Coming off the bench, Lindsay Secrest provided the boost the NIU women’s basketball team needed.

With 9:30 left in the second half, guard Kristan Knake, who had earlier hit her back on the padding of the basket, left the game when she fell on her back. With the Huskies’ star guard out for the rest of the contest, Secrest came in and lifted the struggling Huskie offense.

She made an immediate impact, hitting a 15-foot jumper to put the lead back in double digits, then followed that up by hitting a 3-pointer from the left wing. Secrest had 6 points in a two-and-a-half minute stretch, and her offensive output put the lead back at 17 points. The freshman guard finished with a team-high 11 points.

Secrest, along with her scoring, provided a boost on the defensive end. She and Knake held CMU guard Molli Munz to no points on 0 of 11 shooting. Secrest added 2 steals.

“I just wanted to play hard on the defense,” said Secrest. “When I came out, I just wanted to come back in. When Knake went down, I wanted to take it upon myself to get us back in the game a little bit.”

This game also marked a bit of a milestone for Secrest, who earlier in the season broke the Huskie record for 3-pointers made by a freshman, as she became only the fourth player in NIU history to knock down 50 3-pointers in a season. Secrest hit her fiftieth three point field goal with 7:51 left in the second half.

“I feel happy that I’ve done it,” said the freshman guard. “It’s not something I really worry about. I just think it’s kind of interesting that I did that. It’s a good feeling.”

Following the game, Secrest had a big smile on her face, as she and the rest of the Huskie team were excited about going to Cleveland. After last year’s 6-22 season, Secrest, a freshman, probably wasn’t thinking this team could progress this fast.

“As a freshman, it’s kind of an awesome step because Cleveland is that much closer to going to the big dance and I think that’s everybody’s dream coming into college basketball,” said Secrest. “We’ve worked our butts off all season and we’ve made a lot of strides and accomplishments, I think we can say a lot for the school and the program by making a good showing at Cleveland.”