As the old saying goes, music soothes the savage beast, but on Saturday night, the music only unleashed the beast known as the NIU women’s basketball team.

The Huskies came away with a 63-50 conference win over Miami, and they attributed their outstanding play to their tape of reggae music.

“It was a little reggae music that got us pumped before the game,” joked senior center Mickey Johnson. “We refocused, and not only was everybody pumping themselves up, but we were making sure we pumped each other up.”

Johnson must have been inspired by the music because she scored NIU’s first 7 points. She scored 13 of her game-high 19 points in the first half and registered her 100th career block with 18:12 left in the second half. She is only the 6th player in NIU history to reach the milestone.

NIU (7-11 overall, 3-2 Mid-American Conference) dominated the inside in large part to the play of Johnson and freshman forward Jennifer Youngblood, who recorded her team-high fifth double-double of the year with 16 points and 10 rebounds. The Huskies’ front court outscored Miami’s 35-15 and outrebounded them 15-7.

The front court duo of Johnson and Youngblood shot 15-of-24 from the floor, which helped to make up for the shooting of the backcourt. Guards Kristan Knake and Lindsay Secrest shot only 8-of-24 from the field and made only 2-of-11 three pointers.

“I love playing with those two,” said Knake. “Because if Lindsay and I are having an off day, and even if we’re not having an off day, they’re working their butts off down low to get open. It’s our job to get them the ball, and when we do, they score.”

NIU coach Carol Hammerle called Saturday’s game a complete team effort and was very impressed with the way her post players performed on both sides of the ball.

Earlier in the week, NIU was informed that freshman center Liz Strobel would be out the remainder of the season because of an anterior cruciate ligament tear in her left knee. The injury occured in practice a few days before the Jan. 6 game against Marshall. This gave NIU a thin front court to work with in the last few games. Thus, the play of Johnson and Youngblood was even more noticeable.

“Everybody did a great job,” said Hammerle. “I just think we were very smart.”

The Huskies had the lead for all but 1:11 and never trailed in the second half. Miami never had a lead greater than one. The Huskies went into the half with a 30-26 lead and never looked back.

NIU took control in the second half, as the Huskies held Miami (8-8, 2-4) to only 5 points into the last 10 minutes of the second half. As Miami began to make a run and closed the gap to one, NIU went on an 11-2 run to put the game out of reach.

“A total team effort,” said Hammerle. “Anybody that went in there, I thought contributed.”