Women’s basketball lost its seventh straight game 42-44 in a defensive battle against Toledo Saturday.

The Huskies (5-14, 0-6 MAC) held the Rockets (17-2, 5-1 MAC) to a season-low 44 points but struggled to score against a team that, like the Huskies, takes pride in its defense. Toledo head coach Tricia Cullop was relieved to come away with a conference win on the road.

“Every time we’ve played here, I think if you added up the five years I’ve been head coach, the differential is under 10 points,” Cullop said. “We felt very fortunate to come away with a victory. You [have] got to credit Northern’s defense; they took away a lot of things that we like to do.”

The Huskies’ defense held Toledo to 24 points in the first half and forced the Rockets to shoot 2-9 from behind the 3-point line. Junior guard Andola Dortch led the Rockets with 15 points and five rebounds and was instrumental in helping the Rockets net 20 points in the paint.

Senior forward Satavia Taylor was able to continue her strong offensive play against one of the MAC’s best defensive teams. Taylor put up 14 points and shot 3-4 from the 3-point line. Despite the difficult loss, Taylor had confidence in the Huskies’ all-around improvement.

“We definitely made progress, especially from the beginning of the MAC. We’re starting to get the hang of things,” Taylor said. “I think we’re playing harder on defense, making the other team get more turnovers and just playing better together on offense.”

Sophomore point guard Amanda Corral had a chance to push the game into overtime with eight seconds left but was unable to get a final shot off before time had expired.

“It’s pretty frustrating,” Corral said. “I should have realized that we had eight seconds and I shouldn’t have picked my dribble up at the end.”

Corral scored 13 points and shot 2-3 from behind the 3-point line.

The Huskies still struggle offensively but NIU head coach Kathi Bennett continues to praise her team’s defensive ability after what was one of the Huskies’ best defensive performances this season.

“Defense is pretty much passion and heart and we did that for 40 minutes,” Bennett said. “Toledo is one of the best defensive teams in our league. They are very hard to score against but our movement caused them trouble. I feel if we continue to do what we are doing offensively it’s really going to come together.”

With Saturday’s loss the Huskies fall to 0-6 in the MAC. The Huskies have the ability to turn their losing MAC record into a winning one. The Huskies final 10 games are all conference games, but the offense will need to push to the next level if it wants to win.