Women’s basketball put on a great performance for the last home game of the season, taking home a 69-49 victory against Central Michigan University.

How it happened

Huskie senior guards Nia Ahart, Paulina Castro and Erinn Hodges and forward Mikayla Brandon played their final home game of their NIU career. 

In the first quarter, both teams shot horrifically from the field. The Huskies shot 13.3% from the field but shot well from the three-point line at 40%. CMU shot even worse, shooting 12.5% from the field and went 0-for-8 from the three-point line.

The Chippewas did a great job of scoring in the paint in the first half as they scored 14 points compared to Huskies’ zero paint points. 

Redshirt senior Janae Poisson was a big contributor for the Huskies in the second quarter, scoring eight points.

The Huskies were up 19-16 at the half. Poisson led all scorers with 14 points. 

NIU dominated the third quarter as they scored 23 points compared to CMU’s 12. The Huskies had 16 points in the paint and had 10 second-chance points. Ahart was the reason behind a third quarter spark as she had seven points. 

In the fourth quarter, the Huskies’ bench did most of the scoring as the bench had 14 points. Sophomore guards Jayden Marable, Brooke Stonebreaker and sophomore forward Moriah Prewitt were great contributions in the final quarter.

The Huskies won 69-49. Poisson had the highest points scored in the game with 18. Ahart had a great Senior Night, scoring 12 points. 

Thoughts from Coach Carlsen

Head women’s basketball coach Lisa Carlsen’s thoughts on the team’s goals:

“The goal is to go to Cleveland and play three games,” Carlsen said. “The fact that we can go into Cleveland with some momentum is huge.”

Carlen’s thoughts on how the team will compete in the conference tournament:

“We are going to go be the best version of ourselves and hopefully that’s enough to get it done,” Carlsen said. 

The end result

NIU finished fifth in the Mid-American Conference with a record of 11-9 in the MAC. CMU finished in 12th place in the MAC.

The Huskies will now head to Cleveland, Ohio  as the fifth seed. They will face fourth seeded Ball State University Wednesday. The game will be broadcasted on ESPN+.