the SEC last year and they did it again tonight with the 25 for 31 from the line.”

As if the loss wasn’t enough, Kris Weis also lost her consecutive free-throws with one second on the clock as she missed the second of two from the stripe. The streak officially ended at 36.

“That streak is not by accident,” Albright said. “It shows that she really has a lot of concentration. I’m real proud of her and I feel real good about her going on and leading the nation in free-throw shooting.”