NIU men, women drop basketball season openers

The Northern Illinois women’s basketball team took on its first ranked opponent in 11 years in the season opener Monday night, losing on the road 88-48 to No. 9 Notre Dame.

The men also opened, falling at home to NCAA Division II foe Illinois-Springfield 83-77.

For the women, Janae Poisson led the Huskies with 14 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field. Jayden Marable added 11 points. A’Jah Davis had nine points, a team-high eight rebounds and two assists. The Huskies outrebounded the Fighting Irish on the night 45-43.

“I was really proud of our effort on the glass, and I think we did some nice things in the half court,” NIU head coach Lisa Carlsen said. “Give Notre Dame a lot of credit because they sped us up at times, and we really didn’t handle the ball as cleanly as we’d like to. We gave up 88 points, and a lot of those came off turnovers.”

For the men, David Coit scored 31 and Keshawn Williams 23 in the loss.