NIU women’s basketball squared off against MAC foe Toledo, losing a low-scoring affair 49-39.

Toledo (19-8, 12-3 MAC) took advantage of its height against the smaller Huskies (12-15, 6-9 MAC), edging them in points in the paint, but more importantly, in terms of work rate.

NIU had to exert a lot of energy to guard Toledo in the paint, while the offensive end struggled, shooting 28 percent in the game.

“Their post players were a lot bigger than us,” said NIU senior guard Courtney Shelton. “We had to put a lot of energy on that end. We still have to come back and make things happen on the offensive end. Credit to Toledo on their defense.”

NIU held the rebounding advantage, 41-38, and limited its turnovers with 13, but Toledo was able to capitalize by scoring 16 from those turnovers.

Toledo was also effective from behind the arc, shooting 40 percent. Toledo was led in scoring by senior guard Haylie Linn with 14 points.

Senior forward Kim Davis paced the Huskies with 14 as well, including NIU’s first 10 points in the second half.

“I know they had 22 points in the paint, but we did a nice job with our double team,” said NIU coach Kathi Bennett in a press release. “Offensively, we were just stagnant and struggled, a very poor performance. Kim did give us some second half energy and that was nice to see.”

In addition to Davis, Shelton put in nine points and dished out eight assists, but she also chose to highlight the defense as the key moving forward.

“Defense has been a huge emphasis lately,” Shelton said. “Going into tournament play, we need to build around defense. If we get that going we can go a long ways.”