DEKALB, Ill.-- The Western Michigan women's basketball team will trek to Dekalb, Illinois to face Northern Illinois University for their fourth Mid-American Conference game of the season. On Saturday, January 11, the Broncos will clash with the Huskies at 2:00 PM ET on ESPN+.
Last Time Out
The Brown and Gold defeated Ohio University 66-49 in Kalamazoo Wednesday to win their third game over their last five contests. The Broncos were led offensively by graduate student Hannah Spitzley and junior Marina Asensio, who combined for an impressive 34 points and 12 assists, while committing only two turnovers.
After capitalizing on a 6-6 performance at the free throw line, WMU scored a game-best 20 points in the third quarter. As a group, the women's basketball team opened the third on a 15-0 run to take command of the contest.
In the win, Spitzley passed Molly Dwyer (2006-10) and AJ Johnson (2011-15) on the program's all-time steals list after her two swipes Wednesday. The graduate student increased her career total to 161 steals and counting and is currently 12th all-time in career steals for the women's basketball team.
Scouting The Huskies
NIU enters the matchup with a 7-7 record (1-2 MAC). After starting the season 3-2, the Huskies have gone 4-5 and are amidst a two game losing streak entering Saturday's contest.
In their last contest at Akron University, NIU lost a close battle to the Zips 73-71 after an unsuccessful buzzer-beating attempt by NIU's Chelby Koker. In the loss, redshirt sophomore forward Brook Blumenfeld scored a team-high 16 points. Since being re-inserted into the starting lineup on Dec. 15, Blumenfeld is averaging 10.5 points per game and shooting 50 percent from the field. She enters Saturday's contest sixth in the MAC in field goal percentage at 48.5 percent.
Off the bench, senior guard Laura Nickel shot an efficient 6-for-8 from the field en route to a season-high 13 points along with five rebounds and four assists. Additionally, it was Nickel's second double-figure scoring effort of the season after having 12 points against St. Thomas on November 10. As for redshirt senior Sidney McCrea, she added seven points and helped NIU to their sixth game in which their bench would score at least 20 points.
Series History
The Brown and Gold lead the overall series 42-31 after a split in the season series during the 2023-24 campaign. With a win over NIU, the Broncos can tie up the series at 5-5 over the last 10 matchups between the two teams.
For all things WMU women's basketball, follow the team on Instagram @wmu_wbb, X @WMU_WBB, and Facebook @WMUWBB.
