Huskies Head to Buffalo For Wednesday Showdown

February 20, 2024
|In Local Highlights, NIU Sports
|By Peyton

Winners of three of its last four games, the Northern Illinois University women’s basketball team heads to western New York Wednesday night to take on the Buffalo Bulls. Tip-off at Alumni Arena is at 5 p.m. with the game broadcast on ESPN+ as well as locally on WDKB 94-9 FM and the Varsity Network and NIU Huskies apps.

NIU (12-12, 5-7 MAC) held Eastern Michigan to 28.6 percent shooting from the field and 22.7 percent from the three-point line in a 61-52 win last Saturday. It was the 13th time in the last 16 games the Huskies held their opponent under 30 percent from long range. NIU is third in the Mid-American Conference in three-point percentage defense at 29.0 percent.

Redshirt-Junior guard Sidney McCrea (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Prairie) led the Huskies with 18 points and a career-high six assists. McCrea was 4-for-7 from the three-point line, her fourth game this season with four threes. She is leading NIU in scoring in the month of February at 13.3 points per game. McCrea is shooting 48.4 percent from the three-point line over NIU’s last seven games.

NIU got a lift off the bench from Laura Nickel (Marshall, Wis./Marshall) in last Saturday’s win at Eastern Michigan. Nickel had a season-high 12 points and added a career-high eight rebounds. She is the fifth different Huskie to score in double figures off the bench this season. NIU is averaging 20.6 bench points per game.

Buffalo (14-9, 7-5 MAC) had a four-game winning streak snapped last Saturday in a 65-54 loss at Akron. The Zips shot 41.7 percent from the field and held the Bulls to 2-for-21 from the three-point line. Kirsten Lewis-Williams led Buffalo, and all scorers, with 22 points. The freshman is Buffalo’s second-leading scorer with 12.0 points per game. Chellia Watson leads the Bulls in scoring with 23.6 points per game, which puts her fourth in the nation. Watson had 30 points in Buffalo’s 65-58 win over NIU at the Convocation Center on Jan. 17.

The Huskies return to the NIU Convocation Center on Saturday, Feb. 24 when NIU takes on Bowling Green at 1 p.m. for Cram The Convo. The NIU men’s basketball team takes on Ohio following the women’s game. For tickets, log on to NIUHuskies.com or call the NIU Athletics Ticket Office at 815-753-PACK (7225).