The Northern Illinois University women’s basketball team started strong and finished strong Saturday afternoon in a 61-52 win over the Eastern Michigan Eagles at the George Gervin GameAbove Center.

“It was a great team effort today,” said head coach Lisa Carlsen following Saturday’s victory. “When it became a possession-for-possession game in the fourth quarter, we made the plays we needed and made some big free throws down the stretch and got stops.”

Sidney McCrea (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Prairie) led the Huskies with 18 points and led all players with a career-high six assists. The redshirt-junior guard was 6-for-11 from the field with four three-pointers. Laura Nickel (Marshall, Wis./Marshall) set season-highs with 12 points and eight rebounds off the bench. Brooke Stonebraker (Versailles, Ohio/Versailles) posted her third consecutive double-double with 10 points and tied for the game-high in rebounds with 13.

NIU (12-12, 5-7 MAC) opened the game on a 14-2 run, highlighted by a 9-0 stretch over 2:39, with a Kortney Drake (Wilton, Iowa/Kirkwood CC) three putting the Huskies up 12 at the 5:16 mark of the first. McCrea had five points in that opening burst for the Huskies. Eastern Michigan got as close as seven when Kennedi Myles scored five straight points to make the score 18-11 with 1:19 left in the first. Nickel scored the final four points for NIU to give the Huskies a 22-11 lead going into the second quarter.

The Huskies took their largest lead of the game at the 5:10 mark of the second when a McCrea three-pointer put NIU ahead 31-13. That ended up being NIU’s last points of the first half. However, after a LaChelle Austin three with 4:56 to go made the score 31-21, NIU held Eastern Michigan scoreless for the remainder of the half and took a 10-point lead into the interval.

Eastern Michigan (6-17, 2-10 MAC) used a 10-0 run, highlighted by three-pointers by Austin and Olivia Smith, to get within one at 34-33 with 4:04 to go in the third quarter. Nickel responded with four straight points to get the Huskies back up by five 38-33 with 2:38 to play in the quarter. The Eagles finished the quarter scoring seven straight points. Treasure Thompson’s layup at the buzzer put Eastern Michigan ahead 40-38, the Eagles’ first lead of the game.

The two teams traded baskets to start the first, playing to a 48-48 tie with 4:58 remaining. McCrea then made a three at the 4:39 mark to put the Huskies back in front 51-48, a lead NIU would not relinquish.

“Sidney doesn’t shy away from the big moment,” Carlsen said. “When it comes down to crunch time she is someone we can rely down the stretch in so many different ways.”

After a Tayra Eke layup made the score 51-50, NIU went on an 8-0 run over 2:30 to take a 59-50 lead with 0:32 seconds left. The Huskies were 10-for-10 from the free throw line in the game, with eight of those coming in the last 2:29 of regulation.

NIU finished the game shooting 34.8 percent from the field, holding Eastern Michigan to 28.6 percent. The Huskies outrebounded the Eagles by two, 46-44, and had 15 assists against only nine turnovers. The nine turnovers were a season-low for NIU. Austin led all scorers with 19 points.

The Huskies go back out on the road on Wednesday, Feb. 21 for a 5 p.m. CT game at Buffalo.