NIU Women's Basketball Team in Cleveland to Compete in 2008 Kraft MAC Tournament :: Huskies face off against Kent State Monday afternoon

March 9, 2008

DEKALB, Ill.-The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team (10-17, 6-8) travels to Cleveland, Ohio for the 2008 Kraft MAC Women's Basketball Tournament. The Huskies, seeded No. 4 in the West, will face the East's No. 5 seed Kent State (8-20, 5-11).

The two teams met in the quarterfinals of last season's MAC Tournament. The Huskies defeated the Golden Flashes, 72-68, (Mar. 6, 2007) to advance to the semifinals. Kent State owns a 14-9 mark in the all-time series between the two schools. NIU won the only meeting between the two this season, 83-74, in overtime (2/13/08).

An area the Huskies struggled with most of the season is turnovers. In the last meeting with Kent State, NIU had 23 to the Golden Flashes eight and are averaging 20.8 turnovers a game. However, in the last three games, NIU has not only been under that number but also had fewer turnovers than its opponents. Owens looks as that as a sign of improvement from her young team heading into the tourney.

"One of the positives is that in the last three or four games, we're taking care of the ball," NIU head coach Carol Owens said of her team heading into the tournament. "We were a young team this year and our players were learning to play with each other. Now, I think they understand each other better."

Northern Illinois owns a 7-10 all-time record in MAC Tournament history and are 3-2 in the MAC Tournament under Carol Owens. In last season's tourney, Owens led the Huskies to the semifinals for the first time since 2001-02. Becky Smith (Janesville, Wis./Parker) set a MAC Tournament record in the 2007 MAC Tournament, shooting 94 percent from the field (12-of-13) for the tournament.

This year's Huskies are led by Second Team All-MAC selection Whitney Lowe (Bushnell, Ill./Prairie City). Lowe, a senior, is NIU's leading scorer, averaging 11.3 points a game. She's been particularly effective during conference play this season, scoring 16.5 points a game. The lone representative on the all-conference team, Lowe is 19th in the league in scoring and eighth in the MAC in free throw shooting, shooting 80.6 percent from the charity stripe.

Kylie York follows with 10.7 points a game. The sophomore out of Fishers, Ind. has turned in 14 double-digit scoring performances this season. Jessie Wilcox (Oshkosh, Wis./West) rounds out the group with 10.4 points a game.

Tip off for the Northern Illinois' first round match with Kent State is set for 1:30 p.m. Central time. Fans can follow all the action live with Bill Baker on 1360 AM WLBK.