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| Northern Illinois lost, 78-72, at home to Eastern Michigan on senior day. (Chronicle file photo) |
DeKALB – The Northern Illinois women’s basketball team doesn’t have a deep bench.
As the Huskies closed out the home portion of their regular season schedule with a 78-72 loss to Eastern Michigan on Saturday at the Convocation Center, Eagles’ coach AnnMarie Gilbert noticed the advantage her substitutes provided.
“Their record doesn’t reflect the weapons they have or how skilled their players are,” Gilbert said. “We wanted a lead at half so we could have a cushion to fall back on.
“We’ve got some depth at every position. When we subbed we had more at every position than Northern. I thought that was the difference.”
Junior guard Marke Freeman led all scorers with 30 points on 8 for 20 shooting. Senior Kylie York had 14 points on senior day and has 999 career points. Mauvolyene Adams added 12 for the Huskies (10-17, 4-11 MAC).
Tavelyn James led EMU (20-7, 10-5) with 17 points and Cassie Schrock added 16 points. The Eagles outscored the Huskies 22-12 in bench points.
At halftime NIU trailed 38-29. Freeman shot 2 for 9 and York 2 for 8. The Huskies shot 27 percent and couldn’t establish a consistent offensive flow.
But NIU opened the second half with a 12-2 run. It got its offense going when Freeman started to attack the basket with vigor.
NIU hit its first five shots coming out of halftime which resulted in a 12-2 run. Freeman hit her first three shots of the second half and was setting up her teammates with wide-open jumpers because of her dribble penetration.
“Our main focus at half time was to be aggressive,” Freeman said. “We knew they would struggle guarding penetration so we tried to attack from the perimeter.”
With 17:13 left in the second half, a York (4 for 14 shooting) three gave NIU a 41-40 lead. It was the first and last lead of the second half for the Huskies.
Another York three at 9:11 tied the game at 59, but NIU was unable to get a defensive stop as James – EMU's leading scorer at just over 20 points a game – drilled a three on the ensuing possession that sparked a decisive 8-2 run for EMU.
“It was a game that was a bunch of spurts,” NIU coach Carol Owens said “We needed to get stops at the defensive end and convert on offense. It was a game of runs that started out slow for both teams.
“They took the lead into halftime, we made a nice run, but it was Eastern that threw the final punch.”
NIU junior forward Ebony Ellis scored nine points and had a game high 17 rebounds. Ellis’ minutes have gradually increased in the last three games as she continues to fight her way back from a foot injury. The Huskies’ final regular season game is at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at Western Michigan.
