DeKALB — Women’s and men’s basketball competed in the Cram the Convo event Saturday at the Convocation Center.

Women’s basketball defeated the University of Toledo Rockets 54-52 after senior guard Mikayla Voigt made a go-ahead and-one layup with eight seconds left in the game.

The men’s basketball team’s losing streak extended to five games, dropping its contest to Bowling Green State University 87-67.

Women’s

Voigt struggled with her shot for most of the contest against the Mid-American Conference’s top defense in points allowed per game and opposing field goal percentage.

She went 2-11 from the field, including 0-8 on 3-pointers, before converting an old-school 3-point play to lead the Huskies to victory.

“[Assistant] Coach [John McGinty] did a good job of drawing up the play,” Voigt said. “We knew I was just going to go hard to the basket. So, I put my head down and just tried to make the layup. I’m just glad that after a tough night, I stayed with it and got the job done when it counted.”

Both teams stumbled out the gates offensively. NIU and Toledo shooting less than 26 percent from the field during the first quarter.

The Huskies had an 8-7 lead with 1:39 left in the first before going on a 7-0 run, capped off by a sophomore guard Errin Hodges 3-pointer to take a 15-10 lead heading into the second.

Related: Women’s Basketball falls to University of Miami

The Rockets brought their deficit down to 21-19 midway through the second quarter, but NIU outscored Toledo 9-2 in the final 4:41 of the first half to take a 30-21 lead at the midway break.

The turnover differential was advantageous for the Huskies. They outscored the Rockets 13-2 in points off turnovers in the first half and finished the game with 17.

“I think our defense started off really well, and it kind of helped carry our offense to be honest,” redshirt-junior forward Ally May said. “I know we got a lot of hype plays, so I think that kind of helped us get rolling, and those turnovers definitely were big for us in the beginning.”

NIU outscored Toledo 11-5 in the final half of the third quarter to take a 43-35 advantage heading into the final period. The Huskies had a 9-point lead with 3:06 remaining after a sophomore forward Riley Blackwell layup.

The Rockets stormed back to take a 52-51 lead with 26 seconds left in the game.

NIU turned the ball over on four of its next five possessions before Voigt hit the go-head layup and got a defensive stop to close out the game.

Voight finished with nine points and two rebounds. May recorded team-highs of 12 points and three blocks to go along with seven rebounds.

Blackwell tallied 11 points, five rebounds and three assists. Toledo senior center Kaayla McIntyre notched game-highs of 20 points and 15 rebounds.

“I think when you look at the 40 minutes, it’s about what you expect from a Toledo and NIU game,” Head Coach Lisa Carlsen said. “They made a great run, and [I] credit them for that, but I think we weathered the storm and did just enough. Obviously, [we] hit a huge shot at the end, and we were able to get the stop when we needed it.”

The Huskies, with a 15-9 overall and 7-5 MAC record, will return to the floor 6 p.m. Monday against the Western Michigan University Broncos in a makeup game from a Jan. 31 weather-related cancellation.

Men’s

The Huskies struggled to contain the Falcons backcourt of sophomore guard Justin Turner, senior guard Dylan Frye and senior guard Antwon Lillard, who combined for 57 points.

Turner scored a game and career-high 34 points on 10-14 shooting from the field, 4-5 from beyond the arc and 10-14 on free throws. Bowling Green shot 58.7 percent from the field and 57.1 percent on 3-pointers.

“We saw first-hand how good Bowling Green was; they shot lights out,” Head Coach Mark Montgomery said. “We couldn’t get enough consecutive stops, [and] our guards fought, but the guard play from Bowling Green was awfully good today. They scored in transition; they scored in the half-court; they controlled most of the game.”

Related: Huskies’ MAC losing streak reaches four

NIU took an early 11-10 lead after sophomore guard Rod Henry-Hayes knocked down a 3-pointer with 15:08 left in the first half.

The Falcons outscored the Huskies 13-2 over the next five minutes of play to take a 23-13 lead with 10:20 left in the half.

Senior forwards Lacey James and Levi Bradley each scored four points in the ensuing two minutes of gameplay to bring NIU’s deficit down to four. Bowling Green responded by scoring 17 of the final 25 points of the first half to take a 42-29 lead heading into the contest’s intermission.

The Falcons outscored the Huskies 6-1 to open the second half and led by as much as 71-47 with 9:02 left before NIU went on a run. The Huskies scored 14 of the following 16 points to reduce their deficit to 73-61 with 5:13 left in the game.

“I know our guys are going to fight,” Head Coach Mark Montgomery said. “I like that we finally picked it up where we are stopping them and getting consecutive baskets. But when you get down by that much, it’s awfully hard to come back.”

Bowling Green countered by scoring eight consecutive points to go up by 20 and taking the eventual victory.

Bradley finished with team-highs of 18 points and six rebounds. German scored 15, while James added 13 and senior guard Dante Thorpe scored 12. NIU shot 39 percent from the field for the game.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” German said. “We’re just in a slump right now as a team. I don’t know what we have to do to find our offense, we have to get better on defense. It’s just all around.”

The Huskies, with a 12-14 overall and 5-8 Mid-American Conference record, will have a week off from competition before facing the University of Toledo Rockets 5 p.m. Saturday in Toledo, Ohio.

“[The break] can be a good thing if we make it a good thing,” German said. “If we have players just sitting on their butt, not trying to get better, then it’s going to be a bad thing. But, if we have players actually taking a advantage of this week off and get time to think about how they can help the team, then it can be a good thing. We shall see.”