DeKALB | During one stretch of the NIU women’s basketball team’s game against Chicago State, the Huskie defense played nearly perfect.

Inside eleven minutes in the first half, NIU allowed the Cougars to connect on just two of 15 field goals. And in the process, extended a 20-11 lead into a 44-15 lead by halftime. The 15 points was the lowest out put for an NIU opponent in a single half this season.

And it was only after garbage time in the second half that Chicago State was able to muster 46 points.

“We have to continue to get better on defense,” NIU coach Carol Owens said. “We want to have them take low-percentage shots.”

The Huskies accomplished that by holding the Cougars to just 25.5 percent from the field.

Kristin Wiener came up big on the defensive end by holding Chicago State’s leading scorer Chandra Timberlake to 11 points, four below her season average. She also altered a lot of shots inside and had three blocks.

“We knew Timberlake was a going to penetrate so we had to give her a cushion and force her to shoot jump shots,” Wiener said.