The Huskies were handed a tough road loss, 42-70, against the MAC-leading Toledo Rockets Wednesday.
The Huskies (7-18, 2-10 MAC) weren’t able to get around the Rockets’ defense, which kept pressure on NIU’s offense throughout the game. NIU went into the locker room trailing 19-29 at halftime and was outscored 41-23 in the second half. The Rockets’ defense held NIU to an 18.2 field goal percentage in the second half, only allowing the Huskies to make four shots on 22 attempts.
“Toledo is one of the better defensive teams that we have seen,” said NIU head coach Kathi Bennett. “They forced us into a lot of turnovers throughout the game.”
NIU totaled 23 turnovers, leading to 29 points for the Rockets. Despite shooting 35.7 percent in the first half, the Rockets managed to convert on 60.9 percent of their shots in the second half. Led by redshirt senior guard Naama Shafir’s 25 points, the Rockets managed to shoot 47.1 percent for the game against the Huskies’ third-ranked defense.
Sophomore forward Natecia Augusta discussed Toledo’s defensive approach on Wednesday.
“They put a lot of pressure on our guards and were denying us inside, so the middle was all clogged up,” Augusta said. “It was hard to make plays with [Toledo] flying around.”
Augusta led the Huskies in scoring with 12 points on 2-4 shooting. Augusta shot a perfect 8-8 from the free-throw line and felt the Huskies were able to work the ball inside toward the end of the game.
“At the end we got the floor spread out more and I just settled in,” Augusta said. “We just struggle with starting slow. We’ve got to come in more prepared for that. It’s all mental with us.”
The Huskies’ most recent wins have come with some form of production inside. Despite the point differential late in the game, Bennett was happy to see the team get the offense going in the paint.
“We established low-post play late in the game,” Bennett said. “I thought that it was one bright spot of the game.”
The Huskies will play this Saturday on the road against Ball State (11-13, 8-3 MAC). The Cardinals are ranked third in the MAC West division and beat the Huskies 51-57 in their previous matchup despite senior forwards Satavia Taylor’s career-high 24-point game. The Huskies will need to take care of the ball against the Cardinals, who are currently ranked second in the MAC in turnover margin at +3.00.
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