It took a complete team effort for the Northern Illinois University women’s basketball team to come up with one of its biggest wins in recent memory, halting Ball State’s 14-game winning streak with a 76-71 win in overtime Wednesday night at the NIU Convocation Center.

“This is the best 45 minutes of basketball we’ve played,” said head coach Lisa Carlsen following Wednesday’s win. “We stayed in the moment and did a great job on the glass. Our composure was really good down the stretch and when you can beat a team like Ball State there’s a lot to be proud of.”

Three Huskies scored in double figures Wednesday night, led by Sidney McCrea’s (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Prairie) game-high 17 points. Brooke Stonebraker (Versailles, Ohio/Versailles) had her fifth double-double of the year with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Tara Stauffacher (Columbus, Wis./Wisconsin) added 12 points off the bench. All nine players that played for NIU scored.

Ball State (20-3, 10-1 MAC) led 59-57 with 5:00 to go in the fourth quarter. The Huskies took back the lead on back-to-back threes by McCrea and Stauffacher to go up 63-59 with 1:59 remaining in regulation. The Cardinals responded with a Marie Kiefer layup and a Nyla Hampton three-point play to take a 64-63 lead with 0:16 left.

NIU (10-11, 4-6 MAC) had a chance to win on its last possession. Jayden Marable’s (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) layup in the lane missed, but Grace Hunter (Monroeville, Ind./Bellmont) grabbed the offensive rebound. Hunter got the ball to Laura Nickel (Marshall, Wis./Marshall) who was fouled at the basket and sent to the free throw line with 1.1 seconds left in the game. Nickel made the first foul shot to tie the game at 64 but missed the second with Ball State getting the rebound and calling a timeout. The Cardinals were unable to get a shot off and the game went to overtime.

The Cardinals scored the first three points of overtime, taking its largest lead of the game 67-64 on an Annie Rauch free throw with 3:58 left. The Huskies took over from there. After Marable made two free throws to get NIU within one, Nickel put in a layup at the 1:45 mark to put the Huskies ahead 68-64. McCrea then scored four straight points to put NIU up five, with two Marable free throws capping a 10-0 run over 2:54 that gave the Huskies a 74-67 lead with 0:19 to play. NIU was 8-for-10 at the free throw line in overtime and was able to run out the clock for the 76-71 win.

“At the end of the game, it comes down to execution in those moments,” said McCrea, who scored 12 of her 17 points in the second half and overtime. “We just have to run our plays, be great screeners and passers, and we’ll get the shots we’re looking for. We did a really good job down the stretch taking the shots we wanted to get and we knocked those down.”

The Huskies got off to a fast start, taking a 10-3 lead 3:43 into the first on threes from McCrea and Kortney Drake (Wilton, Iowa/Kirkwood CC) and four points from Brooke Blumenfeld (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North). Ball State responded with a 13-4 run to end the quarter with an Alex Richard layup at the horn putting the Cardinals up 16-14. NIU trailed 26-25 with under four minutes to go in the first half when a Stonebraker layup sparked a 10-3 Huskies run that put NIU back up 35-29 with 1:41 to go. NIU took a 39-34 halftime lead, shooting 50 percent from the field.

For the game NIU shot 45.3 percent from the field and was 9-for-23 from the three-point arc. The Huskies were 19-for-24 from the free throw line while Ball State was just 9-for-20. NIU held Ball State, the top shooting team in the Mid-American Conference, to 37.8 percent from the field and 22.2 percent from the three-point arc. The Huskies dominated the glass, outrebounding Ball State 52-34.

The homestand continues on Saturday, Feb. 10 when NIU hosts Georgia Southern at 1 p.m. in the second round of the MAC-SBC Challenge for the Think Pink Game. The Huskie Basketball 2024 pack is available for Saturday’s game. This ticket deal includes four lower bowl tickets, four hot dogs, four sodas and four chips for just $40. Go to niuhuskies.com/2024PACK and enter the promo code 2024 PACK. It is also the final Scholarship Saturday game of the season. If the attendance threshold of 150 students is met, one lucky student will be randomly selected to win a $1,500 scholarship. The student must be in attendance when the winner is selected in the fourth quarter.