When a basketball team shoots 21 percent in the second half, the other team can’t help but win.

The NIU women’s basketball team used Toledo’s poor shooting to its advantage by winning 71-56 in Wednesday night’s opening game in Chick Evans Field House.

Great defense was exactly what the Huskies wanted to use against the Rockets. Toledo leads the Mid-American Conference in team defense.

“Our defense was very good tonight,” said NIU coach Jane Albright. “In the second half, we held them down to only 10 points in a span of six minutes.”

While the NIU defense was strong in the second half, it started shaky in the first 20 minutes.

In the first half it was NIU’s offense that jumped out. Shelly Roberts, who was the Huskies’ second-leading scorer with 16 points, hit a 10-foot turnaround shot to get the Huskies underway.

It was balanced scoring for the first three minutes of play, but NIU was able to stretch the lead after taking a timeout.

With six minutes left in the first half, the Huskies led 29-22 but saw their lead dwindle to three at halftime when the score was 35-32.

With over five minutes left in the half, the Rockets took a timeout to compose themselves. Toledo’s Tonya Dixon made an eight-foot shot to bring the score to 29-24. This, combined with fouls by Tammy Hinchee and Roberts, brought the Rockets within two points to 33-31, which was the narrowest lead the Huskies held.

“During the half, I just told the team to play at an up-tempo beat,” said Albright, “and that’s just what they did.”

In the second half, the Huskies put on the pressure and made sure Toledo could not handle it. The pressure was a mix of zone and man-to-man coverage, combined with a full-court press to confuse the Rockets.

“We kept switching between man and zone defenses and we jarred them up defensively,” said Lisa Foss, who led NIU with 19 points.

The Huskies came out to play tough in the second half. Hinchee and Foss each hit a hoop, while Toledo’s Peg Liberatore made a basket and Michelle Morgan Wear was 1 of 2 at the free-throw line in the first two minutes, making it 39-35. Both Liaberatore and Morgan Wear paced Toledo with 11 points apiece.

NIU was in control the rest of the way. The Huskies opened up their offense, pulling off several fast breaks and leading by as much as 20 with 5:52 to go.

As in NIU’s last two wins, Albright used her bench effectively.

“Val Leitzen and Shelly Roberts played great inside, while Lisa Foss had a real hot hand, and the bench also did a real nice job,” said Albright.

inchee was very aggressive and fouled out with a little over three minutes left in the game. Foss wasn’t intimidated when she and Toledo guard Peg Liberatore were in a staring match.

“I love it when they get Lisa Foss mad,” Albright said. “I wish they’d do it all the time.”

NIU (71)—Foss 9-21 1-1 19, Roberts 6-11 4-8 16, Hinchee 6-11 1-3 13, Leitzen 3-4 0-0 6, Stubbs 3-12 0-0 6, Weis 2-3 0-0 4, Meeks 1-1 2-2 4, Dallas 1-2 1-2 3, Zyk 0-1 0-0 0, Seward 0-1 0-0 0, Michel 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 31-68 9-16 71.

TOLEDO (56)—Liberatore 3-7 5-7 11, Morgan Wear 4-6 3-6 11, Hayes 5-7 0-1 10, Dixon 2-4 2-3 6, Cherry 2-9 1-2 5, Pollock 2-6 0-0 4, Cartwright 2-7 0-0 4, L. Mattimore 1-1 0-0 2, K. Mattimore 1-5 0-0 2, Adams 0-0 1-2 1, Savage 0-7 0-0 0, Hill 0-9 0-0 0. Totals 22-68 12-21 56.