Wednesday, February 4, 2004
Late charge not enough
NIU looks ‘flat’ as Western Michigan tops women’s hoops
Article by:
Ian Waddick - Assistant Sports Editor
• iwaddick@northernstar.info
For the second consecutive game, the NIU women’s basketball team
rebounded from an early deficit only to fall in the end.
Western Michigan came out firing in the first four minutes, scoring
the initial 11 points en route to a 79-69 win over the Huskies Tuesday
at the Convocation Center.
On Saturday, the Huskies (9-11 overall, 4-5 MAC) gave up a 7-0 run
to start the game, before falling to Toledo by two.
“Tonight I felt was different from the Toledo game,” NIU
coach Carole Hammerle said. “We just came out flat. We’ve
had this before where a team comes out and shoots the three against
us, and it almost deflates us. We can’t come out and start that
flat.”
After the start, NIU fell behind by 19 at one point and trailed MAC
West-leading Broncos (13-7, 8-1) by nine at halftime.
The Huskies started the second half on a 15-6 run and tied the game
at 42 with 14:17 remaining on a Smith three-pointer.
NIU later took the lead on a Monique Davis layup with 12:49 remaining.
It was the Huskies’ only lead of the game.
“I think what happened is that we didn’t do the job defensively
that we had done early on,” Broncos coach Ron Stewart said. “We
pulled it together down the stretch. They were tired, but they pulled
it together.”
Smith, who averages 4.1 points per game, scored 12 points for NIU.
Scott added her fourth career double-double, with 18 points and 10
rebounds for NIU. Freshman point guard Stephanie Raymond broke her career
high and led the Huskies in scoring with 19 points.
The offensive show belonged to the Broncos’ Casey Rost, who set
a Convocation Center record with 32 points. Rost was 10-of-10 from the
free-throw line and 6-of-11 from three-point range. As a team, the Broncos
were 20-of-21 from the free-throw line.
NIU’s two leading scorers, Lindsay Secrest and Jennifer Youngblood,
who average 10.9 and 10.6 points per game, respectively, were held to
a combined five points on six shots.
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