The NIU women’s basketball team coasted to an 81-50 victory in the exhibition season opener against Lewis at the Convocation Center.

NIU shook off a sluggish first half, with a 23-3 run to start the second half.

An aggressive defensive effort, and 18 points from Stephanie Raymond, got the Carol Owens era off to a quick start.

“I didn’t yell at them during half time,” said Owens, who was hired as head coach in March. “I told them you are better than that. I could tell they were nervous at the start, and our aggressors were back on their heels.”

Raymond took over and went on a personal 13-0 run at the start of the second half. The junior point guard netted back-to-back three pointers, and went coast-to-coast off a steal to give the NIU lead some breathing room.

“Coach said I need to be more aggressive on defense,” Raymond said. “Aggressive defense would lead to more offense for me. The first half I wasn’t on at all, picking up my defense in the second half gave me good offensive chances.”

NIU shot a robust 70 percent in the second half, much better than the sloppy 30 percent, 10 turnover effort that led to a scant 27-21 half-time lead.

“We were more aggressive in practice than we were on the court in the first half,” Raymond said, “The second half, we pressured the ball, boxed out and created opportunities by filling the lane.”

A well-balanced scoring attack that saw four Huskies in double figures was complimented by 10 rebounds from Nikita Odom.

Jessie Wilcox, Mary Basic and Becky Smith all chipped in 10 points. Basic said she likes the new up-tempo game Owens instituted, and that NIU is a deep, well conditioned team.

“We can get out there and sprint,” Basic said. “We are the best conditioned team you’ll meet. We need to go ‘bust,’ then take a break, and get ready to go back into the rotation.”

NIU controlled the glass, out-rebounding Lewis 54-37 and shot a healthy 4 for 9 from three-point land in the second half.