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Northern Star

Northern Illinois University’s student news organization since 1899

 

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The Student News Site of Northern Illinois University

Northern Star

The Student News Site of Northern Illinois University

Northern Star

 Junior quarterback, Jordan Lynch (#6) runs the football against Kent State on January 1 at the 2013 MAC championship.

Breaking down Kent State

By Frank Gogola | October 2, 2013

After going undefeated in non-conference play, the Huskies (4-0) will open Mid-American Conference play against the Kent State Golden Flashes (2-3) 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Dix Stadium in Kent, Ohio. The last time these teams met was in last season’s MAC...

#1 Story of the Year (Part 1): NIU crowned MAC champs

By Brian Earle | May 1, 2013

Football won its first MAC Championship in nearly 30 years last season. The Huskies didn’t wait nearly as long this time around as they returned to Detroit and defeated Kent State 44-37 in a double-overtime affair to repeat as MAC Champions. “That...

 

Men’s tennis faces stern test in first round of MAC Championships

By Thomas Hiley III | April 25, 2013

The men’s tennis team’s (15-8, 3-2 MAC) MAC conference play came to a close last weekend with the win over Buffalo (9-9, 3-2 MAC) 4-3. Next for the Huskies will be the MAC Championship to be played in DeKalb. Their first opponent will be the Ball...

Women’s golf set for MAC Championship

By Sam Bauman | April 24, 2013

The women’s golf team will look to finish its season with a strong showing at the 2013 MAC Championship. This year’s tournament is being hosted by Ohio University at the Longaberger Country Club in Nashport, Ohio. Head coach Kim Kester realizes Kent...

Softball picks up momentum at Kent State, sweeps Buffalo

By Matt Hopkinson | April 21, 2013

At a point in the season where it really needed to pick up wins at a rapid pace, softball went on the road and swept Kent State and Buffalo. NIU (17-26, 7-7 MAC) traveled to Kent State (21-16-1, 11-5 MAC) on Friday to take on a squad that had only lost...

Senior baseball player breaks record

By Brian Earle | April 1, 2013

Records are made to be broken, and baseball’s senior center fielder Jamison Wells has done just that. In the Huskies’ prior weekend series against Kent State, Wells tied the NIU career stolen bases record of 71. The record was set by Alvin Maynard...

Members of the NIU gymnastics team congratulate each other after posting high scores at the meet against Eastern Michigan University on March 1.

Women’s gymnastics can continue success next season

By Matt Hopkinson | March 25, 2013

With the culmination of the gymnastics season Saturday at Western Michigan, there are factors that are good and bad for the future of the NIU squad. Obviously, the first problem is NIU losing two seniors. Marisa Liptak is one of the highest scoring members...

Sophomore Ben Neumann pitches at a baseball game last season.

Baseball meets Kent State at UIC

By Brian Earle | March 21, 2013

NIU baseball will face a strong test this weekend as it will do battle against Kent State in a three-game series at UIC. The Huskies (4-15) are coming off an 8-2 win over Belmont and will look to continue their strong play against Kent State. The Golden...

Women’s gymnastics falls to Kent State

By Matt Hopkinson | February 24, 2013

For the third straight week, women’s gymnastics posted a score above the 194 mark, but fell to No. 21-ranked Kent State. The Huskies (3-4, 1-3 MAC) started off on a bad note in their first event against the top dog in Kent State (5-2, 3-0 MAC), and...

Track and field finishes 10th in MAC championships

By Ed Rietveld | February 24, 2013

The indoor portion of the MAC track and field season concluded this weekend with the conference championships. NIU finished 10th out of 12 teams with 16 points. Kent State dominated, finishing first with 175 points, while the host, the Eagles of Eastern...

Women’s gymnastics to meet Kent State

By Matt Hopkinson | February 20, 2013

The women’s gymnastics team will face its toughest test yet as the Kent State Golden Flashes come into DeKalb on a four-meet winning streak. The Flashes (4-2, 2-0 MAC) have scored under a 194 only once this season, and in their last meet eclipsed the...

Northern Star

Women’s basketball defeats Kent State

By Jacob Onak | February 10, 2013

NIU women's basketball won back-to-back games for the fourth time this season.

The Huskies (9-11, 3-5 MAC) defeated Kent State (5-13, 4-4 MAC) 66-55 Saturday afternoon at the Convocation Center.

"Overall, they played better than we did," said Kent State coach Bob Lindsay. "We weren't very consistent out there today."

NIU was on fire to open the game, shooting 71 percent from the field and knocking down its first five three pointers.

Senior Courtney Shelton set the tone offensively for the Huskies, scoring a game-high 23 points and hitting five of 10 shots from beyond the arc.

"As a team, we were really just attacking gaps, getting people open," Shelton said. "A lot of people got good looks tonight, and we were knocking down shots. That's a good feeling, and it gives us confidence heading into our next couple games."

The Huskies had a lead as high as 18 points in the first half as the game looked like it may have been a blowout.

But once NIU cooled off shooting from the field, the Golden Flashes slowly chipped away at the deficit and came back multiple times to pull within a couple possessions.

However, Kent State couldn't get over that final hurdle to take a lead.

"We were disappointing in places," Lindsay said. "We cut the lead to five a couple of different times, gave up an offensive rebound, gave up a play that we shouldn't have given up and that hurt us."

The Huskies have a defense-first mentality, but the offense has slowly started to come together, making them more of a threat as the season continues.

"I think it's because we have some confidence with the ball," said NIU coach Kathi Bennett. "We're poised, our spacing is so much better and we believe in ourselves that we can attack gaps and make shots."

NIU was one again highly successful from the free throw line, shooting 82 percent as a team.

Freshmen Claire Jakubicek and Amanda Corral joined Shelton by putting up double digit points for the second consecutive game. Both also flirted with a double-double as they each had eight rebounds.

After the six game losing streak the Huskies had over winter break, the team has found a rhythm during a critical point in the year.

"We've been consistent in practice ever since the Buffalo game," Bennett said. "I think sometimes you really got to get in a valley to wake up. I think we've really executed well offensively, we have a tact, we read our defense, share the ball, we're playing really good basketball on both ends right now."