Women’s basketball has picked up four wins — and its first road win — in its last seven games after opening the season 1-4.

The Huskies (5-7, 1-1 MAC) won back-to-back games for the first time this season before they fell to the Central Michigan Chippewas (8-6, 3-0 MAC), 56-43, Saturday at McGuirk Arena in Mount Pleasant, Mich.

The Chippewas were predicted to win the 2015 MAC Tournament championship in the MAC Preseason Poll, released Oct. 29. Head coach Kathi Bennett described Central Michigan as “legit.”

“Central Michigan has an incredible player that can play at the highest level and do anything in [senior guard] Crystal Bradford,” Bennett said. “And they have her surrounded with some very, very good players. I think they’re the cream of the crop, to be honest with you.”

Bradford filled up the stat sheet in the win over NIU, posting 20 points, nine rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks.

While Bennett knew the Huskies would be challenged by the MAC favorites, the key was to limit the Central Michigan scoring. The Chippewas came in averaging 71 points per game, and NIU held them to 56 points.

Defense

The Huskies are 4-2 when holding teams to 54 or fewer points this season. When teams score 55 or more points the NIU record plummets to 1-5, including an 0-2 mark when opponents break the 60-point plateau.

“If we’re going to compete and grind and win some games they’ve got to be in the 50s and 60s,” Bennett said. “And this team has a chance to do that because I like what I see. Their mentality on the defensive end, I think they like it more than what teams have in the past. They’re really on it to be their identity.”

The highest point total given up by NIU in 12 games this season was 65 points to the Valparaiso Crusaders in the team’s third game. Through 12 games last season the Huskies had given up 66 or more points on seven occasions.

“Defensively, the intensity level we’re playing at, the [players] really grasping that as our identity has been the highest since I’ve been here,” Bennett said. “I’m really anxious to see us consistently defend in the MAC because if we do that we’re always going to give ourselves a chance.”

Defense. Check. The question mark for the Huskies remains on the offensive end.

Offense

The Huskies’ three highest-scoring games have come at 67, 69 and 79 points, but those have been littered in with six scores in the 40s and three scores at 55 or fewer points. The key for the Huskies is consistency, and as they’re getting their full complement of available players back Bennett says of her team, “slowly we’re getting better.”

The added punch starts with senior shooting guard Amanda Corral, who scored 24 points off the bench in her return Nov. 26 against the Eastern Illinois Panthers. She paced the Huskies with 12 points and eight rebounds in the loss to Central Michigan, and she leads NIU with 14.9 points per game in nine contests.

“From a scoring standpoint, from a defensive standpoint she’s our go-to, and she’s our stopper, and I think it’s pretty hard to win games without her,” Bennett said. “She’s made a huge difference.”

Corral has been wearing a small makeshift cast on her left hand since she returned after having surgery in the offseason. It’s hard for her to dribble left, but the tape on her hand has been lessened and lessened throughout the season.

Rounding out the roster

Freshman guard Georgia Breunig (broken right foot) and senior forward Alex Dumoulin (broken left foot) returned from injuries Dec. 30 in Peoria against the Bradley Braves. Redshirt junior guard Lacia Gorman has been allowed to play more minutes after sitting out the last two seasons due to transfer rules and a season-ending injury, respectively. The trio are working their ways back into being fully implemented in the rotation.

Having everyone back has “just given us more energy, I feel,” Bennett said. “Like, [redshirt senior guard] Danny [Pulliam] knows ‘I can go there and play my butt off for four, five minutes and I have a sub coming in and I can get a little bit of rest.’ So, the guard rotation I think is a little bit deeper and it helps a lot. Post rotation, we have four, which is really nice.

“So, we can rotate and rest, and I feel it allows us to have more intensity and play harder when you know you have rotation.”