Monique Davis helped the NIU women’s basketball team open the Convocation Center in fashion on Saturday.

Her 12-foot bank shot with 2.3 seconds left gave the Huskies a 49-47 win over Wisconsin in the first regular season game. The 5-foot-8 Davis had made just one-of-nine shots before her game-winner.

“I was just looking to go to the basket and draw a foul,” Davis said. “They stepped up so I got a shot off and fortunately it went in.”

Jennifer Youngblood led NIU with 19 points and nine rebounds while Kim Boeding added 11 points and seven boards.

The Badgers’ attack was headed by Leah Hefte, who came off the bench to hit five-of-seven shots and score 11 points. NIU held 6-foot-7 Lello Gebisa and 6-foot-5 Emily Ashbaugh to a combined 12 points.

“It was a typical first game,” said Wisconsin coach Jane Albright, who coached NIU from 1984 through 1994. “We didn’t have much offensive rhythm.”

A Boeding putback of a Davis miss with 18:58 left in the first half accounted for the first points in the Convo Center. The Huskies held the lead for the entire first half.

NIU used an aggressive pressure defense to hold the Badgers to only seven-of-30 shooting in the opening 20 minutes.

“They were a physical team, and to hold our own, we had to be physical back,” said NIU senior guard Kristan Knake, who contributed eight points and six rebounds. “Our focus was to do whatever it took to win. We had the mindset that we weren’t going to lose.”

That mindset worked well into the second half, as two Knake free throws gave NIU a nine-point lead with seven minutes left. The Badgers picked up the intensity, however, and held the Huskies scoreless for the next four and a half minutes.

A pair of Kristi Seeger free throws put Wisconsin ahead 47-45 with 46 seconds remaining. On NIU’s ensuing possession, Boeding attacked the basket and was fouled by Gebisa. She hit both free throws before Wisconsin turned the ball over with 13 seconds left to set up Davis’s heroics.

“I think we’re making a statement with this win,” NIU coach Carol Hammerle said. “It was important to open with a good opponent, and this is a big win for our program.”