Looking to close out the regular season with momentum, the NIU women’s basketball team sealed a 49-46 victory against Ball State in Muncie, Ind. on Wednesday night.

With the win, the Huskies (13-16 overall, 7-8 MAC) locked themselves into a home game for this weekend’s opening round of the MAC Tournament. With an Akron loss to Kent State, the Huskies earned the seventh seed, and will face 10th-seeded Ohio Bobcats (8-21, 4-12) Sunday at 7 p.m.

“It definitely gives us momentum going into tournament,” said senior Marke Freeman of the win. “That could have been one of the toughest games of our season because they play with so much intensity and emotion. That is hard to compete against.”

The Huskies began the game putting up seven points before the last-place Cardinals (9-20, 4-12) found the bottom of the net on a free throw by forward Emily Maggert four minutes into the game.

NIU was up 15-2 with about eight minutes left in the half when Ball State went on a 10-4 run to close the gap to 19-12.

The Cardinals continued to close the gap with the help of Maggert, who put down five of the team’s final nine points in the half. She would finish her night with a team-high 17 points and seven rebounds.

“She’s a really physical player and when Ebony [Ellis] got into foul trouble that hurt us,” said NIU head coach Kathi Bennett. “She’s a senior; it was her last game. We made her shoot 4-for-12. She got to the free-throw line, but we did a decent job on her.”

NIU went into the locker room with a 24-18 lead, but the Cardinals did not relent. Halfway through the second half the Cardinals had outscored the Huskies 15-6.

“We lost sight of what had given us the advantage earlier in the game,” Freeman said of the early second half performance. “We knew a run would be made eventually in the game. We knew we would have to hold our composure.”

NIU forward Kim Davis broke her nose early in the second half, but returned. The game became a tug of war, as the scores remained within several points of each other. With the game tied at 37, Freeman put in a shot from downtown to put the Huskies ahead for good.

The three came when it was needed most, as the Huskies were iced the entire night, going 0-for-9 from three-point territory until Freeman hit the open shot.

“I felt like they were daring me to take that shot,” Freeman said. “You are only going to miss so many, and that’s what coach Joe Conroy told me coming out of one of the media timeouts. He said ‘if you get that shot again and feel confident, take it.'”

After being fouled to stop the clock, Freeman sealed the victory, by going 4-for-4 from the line in the final 24 seconds of the game. Ty’ronda Benning attempted a last second three-pointer to tie, but was blocked by Freeman as the buzzer rang out. Her 19 points and three steals led the team.

“All game she was denied,” Bennett said of Freeman. “They always had two players denying, bumping. Her presence and composure all game were something else.”