In what started as a seemingly close and contested battle, turned into a a lopsided victory for Eastern Michigan against NIU women’s basketball Saturday.

After having lost to Eastern Michigan (19-7, 11-2 MAC) earlier in the season, NIU (12-13, 6-7 MAC) came in with a determined mind-set and played up to it keeping the score close early on, but fell hard late, 77-57.

NIU was playing without leading scorer Claire Jakubicek, who has a foot injury and without coach Kathi Bennett, who was not feeling well enough to coach.

“We battled a lot of diversity today,” said Marsha Frese, NIU associate coach. “First game back without Claire in the line-up and people understanding their new roles.”

As the first half wore on, Eastern began to build momentum behind a balanced attack of post scoring and the diversified play of senior Tavelyn James.

In the first half alone, Eastern put up 26 of its 42 points in the paint, and James had 16 overall points, while NIU had 28 points being led by forward Kim Davis.

The Huskies made a concerted effort out of the gate in the second half, scoring back to back easy baskets, forcing an Eastern time-out.

Eastern responded in kind, however, going on a 12-0 run, and tightening down defensively, allowing 10 points at the half-way mark of the second half, with Eastern up 62-42.

“This was a pretty solid game for us, not our best basketball,” said Eastern coach AnnMarie Gilbert. “I was really impressed with the way Northern came out. They forced us to make adjustments and we made them.”

In the end, Eastern’s length and athleticism was too much, as they turned NIU over 20 times in the game, scoring 23 points from them.

James scored a game-high 29 points, while Davis scored a new career-high 26 points in the game, shooting 14-15 from the free throw line, assuming the lead scoring responsibilities.

“I wouldn’t say stepping up,” Davis said. “Knowing Claire is gone, I know I have to work harder. I can’t step up without my team; we step up as a unit.”

While the statistics show this wasn’t the best effort from NIU, matchups like these also demonstrate the level of play needed for MAC tournament success.

“There are things we can work on in practice,” said NIU senior Courtney Shelton. “We just have to go back at it, keep working hard and see where it goes.”