NIU Women's Basketball Team Heads to Bowling Green :: Huskies look to get back on winning track against Falcons

Feb. 8, 2008

DEKALB, Ill.-The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team look to bounce back from a disappointing 78-71 loss to Akron on Super Bowl Sunday, that ended NIU's three-game winning streak, when the Huskies face Bowling Green Saturday at 1 p.m. CST. Northern Illinois faces a Falcon team that is coming off a big 71-41 victory over rival Toledo, snapping a three-game losing streak.

Bowling Green (16-6, 5-3) is a very solid offensive team, leading the Mid-American Conference in field goal percentage, shooting 44 percent from the floor and in scoring margin, outscoring its opponents 11.1 points a game. NIU head coach Carol Owens knows defense, as always, will be the key to the Huskies (8-13, 4-4) success.

"Bowling Green is a high-powered scoring team," NIU head coach Carol Owens said. "I feel we have to get some stops. We've got to set the tone at the beginning of the game. We've got to get off to a good note in terms of our intensity."

Lauren Prochaska and Kate Achter lead the way for the Falcons, averaging 14.6 and 13.9 points a game respectively. Prochaska led all scorers with 19 points in BG's 71-41 win over Toledo, while Achter and Tara Breske each scored 11 points against the Rockets.

The Huskies have three players in their starting line up averaging in double figures. Kylie York (Fishers, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern) continues to lead the Huskies in scoring, and is 19th in the Mid-American Conference, averaging 10.9 points per game. Jessie Wilcox (Oshkosh, Wis./West) is right behind her, averaging 10.6 points a game.

Whitney Lowe (Bushnell, Ill./Prairie City) is averaging 10 points and 4.7 rebounds a game and is coming off a career- and game-high 26 points against Akron. Lowe has finished in double figures in 10 games this season and has scored 20 or more points twice this year.

Bowling Green leads the all-time series 15-12 and has won the last five meetings. The Falcons won last season's meeting 85-76 (Feb. 10, 2007) at the Convocation Center. The last Huskie win came Feb. 18, 2004 at Bowling Green. It took four overtimes, but NIU overcame the Falcons to post a 1-2-97 victory. In that game, Stephanie Raymond, a freshman at the time, scored 17 points.