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March 10, 2008
CLEVELAND-The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team dropped its first round game of the 2008 Kraft MAC Women's Basketball Tournament to No. 5 seed Kent State, 75-67, at Quicken Loans Arena Monday. "We're disappointed in the loss. We had our opportunities," NIU head coach Carol Owens said. "I felt we dug ourselves a hole in the first half. We bounced back, even taking the lead at one point." The Huskies (10-18, 6-8) trailed much of the game, falling behind by as many as 21 with 3:55 left to play in the first half. Northern Illinois closed out the first half with a 9-4 run to cut the deficit to 16 heading into the break. Down 41-25 to the start of the second half, the Huskies came out strong. A 10-2 run by NIU cut the Kent State (9-20, 5-11) lead to eight with 17:30 left to play. The Golden Flashes had a nine-point lead, 50-41, with 15:16 left. An 8-0 Huskie run closed the gap to one, 50-49, with 11:18 left. Kylie York (Fishers, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern) hit a trey with 8:51 left to play to knot the game at 52. Kent State's Chanel Harris hit a bucket on the ensuing Golden Flashes possession to put Kent up by two. On the following Huskie trip down, NIU's Shari' Welton (Calumet City, Ill./Thornwood) connected on a three-pointer from the corner with the shot clock winding down to give Northern it's first lead of the game, 55-54, with 7:39 left to play. As it would turn out, that would be the only lead NIU would enjoy the rest of the game. Down three with 4:54 left to play, Whitney Lowe (Bushnell, Ill./Prairie City) tied the game at 60 when she completed a three-point play. Kent State's Asheley Harkins hit a three with 4:05 left in the contest, putting the Golden Flashes up for good. York and Welton led the way for the Huskies. York led all scores with 17 points, going 6-14 from the field and 5-13 from beyond the arc. Welton also finished in double figures, scoring 11 points, all in the second half. Becky Smith (Janesville, Wis./Parker) turned in one of her best games of the year, finishing with 10. The game was won for Kent State at the free throw line. The Golden Flashes made 24 trips to the line, hitting 17 shots from the charity stripe. Northern made six trips to the line, hitting a pair. NIU committed fewer turnovers than its opponent for the fourth consecutive game, but lost the rebound battle, 45-41. "I felt Kent State was physical, they were aggressive with us," Owens said. "We weren't taking care of the ball well in the first half. We had 12 turnovers in the first half. We're a pretty good rebounding team, but I don't think we were tonight."
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