DeKALB | The margin of error closes as the competition rises.

So when the NIU women’s basketball team committed 14 turnovers in the first half against No. 18 Bowling Green Saturday, it created a situation the team couldn’t recover from.

A team which prides itself on protecting the ball, NIU seemed to be non-present in the first 20 minutes of the game. Careless errors and miscommunication caused the ball to be thrown away multiple times.

“We just turned the ball over,” NIU guard Stephanie Raymond said. “We didn’t take care of it at all, and they were being a little aggressive.”

The forceful play paid off for the Falcons, who went into halftime with an eight point lead and a plus-10 margin in turnovers.

Halftime did the Huskies good, as they turned the ball over only three times in the second half — two less than the Falcons. The decrease in the amount of turnovers had a positive effect.

“If you look at the stats, we were only down by one point in the second half,” Raymond said. “Basically it’s just taking care of the ball – we shouldn’t have had that many turnovers.”

However, it was a case of too little, too late, for NIU as it couldn’t overcome it’s first half deficit.

“14 turnovers in one half compared to three in the other is unbalanced and uncharacteristic for us,” NIU guard Mary Basic said. “It was the little things, and they capitalized on it.”