DeKalb native A’Jah Davis looking for strong third season with NIU women

DeKALB – At media day last month, NIU women’s basketball coach Lisa Carlsen was straightforward about what the Huskies were going to look like this season, which starts at home Tuesday against Illinois State.

She said the team will be led by the one-two punch of point guard Chelby Koker and DeKalb native and post A’jah Davis.

“It gave me a lot of confidence,” Davis said. “Not that coach doesn’t give me confidence already, but to hear it in the media, it gave me a lot of confidence. It took some pressure off my shoulders. She knows what I can do and believes in it.”

Davis started 20 games for the Huskies last season as a sophomore, averaging 11 points and eight rebounds a game. The NCAA granted a year of eligibility to any athlete who played last season, so Davis still is a sophomore this season.

And Davis has had some career games. She scored a career-high 21 points in two of her last three games last season. She also had six of her seven career double-doubles last season.

“She’s someone who can do a lot of damage in the bottom half of the lane,” Carlsen said. “Very versatile, very strong, a very good rebounder. But the thing that makes her next level is she has become a much better passer, as well. I don’t think there’s a lot of teams that will be able to just play her straight-up one-on-one. And when they don’t, and they double, she will know what to do.”

Carlsen said she expects some big games from her 6-foot-1 post, on par with the 17-point, 17-rebound game she had as a freshman against Ohio or the 17-point, 19-rebound game she had last season against Buffalo.

“She’s already had games where she’s put up gaudy numbers,” Carlsen said. “She had 17 points, 17 rebounds as a very young player. There are times she can be a 20-20 person. That’s a big expectation and a big number, but she has the skill set to do that at times. And we’ll rely on her knowledge of the game to have success. And I think she’s ready for that.”

With her strong finish to last year, she said – like the rest of her teammates – she’s confident in what she can do this season.

“My expectations are very high,” Davis said. “Toward the end of last season, you guys saw I had some very high-scoring games and some high-rebounding games. That showed who I really am and what I can do.”

The other part of that punch is Koker, who led the team with 21.1 points a game. The sophomore point guard also had 3.8 assists a game.

Carlsen said she expects a huge jump out of Koker, and a lot of that is in the passing department. Koker also committed an average of 5.2 turnovers a game.

“When I tell you she’s gotten better, that maybe seems unrealistic,” Carlsen said. “But she has gotten better. ... What you will see from her this year is that she will pass and find her teammates at a much higher rate. And I think with a year of experience, she will take care of the basketball.”

The Huskies finished 12-12 last year, losing to Central Michigan in the first round of the MAC tournament in Cleveland.

Only three players are gone from last season’s team, and only one of them played more than seven games: Riley Blackwell. Davis and Koker were the top two scorers last season, while the Mid-American Conference’s sixth player of the year, Janae Poisson, averaged 9.4 points a game while knocking down 45.1% of her 3-point shots.

Carlsen said she’s happy with how many returners are back, including Mikayla Brandon, who adds an inside presence along with Davis; Paulina Castro, a senior who is coming off her first fully healthy season and averaged 6.9 points a game; and Errin Hodges, who brings depth behind Brandon and Davis.

Carlsen also said she expected second-year freshman Jayden Marable to continue her development at point guard. She said Marable gives the Huskies the ability to shift Koker off the ball, allowing both to be on the floor at the same time.

“There’s nobody that necessarily scares me,” Carlsen said. “I think it’s going to be a very interesting run in the MAC. There’s a lot of teams that return a lot of pieces that are going to stand up like I am today and say we should be in the mix.”