Women’s basketball (1-1) took whatever it wanted, including its first win of the season, in its home opener Tuesday.

The Huskies dominated the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devilettes (0-3) in their 79-60 win. The Huskies never trailed and led by as many as 31 points in the victory.

“[I was] really happy with the win,” said head coach Kathi Bennett. “We had a lot of positives. It was a tough game at Green Bay, and I just felt we came back hungry. It was a really good win for us.”

The Huskies came out aggressive and full of energy in their first home contest. They took a 2-0 lead 1:24 into the game on a Natecia Augusta layup after a Devilette turnover. From there, they never looked back, leading for the remainder of the game.

The Huskies raced out to a 21-13 lead at the 12:23 mark when Amanda Corral, who had already posted seven points, picked up her second foul and sat out the rest of the first half. NIU continued to roll, outscoring the Devilettes 19-8 to close the half.

“[Sitting out] was tough,” Corral said. “But I had teammates that could step in and play just as well as I can. So, sitting on the bench, I was just cheering on my team.”

The Huskies, who posted only 44 points in their season opener, took a 40-21 lead into the half. Augusta paced NIU with 13 first-half points, including going 5-of-5 from the charity stripe, and had six first-half rebounds.

The Huskies held the Devilettes scoreless for the last 3:16 of the first half. They forced 13 turnovers, converting them into 12 points, while only turning the ball over five times.

The Huskies outrebounded Mississippi Valley State, 22-16, including 9-4 on the offensive boards. They outscored the Devilettes in second-chance points, 14-0, and bench points, 9-0, in the first half.

The Huskies rolled in the second half, but subs late in the game made the final score closer than what the score had been the majority of the second half.

“I think we were really locked in and played…,” Bennett said. “The last six minutes got away from us, but other than that I felt like the team was really locked in and followed the gameplan and had a discipline and energy about them. Just helping each other, I thought our bench was active. Everybody was good.”

The Huskies had four scorers reach double-digits for the first time since Feb. 6 against Ohio.

Augusta posted a career-high 17 points and 11 rebounds for her first career double-double. Augusta’s double-double was the first double-double posted by a Huskie since Corral put up 18 points and 12 rebounds March 6 against Western Michigan last season.

“It started with practice after Green Bay,” Augusta said. “The coaches got on the post — being able to post is our whole profession — so it started there, and I tried to translate it to the game. Also, the guards looked in and did a good job getting out, moving and cutting, so I felt like that played a huge part in my success.”

Corral played 18 minutes in the second half and nearly recorded a double-double of her own, finishing with 14 points and nine rebounds.

Senior Ashley Sneed also posted 14 points, 10 of which came in the second half, and sophomore Alexis Lindstrom posted 10 points, with five coming in each half.

The Huskies shot 40.5 percent (30-of-74) for the game and 88.2 percent (15-of-17) from the free-throw line. They owned the boards, outrebounding the Devilettes 51-33 and outscoring them 29-10 in second-chance points.