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Kent State
01/23/2021 | 1:00 PM
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WLBK 98.9 FM / 1360 AM
TOLEDO, OH – The Northern Illinois University women’s basketball team saw their winning streak halted after four games at Savage Arena on Wednesday afternoon as the Toledo Rockets bounced back to a 67-62 win in the fourth quarter.
Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) scored her seventh 20-point game of the season with 20 points and nine rebounds. A’Jah Davis (DeKalb, Ill./Montverde Academy [Fla.]) had 12 points and six rebounds as Janae Poisson (Matteson, Ill./Marian Catholic) added 11 points from the bank. Errin Hodges (Pontiac, Ill./Evansville Central [Ind.]) took a double-digit hit for the third time in four games with 10 points and added seven rebounds.
“We just didn’t play well enough to win tonight,” said head coach Lisa Carlsen. “You have to honor Toledo. They are one of the best defensive teams in the league and they made it difficult for us. In a ball game like we had tonight there were definitely some critical ones in the league.” fourth quarter that we just didn’t run. “
The NIU (6-6, 4-3 MAC) defenses were superb in the third quarter, keeping Toledo 1:17 off the field and 0:10 on the three-point line. The Huskies opened the quarter with an 8: 1 run, which was capped by a Poisson 3, giving NIU a 42:33 lead of 5:21. This was NIU’s biggest head start.
Toledo (8-4, 4-4 MAC) threw NIU off the lead at the free throw line and made 10 free throws to get 1:03 within five, 48-43. Quinesha Lockett then made Toledo’s only basket of the period with 0:37 left to get the missiles within two, 48-45. Koker brought the lead to five with a layup in the final seconds and brought the Huskies into the fourth quarter at 50:45.
Hodges converted a three-point game into the fourth at 8:30 to score the 53-48, responding to Tatyana Davis’s early three. NIU then missed the next five shots from the field and added four turnovers as Toledo pulled down a 10-0 run booked by layups from Davis and Sammi Mikonowicz to take a 3:12 lead. The huskies closed in three on one A’Jah Davis Layup at 2:57, but that was as close as NIU was going to get. The Rockets shot 53.3 percent off the field in the fourth quarter and kept the Huskies at 22.2 percent to take the 67-62 win.
“Toledo took our three-point looks away pretty well,” said Carlsen. “We only shot 17 of them. They did a good job of getting us off the line and if that happens we have to be petter in color around the edge.”
After Toledo had played against 18:18 in the first quarter, he opened the second quarter with a 6-0 run. Tatyana Davis gave the Rockets a 6-29 lead. A’Jah Davis Finish Toledo’s run with a basket at 6:15 and score a goalless streak of 6:38 for NIU.
The Rockets took the lead at 5:08 a.m. after Davis and Sophia Wiard put Toledo in the lead at 30:22. The Huskies finished half-time with a 12-3 run, triggered by a Davis layup and a Brandon three-point game, and took the lead 34:32 at break. NIU scored the last seven points of half time, Poisson the last five.
NIU finished the game 39.3 percent off the field, but were only 5-17 from the three-point line. Tatyana Davis led Toledo with 19 points while Mikonowicz added 14 points and eight rebounds.
The huskies will be back in action at the NIU Convocation Center on Saturday, January 23rd, to face Kent State at 1pm. The game will air on ESPN +.
While fans will not be able to attend NIU basketball games this season, you can make your presence felt at the NIU Convocation Center by purchasing a snippet from the Huskie Howl showcased by the First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO) . For just $ 60, fans can put their image on a clipping that will remain in the NIU Convocation Center for all NIU basketball games for men and women in the 2020-21 season. The net proceeds from all fan clippings will benefit the Huskie Athletic Fund. Click here to order your neckline.
–NIU–