Jan 14 College News

Broncos Earn First MAC Win at Northern Illinois, 71-67

DEKALB, Ill.- Western Michigan picked up its first Mid-American Conference victory of the year, defeating Northern Illinois on the road Saturday, 71-67. WMU had lost the past four meetings in DeKalb, its last win at the Convocation Center coming on Feb. 26, 2006, before any of the current Broncos were members of the team.

After a sluggish start, Western Michigan started clicking midway through the first half. The Broncos missed their first seven shots, allowing Northern Illinois to open a 13-2 lead. At the 13:58 mark, WMU head coach Tasha McDowell called a timeout to regroup her side and WMU proceeded to go on a 29-13 run to close out the half to lead 31-26 at the break. Miame Giden gave WMU a boost in the last two minutes of the period, scoring WMU’s final six points in a 38-second span.

Up two, 41-39, at 14:10 in the second half, Giden sparked another Bronco run. WMU outscored NIU 9-1 over the next three minutes, Giden with five of the points. Taylor Manley’s take to the basket with 11:22 remaining gave WMU its first double digit lead, 50-40.

Western Michigan led by eight with just over a minute on the clock and held off a late push by the Huskies’ Courtney Shelton. Shelton hit three 3-pointers over the next 36 seconds to bring NIU to within two, 69-67, with twenty seconds remaining. Kemmy Dominique knocked down a pair of free throw to preserve the win for WMU with seven ticks left.

Several Broncos stepped up their play and the Brown & Gold put forth its most balanced attack of the season. The productivity could be seen in the stats, as WMU shot its second highest percentage of the year at 42.6. Manley and Dominique led Western Michigan with 18 points apiece, while Giden pumped in 17 points. Brenna Banktson just missed out on a double-double with nine points and a team-high 11 rebounds.

Shelton led three Huskies in double figures with a game-high 29 points. Marke Freeman tallied 11 points and Kim Davis had 10 points and 10 rebounds.


Stapke Leads Titans To 10th Consecutive Victory

Lizzie Stapke (Highland, IN/Highland) scored a game-high 17 points and Emily Strilich (Valparaiso, IN/Boone Grove) chipped in a career-best ten as IU South Bend (13-3/1-0 CCAC) stretched their win streak to ten games as they broke open a 41-all tie and streaked to a 57-43 win over Robert Morris. The Titans held the Eagles to just 28.6% shooting for the game, including a 3-for-15 mark from behind the three-point line.

RMU jumped out early, converting a trio of Titan turnovers into five points, forcing a timeout just two minutes into the game. IU South Bend responded out of that break, however, scoring 16 of the next 20 points in the game to take a 16-9 edge with 13 minutes to play in the opening half.

It was a game of runs, though, and the Eagles responded with one of their own, taking a 17-16 lead with five minutes to play in the period. From there, the teams traded scored and headed to the locker rooms with the game tied at 23.

Out of the break, neither team was able to assert control early in the second half. After the teams traded turnovers, scores and missed shots, the Titans were able to stretch out a 37-31 edge. Once again, however, RMU was able to close the game, tying the game at 37, and eventually again at 41.

From there, it was all Titans. A 9-0 run, fueled by a Katie Hacker (Indianapolis, IN/Franklin Central) triple that barely beat the shot clock stretched the Titan lead to 50-41, and after RMU scored to make it 50-43, they would not crack the scoring column again, as IU South Bend put in the final seven points of the contest from the free throw line to ice the game away.

For the game, IU South Bend hit 16 of their 17 attempts from the charity stripe - all coming in the second half. In addition to her scoring, Stapke led the Titans with six rebounds and four steals.

Niara Paino led the Eagles with 15 points.