NIU began the last go-round at MAC West competitors the way it wanted to, handily defeating Central Michigan 59-45 Wednesday night at the Convocation Center.

From tip-off, the Huskies (11-14 overall, 5-7 MAC) came out aggressively on both ends of the court, with guard Marke Freeman knocking down the team’s first two jumpers.

“[Freeman] got us off to a great start,” NIU head coach Kathi Bennett said. “We talked about getting off to a great start and finishing strong, battling each position. It’s nice when you have a lead; you play more confidently.”

 

NIU grabbed the lead and never gave it up, only allowing CMU to tie once; at 8-8 early in the first half.

“We had a goal, and that was to hold Northern to 60 points,” said CMU head coach Sue Guevara. “That’s the only damn goal we had all night.”

The Chippewas (16-8, 8-4) came into the game averaging 83.2 points, ranking third in the nation, but were held to 21 points in the first half to the Huskies’ 30. Leading at halftime has been known to lead to a win, as the Huskies now improve to 9-0 when they go into the locker room on top.

“I told my team you can’t win a game in the first half, but you can surely lose it,” Guevara said. “And I think that’s where we lost it.”

NIU, meanwhile, looked to keep the pace it was at for the remaining 20 minutes.

“It was just come out in the second half and have that same intensity as in the first half,” said guard Courtney Shelton. “We knew we couldn’t let up on them.”

The Huskies did come out strong with an evenly-spread offensive output. Four NIU players ended the night with double-digit points.

In Tuesday’s practice, center Ebony Ellis said she promised Bennett she would rebound against CMU. She kept that promise, grabbing her 20th career double-double with 12 rebounds and 11 points.

“If Ebony was allowed to play a little bit more they wouldn’t have had any rebounds,” Bennett said. “She would have cleaned it up.”