Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
Northern Ill
Women's Basketball Closes Regular Season With Loss To NIU
2/27/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 27, 2001
MOUNT PLEASANT--The Central Michigan women's basketball team ended the regular season with a 67-51 loss to Northern Illinois on Tuesday night at Rose Arena.
The Chippewas scored the opening basket of the game and held an 8-2 lead early in the contest.
The Huskies responded with a 15-0 run to take a 17-8 lead with 13:09 to go in the opening half.
CMU wasn't out of the game yet. The Chippewas followed NIU's offensive outburst with a 12-4 run to cut the Huskie lead to 21-20 with 8:45 to go.
Central would get as close as a point one more time before Northern Illinois outscored CMU 15-2 to close out the opening stanza. NIU entered the halftime break with a 38-24 advantage.
Northern Illinois kept the pressure on in the second half building its lead to as many as 22 points.
CMU made a run in the late stages of the game to cut the lead to 12 points (59-47) but NIU hit a three-pointer and three free throws to put the game away.
Key to Northern Illinois' win was its strong shooting. The Huskies shot 51 percent (28-55) while holding CMU to a 33 percent (18-55) mark.
Beth Kindel led CMU with 17 points while Molli Munz had 11 points and a team-best five rebounds.
NIU was led by Michelle Johnson who had 16 points and Jennifer Youngbood who had 15 points. Kristan Knake added 13 while Kim Boeding chipped in 10.
The Chippewas (4-23 overall, 1-15 Mid-American Conference) play in the first round of the MAC tournament against an opponent to be determined on Saturday.
