The women’s basketball team will look to get its first home victory since Dec. 12 today against Eastern Michigan (7-19, 5-8 MAC). The Huskies (7-19, 2-11 MAC) have gone 2-3 in their last five games and have lacked consistency overall. However, NIU has...
The women’s basketball team prides itself on defense, hustle, energy and toughness, and redshirt sophomore forward Jenna Thorp embodies all these traits. This is something every coach wants in their players. Head coach Kathi Bennett has done well getting...
The women’s basketball team is approaching the end of its regular season and has three games left before the start of the MAC tournament. NIU is 7-19, 2-11 MAC and hasn’t been able to win consistently. Injuries have plagued the team and the loss of...
All good things must come to an end sometime, and for the NIU women's basketball team, that end came too soon.
After pulling off the upset against Kent State on Tuesday, the Huskies (No 3 seed in the MAC West) didn't have enough left in their bag of tricks to pull off the improbable upset against Ball State (No 1 seed in the MAC West) Friday as they fell 83-72 to the Cardinals in the semi-finals of the MAC Tournament at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
"We're disappointed in the loss, we wanted to advance to the championship game," NIU head coach Carol Owens said. "I thought we played hard. I thought our seniors
did a great job this year with their leadership. I'm really proud of them."
After falling behind 41-32 at half, NIU was unable to go on a run to get the game close and Ball State didn't give NIU any help by going 17-17 from the foul line.
"I felt like we were a couple baskets away from making this a game," Owens said. "We got ourselves in a hole in the first half. We had a hard time stopping them defensively."
Ball State's spread offense proved to be difficult for NIU to defend. The Cardinals saw five players hitdouble digit scoring with Audrey McDonald leading the way with 18 points. Porchia Green scored 16 to follow, while Julie DeMuth and Lisa Rusche chipped in with 12
each. Kelsey Corbin rounded out the five with 11 points.
The Huskies got solid performances out of underclassmen Kylie York and Beckie Smith. The freshman York, scored 11 points while hitting three three-pointers, while the sophomore Smith, scored a career-high 15 points on 7-8 shooting from the field.
She also recorded a career high in rebounds pulling down 10 boards. NIU guard Stephanie Raymond led all scorers with 23 points. She also had a game-high eight assists.
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.
The women’s basketball team will head to Toledo for a rematch with the top ranked Rockets’ today. The Huskies (7-17, 2-9 MAC) will have their hands full against a Toledo (22-2, 10-1 MAC) team that is currently on a 10-game winning streak. The Rockets...
It was a tough loss for the women’s basketball team as the Huskies fell Saturday at the Convocation Center to Bowling Green State, 49-60. The Falcons (16-8, 7-4 MAC) were too much for the Huskies’ (7-17, 2-9 MAC) defense and made scoring look easy...
The women’s basketball team is set to continue MAC play against Bowling Green this Saturday at the Convocation Center. The Huskies (7-16, 2-8 MAC) look to secure a third straight MAC win against Bowling Green (15-8, 6-4 MAC). The small but exciting...
The Huskies’ (7-16, 2-8 MAC) sophomore point guard, Amanda Corral, has been very important to NIU’s success this season. Last year, Corral started in every game and averaged 31.7 minutes per game. She ranked second on the team in scoring by averaging...
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."
As if things couldn’t get any worse for the women’s basketball team, the Huskies now have to finish the season without their leading scorer, senior forward Satavia Taylor. Head coach Kathi Bennett confirmed Tuesday that Taylor tore her ACL in the...
The Miami Redhawks’ seniors proved to be too much for the NIU women’s basketball team, leading to a 51-65 loss at the Convocation Center on Sunday. NIU (5-16, 0-8 MAC) lost its ninth straight game to a Miami (14-7, 6-2 MAC) team that has a starting...
