Jayden Marable with another big second half to help NIU knock off Eastern Illinois

DeKALB – Jayden Marable came up big in the second half. Again.

After scoring 13 second-half points against Detroit Mercy in the Huskies’ last game, the Northern Illinois University senior guard put up 10 points in the second half against Eastern Illinois as the Huskies knocked off the Panthers 65-55 on Monday.

Marable shot 5 for 10 in the second half after shooting only 1 of 6 for the first 20 minutes.

“I think I did not have a great first half, so I knew I had to come out and be more aggressive in the second half,” Marable said. “My team needs that, for me to be able to create for myself and for others and just play aggressive.”

The Huskies (5-5) led for more than 34 minutes in the contest, the lead peaking at 12 in the second half. But the Panthers (3-9) tied the game at 28 right out of the halftime break.

NIU scored the next eight points, with Marable scoring the final four of the run. EIU got it back to within four early in the fourth quarter, but the Huskies scored seven of the next nine points for a 53-44 lead, capped by a Marable layup.

“What we continue to tell Jayden, and what she has to understand, is that she is the focal point of what we do on the offensive and defensive ends,” NIU coach Lisa Carlsen said. “I think sometimes she’s a bit too unselfish. So we need her to be aggressive throughout the course of 40 minutes.”

Eastern got the lead back down to 57-53, but Tara Stauffacher drained a 3, Sidney McCrea added one 20 seconds later and the lead was up to 12 with 2:38 left. It never got back into single digits and neither team scored in the final 2:26 of the game.

Marable was among four Huskies in double figures. McCrea led the way with 15, Kortney Drake had 10 and Brooke Stonebreaker had 14 and a team-best seven rebounds.

Stonebreaker’s performance came over just 21 minutes. She missed most of the first half with foul trouble, picking up two in the first quarter. She didn’t commit a foul the rest of the way.

“Yeah, I learned my lesson,” Stonebreaker said. “Obviously, I can’t have that to start off the game. My teammates really helped me out for sure.”

Miah Monahan and Charita Lewis each scored 18, while Macy McGlone had a game-best 13 rebounds.

NIU finished the game 9 for 20 from long range after missing seven of their first nine.

“I thought Eastern in the first half did a really nice job of taking away opportunities from outside the arc,” Carlsen said. “Once we got better dribble penetration, obviously Jayden was a big part of that, it forced help and we got better looks. Anytime you can play inside out, as a shooter you’re going to be more comfortable in that situation.”

It was the second straight win for the Huskies, who host Concordia Chicago on Dec. 30 before the start of MAC play.