Check out the links below to follow all your favorite Huskie teams in action this week!
Men’s Basketball
Tuesday, Feb. 21: at Ohio, 6 p.m. – Live Stats | ESPN+ | Live Audio
Saturday, Feb. 25: at Central Michigan, 1 p.m. – Live Stats | ESPN3 | Live Audio
Road trips to Ohio and Central Michigan await the NIU men’s basketball team this week as the Huskies close the road portion of their conference slate. With four games left in the regular season, the Huskies are sixth in the Mid-American Conference standings with a 7-7 league record. Tuesday’s opponent, Ohio, is just one game better than the Huskies at 8-6. Anthony Crump posted his second double-double of the season last time out against Miami. Over the last three contests, Crump is averaging 14.7 points and 11.0 rebounds per game.
Women’s Basketball
Wednesday, Feb. 22: at Miami, 6 p.m. – Live Stats | ESPN+ | Live Audio
Saturday, Feb. Feb. 25: vs. Central Michigan, 1 p.m. – Live Stats | ESPN3 | Live Audio
Winners of four of its last five games, the NIU women’s basketball team is on the road this Wednesday night against Miami. The Huskies beat the two top teams in the Mid-American Conference last week, winning 85-81 at Bowling Green to snap the Falcons’ 11-game winning streak and defeating Ball State 84-77 at the Convocation Center on Saturday to snap the Cardinals’ 10-game winning streak. NIU is averaging 80.0 points per game over the last five games, shooting 48.8 percent from the field. Senior forward A’Jah Davis has had at least 15 points and 15 rebounds in each of the last five games. Davis is fourth in the nation in rebounding at 12.6 rebounds per game and fifth in double-doubles with 18. Chelby Koker is averaging 19.4 points per game over the last five, leading NIU with 25 points in the win over Ball State last Saturday. NIU hosts Central Michigan on Saturday for Senior Day. The Huskies will honor seniors Emma Carter, Emily Meinert, A’Jah Davis and Janae Poisson following the game. A preview of each game will be on NIUHuskies.com later this week.
Softball
Friday, Feb. 24: vs. Marshall, 9 a.m. – Live Stats
Friday, Feb. 24: at Liberty, 11 a.m. – Live Stats
Saturday, Feb. 25: vs. Elon, 9 a.m. – Live Stats
Saturday, Feb. 25: vs. Elon, 11 a.m. – Live Stats
Sunday, Feb. 26: vs. Princeton, 8 a.m. – Live Stats
The Huskie softball team continues their gauntlet of preseason tournaments this Friday-Sunday at the Liberty Softball Classic. Liberty will play host to NIU, Princeton, Marshall and Elon at Kamphuis Field. The Huskies’ tournament run will begin Friday at 9 a.m. CDT with a date versus Marshall before NIU faces Liberty at/around 11 a.m. On Saturday, the Huskies will compete in a doubleheader versus Elon beginning at 9 a.m. before ending the tournament with a matchup against Princeton Sunday morning.
NIU is led by Ally Rodriguez with a .385 average at the plate. She’s racked up five hits, scored twice and has driven in one for the Huskies thus far in 2023. In the circle, P/1B Danielle Stewart has a team-low ERA of 5.07 while she also leads the defense with 18 putouts on 22 chances.
Baseball
Friday, Feb. 24: vs. Monmouth, 1 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 25: vs. Penn State, 11 a.m. – Live Stats
Saturday, Feb. 25: vs. Penn State, TBA – Live Stats
Sunday, Feb. 26: vs. Maine, 9 a.m.
The NIU Baseball team heads to the USA Baseball Complex in Cary, N.C. this weekend for four games against Monmouth, Penn State and Maine. The Huskies’ Andrew Smart and Eric Erato both hit .400 or better in NIU’s series at Oral Roberts last weekend. Smart hit .417 with a double and two RBI, with three hits in the series finale last Sunday. Erato hit .400 with a triple and a pair of stolen bases. Redshirt-sophomore Matt Salomonson struck out a career-high seven batters in the second game of last Saturday’s doubleheader, throwing six shutout innings. NIU will face Monmouth and Penn State for the first time. The Nittany Lions are one of three Big Ten opponents for the Huskies this season. NIU last faced Maine in 2007, a 17-1 win in Palm Beach, Fla.
Gymnastics
Sunday, Feb. 26: at Lindenwood (St. Charles, Mo.), 1 p.m.
After closing out its 2023 home schedule with a 195.350-195.075 Mid-American Conference win over Eastern Michigan to finish the year undefeated (6-0) at home, the Huskies close out the regular season with a three-meet road swing, beginning Sunday at Lindenwood.
NIU recorded its fifth consecutive 195-plus score Friday night while overcoming some uncharacteristic missteps. The Huskies’ vault squad posted its best score of the season with a 48.950, led by freshman Kiera O’Shea’s team season high score of 9.875. Natalie Hamp recorded her fifth bars win of the season and the Huskies claimed the top three spots on floor exercise, with Emmalise Nock’s NIU meet-high mark of 9.900 leading the way.
Men’s Tennis
Wednesday, Feb. 22: vs. UIC, 1 p.m.
The NIU men’s tennis team puts its perfect 5-0 home record on the line on Wednesday when it hosts UIC at the Nelson Tennis Center at Chick Evans Field House. The Huskies won a pair of matches at home this past weekend, topping Youngstown State, 5-2, on Friday (Feb. 17) before beating North Dakota, 4-1, on Sunday (Feb. 19). The doubles team of Mikael Vollbach and Cheng En Tsai won both of their matches against the Penguins and Fighting Hawks to stretch their win streak to six matches. Overall, NIU is 16-4 in doubles matches this season. Iker Gaztambide Arrastia won both of his singles matches, he has a team-best six singles wins.
Women’s Golf
Monday-Tuesday, Feb. 27-28: The Beach Invitational – Live Scores
With the Huskies currently in action at the Atlantic Invitational in Boynton Beach, Fla., NIU’s spring championship season is fully underway! Once the Atlantic Invitational wraps up, NIU has a quick turnaround as it will head west to Mission Viejo, Calif. to compete in The Beach Invitational, another two-day tournament hosted by Long Beach State. With five tournaments under their belt, the Huskies have landed in the top-5 in all but one and are averaging 235.6 strokes per-round. Graduate student Sydney Naro paces the team, averaging just 73.26 strokes per-round.
Track & Field
Friday-Saturday, Feb. 24-25: at MAC Indoor Championships (Bowling Green, Ohio) – ESPN3 (Friday) | ESPN3 (Saturday)
The NIU women’s track and field team heads to Bowling Green, Ohio this weekend for the Mid-American Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships at Perry Field House. Competition begins at 9 a.m. CT on both Friday and Saturday with the heptathlon. Field events are slated to start at 11 a.m. CT on Friday with the long jump and 10 a.m. CT Saturday with the triple jump while action on track is set for 12:45 p.m. CT on Friday with the trials in the mile and 12:40 p.m. CT Saturday with the final in the mile. Last season, NIU took third at the MAC Indoor Championships, scoring 70 points, it was NIU’s third consecutive top-three finish at the meet. Kadeja Campbell is the reigning conference champion in the 400 meters and is ranked second in the event this season. Scout Regular has the second-best time in the conference in the 60-meter hurdles this season while Skylynn Blue and Campbell are second and third in the 200, respectively.
Women’s Tennis
Friday, Feb. 24: vs. South Dakota (in Sioux Falls, S.D.), 11 a.m.
Sunday, Feb. 26: at St. Thomas (St. Paul, Minn.), 10 a.m.
Sunday, Feb. 26: at Winona State (Winona, Minn.), 4 p.m.
The NIU women’s tennis team heads out on the road this weekend with three matches in South Dakota and Minnesota beginning Friday with a neutral site match versus South Dakota. The Huskies won three of four matches last week to improve to 7-6 on the season. NIU defeated each of their last three opponents by 7-0 scores despite playing Saturday’s matches versus Western Illinois and Cardinal Stritch without their top two singles players and top doubles team.
In their absence, junior Diana Lukyanova stepped into the No. 1 singles position and won both of her matches to go 3-1 on the week, while the doubles duo of Reagan Welch and Nataly Ninova played No. 1 doubles and finished the week with the same record. Ninova and Lukyanova own the top singles marks on the team as Ninova is 11-2, while Lukyanova upped her record to 9-4. Welch and Ninova lead the way on the doubles side with a 8-4 record to date.