Having what NIU coach Carol Hammerle called the best game of the year, Kristan Knake did her best to fill the stat sheet for the Huskies against New Mexico State.

The 5-foot-8 junior guard from Marengo contributed 14 points, five steals, four assists, one block and one rebound in NIU’s 65-58 win on Saturday.

While logging 32 minutes, Knake took over point guard duties for the majority of the game and did her best to fill the turnover column with five of her own. Hammerle was not affected by it, saying that a point guard should have the most turnovers.

Knake usually sees the majority of time as a shooting guard, but with a can’t-miss shot she is able to provide whatever the team is looking for on that particular day.

“I feel that with every game, depending on the situation, I fill the role I think I need to fill,” said Knake. “Tonight I didn’t need to be a scorer because [Jessica] Shattuck was doing the scoring and Jen [Youngblood] was doing the scoring. My whole role in this game was to run our offense and get our defense going how it should have been.”

With her keen ball-handling abilities and court awareness, the point guard ability is not a problem as she proved Saturday. Her shooting has already been proven on numerous occasions, and with defensive hustle and a certain aggressiveness, she can be productive at the small forward spot as well.

“I felt that, by far, for the season, this has been the best that she’s played,” said Hammerle. “I thought of any player on the team, Kristan played the most intense for 40 minutes.”

While distributing the ball on Saturday, she also showed consistency with her shooting. Making 50 percent of her shots from the field (2-4), she was perfect from behind the 3-point stripe (1-1) and 90 percent from the free-throw line (9-10).

While Knake has been troubled by the injury bug in the past with a sore back, she felt no ill affects after the New Mexico State game.

“I feel really good now,” she said. “I have good days and I have bad days, and thankfully this was a good day.”