The Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team tipped off retro arcade day inside the George Gervin GameAbove Center not as planned, falling short to Northern Illinois University, 61-52, on Saturday, Feb. 17.
The Eagles would see three members combine for 39 points as junior guard Lachelle Austin (Redford, Mich.) would lead EMU with 19 points, junior center Tayra Eke (Madrid, Spain) finished with 12, and junior forward Treasure Thompson (Joliet, Ill.) chipped in eight points.
Austin's 19-point showing would mark her fifth game this season with double-digits in scoring and 30th of her career.
As a team, EMU would pull in 44 total rebounds as Eke notched eight rebounds while senior forward Kennedi Myles (Cincinnati, Ohio) would finish with 13 rebounds. Offensively the Eagles would grab 15 rebounds to convert eight second-chance points as sophomore guard Dara Capaldi (East Detroit, Mich.) hauled in nine rebounds.
Posting eight rebounds in the matchup, Eke sits just 44 boards away from a career milestone of 500. The Madrid native also added two blocks on the day, as she is now just eight blocks away from the 150 milestone.
The Huskies would post a better shooting night compared to the Eagles as NIU shot the ball 23-for-66 (34.8%) from the floor and 5-for-17 (29.4%) from three-point range as EMU shot 20-for-70 (28.6%) from the floor and 5-for-22 (22.7%) from beyond the arc.
Additionally, NIU would outscore the Eagles in the paint, 30-26.
With the win, the Huskies improve to a 12-12 overall record and 5-17 in Mid-American Conference play while the Eagles fall to 6-17 on the season and 2-10 in MAC play.
Next up, EMU will travel I-94 for an intrastate rival battle against Western Michigan University on Wednesday, Feb. 21. Tipoff for that game is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+.
