What happened

Women’s basketball (9-10, 5-4 MAC) picked up its third-straight victory as it beat the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks (3-18, 0-10 MAC), 60-49, Wednesday at the Convocation Center.

How it happened

The RedHakws finished the first half on a 23-7 run to take a 29-22 lead over the Huskies into the break. They went 12-27 from the field for 44.4 percent while the Huskies went 9-28 from the field for 32.1 percent.

The Huskies opened up the second half on a 12-2 run to retake the lead, 34-31. The Huskies controlled the remainder of the game and built their lead as big as 13 points. They boosted their shooting percentage to 41.4 percent in the second stanza while their defense made the RedHawks’ shooting dip to 32 percent.

The number: 38

That’s the number of points NIU scored in the second half against the RedHawks. Miami scored only 20 points in the second frame, nine points less than it scored in the first half.

Northern Star players of the game

Miami freshman guard Kayla Brown finished with a game-high 21 points and recorded three rebounds. She scored 10 of the RedHawks’ 20 second-half points.

Freshman Kelly Smith finished the game with a double-double for the Huskies. She was one of two Huskies to score 15 points. She also grabbed 10 rebounds.

The quotes

“We have to have tremendous energy on the defensive end; it’s who we are, and if we can’t play hard on that end then we don’t have a chance to win,” said head coach Kathi Bennett. “We got revitalized on that end of the floor, and we got some offensive putbacks.”

Up next

The Huskies play the second game of their three-game homestand when they take on the Akron Zips (17-4, 7-3 MAC) 5 p.m. Saturday at the Convocation Center.