The Northern Illinois University women’s basketball team wraps up its regular season home slate on Wednesday as the Toledo Rockets come to the NIU Convocation Center. Tip-off is at 6 p.m. with the game broadcast on ESPN+ and locally on 94-9 WDKB, the Varsity Network app and the NIU Huskies app.
Tickets are available on NIUHuskies.com or through the NIU Athletics Ticket Office at 815-753-PACK (7225).
NIU (13-13, 6-8 MAC) is 8-5 at the Convocation Center this season, averaging 68.9 points per game and shooting 42.6 percent from the field. This is the sixth season out of the last eight that the Huskies will have a winning record on their home floor. Since the start of the 2021-22 season NIU is 27-12 in DeKalb.
The Huskies shot 45.6 percent from the field last Saturday against Bowling Green but could not keep up with the Falcons’ hot shooting from the field in an 82-73 loss. The Falcons shot 50 percent from the field and were 11-for-28 from the three-point line. Jayden Marable (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) led NIU with 15 points, making 7-of-13 shots from the field. It was her seventh game this season with at least 15 points. Over her last 10 games Marable is averaging 10.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game. She recorded her first career double-double in NIU’s first meeting against Toledo on Jan. 24 with 12 points and a career-high 13 rebounds.
Brooke Stonebraker (Versailles, Ohio/Versailles) and Sidney McCrea (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Prairie) each had 13 points against Bowling Green last Saturday. Stonebraker also had a game-high nine rebounds as NIU outrebounded the Falcons 36-30. She is second in the MAC, and 51st nationally, in rebounds with 9.2 per game. In the last six games Stonebraker is averaging 12.0 points and 12.8 rebounds per game. McCrea is fifth in the MAC with 1.96 three-pointers per game. She has made multiple threes in five of the last six games.
Toledo (21-4, 13-1 MAC) took sole possession of first place in the Mid-American Conference last Saturday with a 70-48 win over Ball State at Savage Arena. The Rockets held Ball State to 33.3 percent from the field and 3-for-20 from the three-point line. Sammi Mikonowicz led the Rockets with 24 points, adding five rebounds and four steals. Quinesha Lockett added 10 points and nine rebounds. Lockett leads Toledo in scoring at 15.4 points per game. Toledo enters Wednesday’s game on a nine-game winning streak. The Rockets lead the MAC in scoring defense, free throw percentage and assist/turnover ratio.
The Huskies begin a three-game road trip on Saturday, March 2 at Akron, with tip-off at 2 p.m. CT.