DeKALB — The women’s basketball team had a milestone afternoon in DeKalb Wednesday as junior guard Courtney Woods and senior forward Kelly Smith both eclipsed the 1,000 career-point mark in their 80-71 victory against the Loyola Ramblers.

“I think it’s really something special,” Woods said. “[Smith] and I definitely didn’t think we would get it in the same game, but it’s even better because we’re such good friends, and it’s just really cool.”

Woods led the way for the Huskies, scoring 22 points while adding nine rebounds.

Smith recorded her 1000-point mark point in the first minute of the second half, adding to her 18 points and eight rebound afternoon.

“Going into the season, I didn’t know I was in contention to reach 1000 [points],” Smith said. “After a couple coaches told me I recognized it, and it’s just been really fun reaching this with [Woods].”

NIU started off the game shooting 50 percent from the field while out-rebounding the Ramblers 10-4 in the first quarter.

The second quarter featured a lot of fast-paced basketball with sophomore guard Myia Starks chipping in with ten points.

Heading into halftime with the Huskies up 42-35, they did most of their damage inside the 3-point line while shooting just 14 percent from behind the line.

Loyola made a push to start the half with 14 points coming from graduate student guard Jessica Cerda.

NIU went into the final quarter with a comfortable 69-55 lead.

The fourth quarter featured a scare as junior guard Mikayla Voigt went down with an apparent ankle injury, however she returned to action scoring 13 of her 15 points in the second half.

“We can always count on Mikayla to be solid in all areas,” Head Coach Lisa Carlsen said. “The first half she wasn’t scoring the basketball, but there is other things on the court [Mikayla] does very well.”

After another push for the Ramblers, the Huskies managed to rely on their starters to take home the victory, bringing their record to 6-2 on the season.

Starks played the entire 40 minutes for NIU contributing 16 points, five rebounds and two assists.

“We practice how we play,” Starks said. “We run, run, run, so I’m getting used to staying in the whole time and not looking for a breather.”

With this victory, NIU improved to 5-0 against in-state teams on the young season and 15-7 in the all-time series against Loyola.

The Huskies will have 11 days off before returning to the court 2 p.m. Sunday against Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville in Edwardsville, Illinois.