Women’s basketball held the Buffalo Bulls to 11 first-half points Jan. 24 and lost. The Huskies could have hung their heads after the loss that sank them to 6-10 overall and 2-4 in the MAC.

Instead, the Huskies (10-11, 6-5 MAC) regrouped and strung together four wins before losing to the Western Michigan Broncos (16-7, 9-3 MAC), 60-51, Wednesday at the Convocation Center.

“I’m proud of my team because we give ourselves a chance to win against the best team in our league, and we did,” said fifth-year head coach Kathi Bennett. “So, I can’t really ask for more from them. And I think you’re going to have days where those [shots] go down and days you’re not. Our mentality is it can’t affect us moving forward.”

A win over the MAC West foes would have given NIU its first five-game winning streak as a member of the MAC. It was in the MAC from the 1982-83 season to 1985-86 before rejoining the league in 1997-98.

After a 4-1 stretch that included the biggest comeback win in the Bennett era — overcoming a 15-point deficit against the Akron Zips Saturday — the Huskies are 10-11 and are tied for third place in the MAC West with seven games to go.

“This year our effort has not wavered,” Bennett said. “We’ve lost games and have had great effort. I think it’s just that we’re playing better together.”

Senior guard Amanda Corral echoed Bennett, saying the Huskies have been learning and adapting to each other’s playing styles. She said it’s been even more of a challenge with two freshmen and one sophomore starting in key roles.

“I think we’ve always had a great attitude and focus,” Corral said. “… Our chemistry building is just helping a lot and knowing how we’re going to play off each other.”

Bennett said she felt a change in the team after the 47-43 loss to the Buffalo Bulls Jan. 24 in Buffalo, N.Y. The Huskies gave up 11 first-half points, but they couldn’t buy a basket in the second half, shooting 29.6 percent.

“It’s the best defensive effort I’ve had a team play … and we could not make a layup,” Bennett said. “We had so many opportunities to win that game. I walked in that locker room and I wanted to be mad, you know, and I couldn’t. I looked at them and they took ownership, they felt terrible and I think they realized that we can be pretty darn good.

“I feel from that Buffalo game I just think it turned a little bit. It was a crushing loss, but they didn’t hang their heads. And I remember coming back to Monday’s practice, and they were all in. If you can withstand that I just think there’s a whole lot of hope.”

After suffering their first loss in nearly three weeks and with a two-game road trip on the horizon, Corral knows the key for this team is to keep its head up and keep doing what it’s been doing: “just believing.”

“I think just realizing that we could play with anybody in our conference is the main thing for us,” Corral said. “We’re going game to game, and we’re trying to get a win each game. If we happen to go on a streak we happen to go on a streak, but we’re just playing our hearts out every game and playing with every team.”