The last 21 seconds summed up the frustration of the NIU women’s basketball team.

The Huskies led much of the game but fell to Western Michigan 59-56 Wednesday at the Convocation Center after they missed four three-point attempts in the last 21 seconds that would have tied the game.

“I thought we did everything well but put the ball in the basket,” NIU coach Carol Hammerle said.

Junior guard Keishonda Williamson, who started in place of sophomore guard Mary Basic, was one of three Huskies in double figures with 11 points.

Basic could miss up to three and a half weeks with a broken finger on her shooting hand.

“We can never really compensate for the loss of a starter,” Hammerle said. “It hurt our rotation, but our bench had a great game.”

The Huskies (6-19 overall, 3-11 MAC) led 31-24 at the end of the first half, but WMU guard Carrie Moore scored 16 of her game-high 29 points in the second half to give the Broncos (9-17, 6-9) the victory.

The loss is the Huskies ninth straight and 11th in their last 12 games.

“We just need to continue to work hard every day,” said junior forward Jamie Wilson, who had six points and a career-high 16 rebounds. “Maybe we can be a Cinderella team in the MAC tournament, because our record doesn’t show the work we put in day in day out.”

Sophomore center Kristin Wiener led the Huskies with 15 points on 4-of-16 shooting. She was also 7-of-7 from the free-throw line. Stephanie Raymond added 10 points and five assists for the Huskies.

The Huskies outrebounded the Broncos 50-32 but shot 29.4 percent from the field.