DeKALB | During key moments of NIU women’s basketball game at Ball State, a freshman made the difference.

Unfortunately for Huskie fans, that underclassman was Cardinal Audrey McDonald.

The freshman guard scored a game-high 23 points and hit back-to-back three pointers in the second half to help Ball State pull ahead for good en route to a 81-72 victory for the Cardinals.

NIU falls to 11-5 overall and 3-2 in the MAC, while Ball State improves to 14-2 overall with a spotless 5-0 record in conference play.

“Those put a dagger into us,” NIU center Kristin Wiener said of McDonald’s late-game threes. “[McDonald] is a great shooter and we were worried about that.”

McDonald hit four threes in the game and the Cardinals shot 10-15 from downtown as a team.

The game remained close throughout the first half and the Huskies trailed by just two going into the break.

“I felt like the game was back and forth in the first half,” NIU head coach Carol Owens said. “We just gave up some wide-open threes. All they did was drive and kick and drive and kick, and our defense wasn’t there.”

Wiener led the Huskies in scoring with 21 points while shooting 8-11 from the field. She also pulled down six rebounds.

Guard Stephanie Raymond ran the offense efficiently, scoring 20 points while dishing out 10 assists.

“We were hitting shots,” Wiener said. “The second half was just frustrating. They were hitting all their three pointers and it just opened the middle up and we struggled to defend that.”

The Huskies shot a solid 47 percent as a team; however, the Cardinals were able to connect on 52 percent of their shots.