CLEVELAND, Ohio- The Western Michigan women's basketball season came to an end as the No. 8 seeded Broncos fell to No. 4 seed Northern Illinois, 83-55, in the Mid-American Conference Tournament semifinals. It was the Broncos' first trip to the semifinals since 2003.

WMU got out to an 8-4 lead but NIU stormed back with a 14-0 run and held Western Michigan scoreless for a five-minute stretch in the first quarter. The second quarter was more of the same, as the Huskies were on fire from the field, going 8-for-13 from the floor with four 3-pointers. The Huskies had pushed their lead up to 20, 44-24, by halftime.

"Well, hats off to Northern Illinois, they were just really good today," said WMU head coach Shane Clipfell. "Try as we might, we got off to a decent start there at the beginning in the first couple minutes and then we couldn't throw the ball in the proverbial ocean."

Western Michigan shot just 26.2 percent in the first half and 30.8 percent for the game. The Broncos were 5-for-23 from behind the arc, four of those 3-point makes came from freshman Kamrin Reed who scored a career high 12 points off the bench. WMU also had trouble converting at the free throw line where the team was just 2 for 8.

One bright spot was the play of sophomore Breanna Mobley who recorded her 13th double-double of the season with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Mobley broke a 39-year old Western Michigan record along the way and became the first Bronco women's basketball player to haul in 300 rebounds in a single season. Pat Charity set the previous record of 296 in 1977-78. Mobley finished this season with 307 rebounds.

Western Michigan's other playmakers had an off day, as Meredith Shipman, Marley Hill and Deja Wimby went a combined 5-for-31 from the field. As a team, Western Michigan collected 21 offensive rebounds but were only able to come away with 12 second-chance points.

"Today Northern Illinois, they had their A-plus game after that first three or four minutes, and they got us on our heels and they got us doubting ourselves somewhat and we could just never change the momentum," Clipfell said.

Northern Illinois had five players score in double figures and as a team knocked down 10 three-pointers. Courtney Woods had three 3's and scored a game-high 19 points.

Western Michigan concludes the season with a 19-13 overall record. The Huskies (21-10) will advance to the championship game Saturday and will face Toledo who defeated Buffalo, 72-65, in the second semifinal matchup.