Everything had fallen into place for the NIU women’s basketball team to earn a first-round bye in the Mid-American Conference tournament.

But instead of seizing the moment, the Huskies suffered perhaps their most painful loss of the season, faltering on a last-second lay-up at Western Michigan on Saturday, 67-66.

The top three seeds from each division receive a first-round bye. To earn that seeding NIU needed to win its two remaining regular season games and Toledo had to defeat Eastern Michigan. Toledo beat the Eagles 65-53, making Saturday night’s loss harder.

“I’m very frustrated,” NIU coach Carol Hammerle said. “We had a great opportunity and we blew it.”

The Huskies (13-15 overall, 9-6 MAC West) never trailed in the contest until the final second and led 55-46 with 8:14 left. Then, Western Michigan’s Sarah Hurrle caught fire, sparking an 18-9 Bronco run. The guard hit a three to tie the game at 64. Sophomore Kim Boeding answered with a jumper to give NIU a 66-64 lead with a minute remaining, but NIU went cold from there. A Huskie turnover allowed Hurle to notch the game-winner on a drive to the hoop with one second on the clock.

The Huskies jumped out a 14-2 lead and shot 57 percent for the game, including 59 percent in the second half. But second half turnovers and struggling to make defensive stops cost the Huskies the game.

After defeating WIU 75-65 last week and upsetting Ball State 82-74 on Wednesday, Hammerle worried her team might come out flat.

“My concern before the game was that we were feeling overconfident and we would start playing outside of the system,” Hammerle said. “We did that. We played Western Michigan’s style of basketball, and it cost us.”

Hurrle, who went just 4-of-13 in the Huskies’ 75-65 win over Western Michigan last Monday, torched NIU with a game-high 21 points. Boeding knocked down all 8 of her shots to lead the Huskies with 16 points and 6 rebounds. The Broncos held Kristan Knake and Mickey Johnson below their season average, and they scored just 8 and 7 points, respectively.

Freshman Jennifer Youngblood added 13 points.