DEKALB, Ill. – UNI women's basketball shrugged off a slow start but failed to overcome a big early deficit falling to the University of Northern Illinois 70-59 Sunday afternoon at the Convocation Center in the final game of the Preseason WNIT.
The Huskies opened with a 9-0 run and built a 17-4 lead after the first quarter. NIU extended the lead to 23-4 before the Panthers cut the lead back to 33-24 at the half. Northern Illinois opened the second half on a 10-2 run to take a 45-26. The Panthers cut the lead to single digits in the final minutes of the game, but the NIU lead was too much to overcome.