Women’s basketball bounces back
Sophomore guard Georgia Breunig contests a shot in Tuesday’s game against Wisconsin Lutheran. Breunig picked up a block, a steal and an assist in eight minutes to help lead the Huskies to a 69-42 win.
November 19, 2015
Women’s basketball (1-1, 0-0 MAC) beat Wisconsin Lutheran (0-1, 0-0 NACC) by 27 points Tuesday at home for its first win of the 2015-16 season.
Defensive dominance was a key factor in the Huskies’ 69-42 victory. It was an improvement from the first game of the season when the team allowed more than 90 points and lost by 26 points.
The Warriors had a total shooting percentage of 26 percent compared to 48.3 percent for the Huskies. The win also marked the first victory for NIU under head coach Lisa Carlsen.
“After the SIUE game, we felt like we didn’t necessarily really play very well defensively,” Carlsen said. “So we talked about making sure that we were kind of setting the tone on the defensive end and being aggressive. When we do that and rebound, that’s obviously good for us offensively because we’re better in transition and having opportunities in the open court. We can’t do that if we don’t defend and rebound.”
Redshirt senior forward Natecia Augusta led the Huskies in scoring with 14 points on 7-11 shooting. She also grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked a shot. Junior guard Ally Lehman scored just two points but grabbed 10 rebounds, four assists and two steals in 22 minutes.
“It was really motivating having so much love and support from the crowd and especially my team,” Lehman said. “Afterwards, I couldn’t help but to just smile. It’s probably the best feeling I’ve ever had or really close to it.”
Freshman guard/forward Courtney Woods dropped 10 points, seven rebounds, two assists and a steal of her own in the game. Freshman guard Mikayla Voigt followed with nine points, four rebounds, three steals and two assists.
The Huskies outscored the Warriors by at least seven points in each of the first three periods. In the fourth and final quarter, both teams dropped a total of 19 points.
Freshman forward Maddy Elrod led Wisconsin Lutheran with 10 points and three rebounds. Senior forward Taylor Bahr followed with nine points and eight rebounds.
NIU’s next game will come against the Eastern Illinois Panthers at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the Convocation Center.