Bowling Green head coach Curt Miller had a feeling that NIU point guard Marke Freeman was going to get her baskets.

Miller’s prediction about Freeman would be true, as she carried her teammates in the initial moments during the first-half of the Huskies’ loss Tuesday night, scoring NIU’s first 14 points. The redshirt senior guard scored a game-high 26 points along with seven rebounds.

“If we can shutdown everyone else, Marke is going to go have a night like she had to try and beat us,” Miller said.

Miller wanted to eliminate the Huskies’ other scoring threats in center Ebony Ellis and guard Courtney Shelton.

The Falcons shutdown Ellis in the first half, as the redshirt senior went into the locker room with just two points and the same amount of rebounds.

“How we guarded Ebony tonight was a big story,” Miller said. “As Marke got away from us, Ebony didn’t.”

In the second half, however, Ellis surged with a 10-point, eight-rebound performance but it would be too late.

Shelton, who has been NIU’s sharp-shooter from long distance, missed all four of her field goal attempts during the first-half. Shelton would later find her stroke, however, connecting on two three-pointers in the second half.

“We weren’t going to let Courtney have easy threes,” Miller said. “We were going to be player tendency heavy on everybody else and try and take away their strengths and make the other kids beat us with their weaknesses.”