The NIU women’s basketball team’s second meeting with Western Michigan on Tuesday night was strangely reminiscent of the first.

The end result would be the same as the Huskies (11-15, 5-8 MAC) lost in their second meeting against the Broncos (18-9, 9-4) in overtime, 72-70.

“We probably should have rested our kids a little more,” NIU head coach Kathi Bennett said. “From an energy standpoint, they played a lot of minutes. I worry about that.”

NIU got off to a hot start as senior point guard Marke Freeman sank her initial shot on a three-pointer. From there, the Huskies would go on 12-4 run in the first four minutes of the first half.

Before halftime, though, Western Michigan went on a run of its own. The Broncos went on a 16-6 run that started at the 1:47 mark that helped them climb back into the game, 34-27.

“They hit their shots,” Bennett said. “We had good shots and we did a really good job tonight but it just didn’t fall for us tonight.”

A huge blow was dealt to the Broncos when their leading scorer, senior Ebony Cleary, fouled out with 7:29 left in the second half. Cleary wasn’t that much of a factor in the game, as NIU’s defense stifled Cleary by holding her to two points and four rebounds.

With Cleary out of the game, Miame Giden stepped up in a big way. The junior forward led the way for Western Michigan by scoring 28 points. At times, it seemed like NIU had no answer to stop Giden on the offensive end.

“She had a phenomenal game,” Bennett said. “She made a lot of tough shots.”

For the Huskies, Ebony Ellis had a monster game, controlling the paint by scoring a team-high 20 points, along with 14 rebounds.

“It felt good to do whatever I could to help the team,” Ellis said.

During overtime, the Huskies had numerous problems handling the ball and communicating with each other. Ellis got them on the board with a put back but on NIU’s ensuing possession, the offense started to fall apart. Huskies guard Courtney Shelton missed a pair of free-throws and from there, the Broncos would score nine consecutive points to go up, 71-64.

With 2:30 left to play, it appeared Western Michigan was well on their way to victory.

But the Huskies refused to go away quietly. Freeman and Kim Davis would hit back-to-back shots from beyond the arc to cut the Broncos’ lead to 71-70.