Box Score DEKALB, Ill.- Western Michigan women's basketball improved to 16-7 overall and 9-3 in the Mid-American Conference with a 60-51 road victory over Northern Illinois Wednesday.

The win keeps WMU on top of the MAC West standings with six games left in the regular season. The Broncos are one game ahead of Ball State (8-3 MAC). Toledo, Central Michigan and NIU are bunched up in the middle of the division, all with 6-5 conference records. Wednesday's loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Huskies.

Junior forward Miracle Woods entered the game with 999 points and 494 career rebounds and wasted no time reaching two milestones, becoming the 25th Bronco ever to reach 1,000 career points and the 16th player in school history to total 1,000 points and 500 rebounds.

Woods scored WMU's first basket of the game at 18:11 and had eight points and eight rebounds before halftime. She finished with 22 points and a career-high 17 rebounds, recording her fifth double-double against MAC opponents this season.

“Miracle's milestone of 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in the same night, especially against an opponent that has interior defense like they do, is quite remarkable and one heck of a performance,” said WMU head coach Shane Clipfell. “She would be the first to tell you how important her teammates are a part of her success as well.”

Western Michigan led only once in the first half, 11-10, and fought off a series of runs by the Huskies. NIU had a seven-point advantage with 6:14 left in the half and the Broncos responded with a 7-0 run. After WMU knotted the game at 20-20, Northern Illinois rattled off eight-straight points before Jazmine Windham drowned a three at the buzzer to put the Brown & Gold within five at the half, 28-23.

“It was definitely a typical game against a Northern Illinois team which is very stingy on defense,” said Clipfell. “We were not particularly happy with our defense in the first 20 minutes but our team buckled down for the second 20 and made it tough on them to score. It was definitely a win that we had to earn because Northern Illinois does not beat itself.”

Western Michigan kept grinding away in the second half and pulled ahead, 45-44, on a layup by Woods with 5:05 left in the game. The Broncos wouldn't relinquish the lead, going on a 10-1 run to put WMU up by 10, 55-45, with 59 seconds remaining. Woods had six points and junior point guard Alex Morton scored the final four points in the run, going 4-for-4 from the free throw line.

Morton was the Broncos' second leading scorer with 15 points, 13 of those coming in the second half. Junior Jessica Jessing did her part on the boards, grabbing 10 rebounds while adding five points. Senior Michelle O'Brien had seven points and Windham hit a pair of three's for six points.

Northern Illinois leading scorer Amanda Corral had averaged 23.3 points and 4.3 rebounds over the NIU's previous four wins until WMU's defense held the senior guard to just 12 points and no rebounds in the Huskie loss. Ally Lehman scored 13 points and recorded 10 rebounds and Kelly Smith had 10 points for NIU.

Western Michigan committed just nine turnovers and improved its shooting from 30 percent in the first half to 47.9 percent in the second. WMU also shot 20-for-22 from the free throw line. The Broncos won the rebounding battle, 41-31. NIU shot 35.6 percent from the field.

WMU returns to Kalamazoo Saturday to host Buffalo (13-9, 6-5 MAC) at 2 p.m. The game will be a doubleheader with the Bronco men taking on Northern Illinois following the women's contest. Saturday will be the annual Pink/Play 4Kay Game for Western Michigan. If WMU gets 2,000 fans for the women's game, head coach Shane Clipfell will dye his hair pink in support of the Play 4Kay and breast cancer awareness initiative.