NIU women’s basketball coach Carol Hammerle knew in order to come out with a victory Wednesday night her post defense was going to have to play well.

It did.

The Huskies came away with their fourth victory in a row after defeating Buffalo 63-55. The road win improved their record to 10-11 overall and 6-2 in the Mid-American Conference. NIU, which has won eight of its last 10 games, is now second in the MAC West, and third overall in the MAC.

Buffalo center Tiffany Bell is second in the MAC in scoring with an 18.1 points-per-game average, but was held to only 12 points.

“We worked hard against Bell,” Hammerle said. “Jennifer and Mystique Adams both did a great job against her, and our perimeter defense was big as well. They provided great ball pressure which made things a lot easier for the post players.”

The Huskies’ defense held the Bulls to 37 percent shooting for the game and just 18 percent in the second half. The Huskies, despite shooting 58 percent in the first half, found themselves trailing 32-30 going into the locker room. However, NIU was able to make a second half comeback to extend its winning streak.

Jennifer Youngblood scored 6 points in the first two minutes of the second half, giving NIU a lead it would never lose. She ended up with her seventh double-double of the season, scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Youngblood was perfect from the floor (6 of 6) and the free-throw line (4 of 4). Along with Youngblood’s stellar performance was the play of perimeter players Kristan Knake and Lindsay Secrest. Knake scored a team-high 20 points and performed in the clutch as she scored 14 in the second half, which included 2 free throws with 0:27 left to seal the game. Secrest added 10 points off the bench, but her defense was what impressed Hammerle.

“Lindsay did a great job on McClure, making her work for everything,” Hammerle said. “Lindsay had 10 points, but she was responsible for the defense with her job on McClure.”

Buffalo’s Mari McClure ended the game with 14 points, but on only 5 of 15 shooting. The tandem of McClure and Bell combined to shoot 0 of 6 in the second half, which enabled an NIU comeback.

“This team showed a lot of character tonight,” said Hammerle. “We held on and proved that we can win on the road against a good team like Buffalo.”