DeKALB | A role reversal served the Huskies well last weekend.

Mary Basic and Stephanie Raymond appeared to switch bodies, as Basic led the NIU women’s basketball team (13-6) to a 58-53 win over Buffalo (6-14, 1-7) on the road Saturday.

Basic, who averages about seven shot attempts per game, scored a season-high 18 points on 16 attempts. On the contrary, Raymond took only seven shots, down from her average of 13 attempts per game this season.

“She was very aggressive,” said coach Carol Owens. “It was her night tonight and it really helped us on offense.”

Keeping with the strange theme, NIU turned the ball over 22 times, and reached their average of 15 per game just before halftime, due largely to the Bulls heading into the intermission with a two-point advantage.

“Taking care of the ball was key for us,” Owens said. “We did a little bit better of a job of it in the second half.”

Free throws were also big for the Huskies in the second half, with Raymond and Jessie Wilcox each hitting clutch free throws to close the door on Buffalo.

NIU made several defensive adjustments in the second half, one of which was to start Becky Smith. The sophomore center possesses a slightly bigger body at 6’2″, and was brought in to increase the defensive pressure on Buffalo’s Heather Turner.

The plan appeared to work as Turner, who averages more than 12 points per game, scored just four points and played only 20 minutes due to foul trouble.

“Becky did a good job on Turner,” Owens said. “She made a commitment to play good defense and she did.”

Wilcox was the only other Huskie in double digits, scoring 12 points while shooting a perfect 4-4 from the field.