When it rains it pours, and NIU’s women’s basketball team was raining on Toledo Wednesday night.

An impressive first half on both sides of the ball paced the Huskies on the way to a big 69-49 win over the visiting Toledo Rockets.

“I was very pleased with how we bounced back after a tough weekend,” NIU head coach Carol Owens said. “We played well defensively and rebounded the ball really well.”

The Huskies (6-12 overall, 2-3 MAC West) defense showed up in an impressive way in the first half, holding Toledo (9-8, 2-3) to only 22 percent shooting from the field in the first 20 minutes.

“We changed up our defenses a little bit,” Owens said. “We played a little more zone, and I thought our kids reacted to it.”

Offensively, NIU also showed a spark in the first half, coming out strong and not looking back.

The Huskies trailed 6-4 with 16:16 left in the first half but finished the period on a 34-9 run to take a 38-15 advantage into halftime.

“We came out with a lot of intensity,” said NIU guard Jessie Wilcox. “We knew what we had to do to get it done.”

NIU was led by Wilcox and forward Whitney Lowe, each scoring 15 points. Huskie forward Shari’ Welton also added 11 points and 9 rebounds in the game, with Lowe leading the team with 11 boards.

The Huskies out-rebounded Toledo 48-36 in the game. This turned out to be a crucial factor, especially in the first half.

“Its something we’ve been focusing on all week,” Lowe said. “It’s what our team needed and we came through.”

Welton and Lowe combined for 20 of the Huskies 48 rebounds.

“[Coach] was really on me the this week about rebounding,” Welton said. “I decided I needed to step it up today.”

Toledo forward Tamesha Scotton put up a team-high 12 points in the loss. Guard Ta’Yani Clark also added 10 points for the Rockets.

“We were certainly outplayed and outcoached,” Toledo head coach Mark Ehlen said. “[NIU] was ready to play in the first half; that’s pretty obvious.”

The win improved the Huskies to 5-2 on their home court.

“Being at home, this is our home court and no one takes that away from us,” Wilcox said. “We have to carry it over to the road.”

While Toledo outscored the Huskies 34-31 in the second half, NIU quickly crushed any attempt of the Rockets to try and come back in the game. The closest Toledo got to the Huskies in the second half was a 14-point deficit.

“I thought we were just ready to play and were determined,” Owens said. “I was very pleased how we came back [after Western Michigan] and got refocused and re-energized.”