DeKALB, Ill. – Chelby Koker scored 23 of her game-high 28 points after halftime, leading Northern Illinois University to a comeback victory over the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team on Saturday afternoon (March 1). The Huskies prevailed, 84-77 in double-overtime, at the NIU Convocation Center.

All five starters scored in double digits for the Falcons (16-12, 9-7 Mid-American Conference). Johnea Donahue led the way with 18 points, while Paige Kohler and Amy Velasco scored 17 and 16, respectively.

Erika Porter had 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds, with Lexi Fleming scoring 10 points.

In addition to Koker's 28 points, the Huskies (13-15, 6-10 MAC) got 19 points from Lexi Carlsen, with Sidney McCrea adding 13.

The Falcons led for much of the game, but the Huskies battled back in the fourth quarter, tying the game on a McCrea three-pointer with just over a minute to go. Donahue's layup with 42.5 seconds remaining put the Falcons back in front. In the waning seconds, a corner three by McCrea was off the mark, but Coker put the ball back up and in as the buzzer sounded, sending the game to overtime.

FIRST QUARTER
• Lexi Fleming opened the game's scoring. She stole the ball from a Huskie player, then took a pass from Paige Kohler and hit a three-pointer. But, Sidney McCrea made a pair of long-range shots to put her team on top with two minutes gone.
• Erika Porter scored inside, then, with the shot clock at one second, took an inbound pass from Amy Velasco and scored again. Then, Velasco dished the ball to Porter for a wide-open layup and a 9-6 lead. 
• That lead shrunk to 7-6 when the officials reviewed Porter's second shot in that stretch and nullified the basket. But, Emily Siesel's offensive rebound led to a driving layup by Kohler to restore that 9-6 lead, and Kohler's two free throws gave BG a five-point lead.
• Lexi Carlsen hit a corner three to snap Northern's five-minute scoring drought, but Johnea Donahue responded by driving and putting a shot off glass. A quick 5-0 run by the Huskies gave NIU a one-point lead, but Donahue found Kohler for a three-ball, and BGSU had a 16-14 advantage after 10 minutes.

SECOND QUARTER
• After scoring the final three points of the first quarter, the Falcons scored the first seven of the second. Porter showed good patience inside, waiting for an opening and scoring in traffic, and Kohler rewarded Fleming's baseline cut with a bounce pass that led to a layup. Then, Kohler took a Velasco handoff and hit a rainbow three for a 23-14 lead.
• The teams traded points for the next few minutes, with Velasco's floater answered by a Brooke Stonebraker three-pointer. But, Kohler converted a three-point play around the media timeout, then took a cross-court pass from Siesel and buried a three-point shot for a 31-20 BGSU lead.
• The Huskies scored the next five points, with a Carlsen trailing three cutting BG's lead to six, but Taya Ellis scored inside, and Kohler grabbed a missed shot and quickly fired the ball ahead to Ellis for another layup and a 35-25 lead at the half.

THIRD QUARTER
• Velasco hit a floater, then knocked down a three-point try for a 40-26 lead. Fleming made a pair of free throws, and Donahue stole the ball from a Huskie and was fouled, She split a pair of charity tosses, but Porter rebounded the miss to keep the possession alive, and with the shot clock winding down, Donahue's three-pointer gave the Falcons a 46-28 lead.
• Carlsen made a three, but the Falcons then scored three-straight layups that were all the result of nifty passing. Porter found a wide-open Donahue for a bucket, and a Donahue bounce pass reached a cutting Velasco for another layup. Fleming then whipped a bounce pass to Donahue for another layup and a 52-31 lead.
• But, the Huskies ended the quarter on a 10-2 run, with Brooke Blumenfeld's free throws making it a 54-41 game after 30 minutes.

FOURTH QUARTER
• Porter scored the first four points of the period, with a layup after a Donahue lob, and a sweet spin move and shot off glass. NIU answered with five-straight points, with Carlsen's three-point play  making it a 12-point game. BGSU missed a shot, with McCrea grabbing the rebound, but Donahue ripped the ball away from her and laid it in for a 60-46 lead.
• The lead was still 14 points after Porter spotted Velasco for a layup with 6:30 remaining. But, Carlsen hit a triple, and Koker's driving layup cut the BG lead to single digits with 4:47 to go. Koker and Carlsen each made pull-up jumpers to make it a 62-57 game with 2:20 remaining.
• Koker's reverse layup at the 1:49 mark continued the run, and after a BG turnover, McCrea made a three-point try with 1:01 to go, tying the game at 62-62.
• The Falcons snapped Northern's 14-0 run, as Fleming freed Donahue for a layup and a 64-62 BG with 42.5 seconds to go. Alecia Doyle missed a three-point try, and Porter grabbed the rebound and was fouled. The foul was only the Huskies' second of the quarter.
• Two times, BGSU inbounded the ball, and two times, the Huskies fouled. Then, however, on the ensuing inbound pass, NIU came up with a steal and called a timeout with 11.2 seconds left. In the final seconds, McCrea's corner three was off the mark, but Koker grabbed the rebound in the air and, in one motion, put it off glass and in, sending the game to overtime.

OVERTIME
• BGSU never led in the first overtime. After a Falcon miss, Carlsen drove and scored. And, Koker hit a long two-pointer to give the Huskies a 68-64 lead with 3:36 remaining.
• Midway through the period, Velasco stole the ball from Carlsen and, with the Falcons running, found Donahue for a layup. BGSU forced a shot-clock violation on the next possession, and Porter's bounce pass to a cutting Donahue resulted in a layup that knotted the score with 1:37 to go.
• McCrea hit a step-back jumper on the next possession, and a BG shot rolled out, with the Huskies corralling the rebound. But, Velasco tied up Carlsen for a jump ball, with possession belonging to the Falcons, with 33.9 seconds remaining.
• Kohler found Fleming for a layup with 24.0 seconds on the clock, and the Falcons got a defensive stop to send the game to a second overtime.

DOUBLE OVERTIME
• Porter was fouled underneath the basket on the first possession of the second overtime, making both free throws, but Stonebraker's layup tied the score. A BG layup attempt was off the mark, and Doyle drove, spun and put a shot off glass for a 74-72 NIU lead.
• Velasco knocked down a three-point try from the top of the arc with 3:24 to go, giving the Falcons the lead, 75-74. BG got a stop, but the Falcons missed a shot on the next possession, and a foul resulted in a pair of Doyle free throws that gave her team a 76-75 lead with 2:18 to go.
• A BG shot rolled off the rim, but Koker was called for double-dribble with 1:19 remaining. But, a foul-line jumper was off the mark, with the ball going out of bounds off of a Falcon.
• Koker was fouled on the next possession, hitting both free-throw tries with 24.8 seconds to go to give the Huskies a 78-75 lead. On the next possession, as the BG bench was attempting to call a timeout, a traveling violation was instead whistled. The decision resulted in several technical fouls, with Koker making four free throws.
• A BG steal led to a Velasco bucket with 8.9 seconds remaining, but it was not enough, as McCrea closed the game's scoring at the free-throw line.

UP NEXT
• The Falcons will close out the home schedule with a Wednesday (March 5) matchup with Kent State. That game will begin at 7:00 p.m. at the Stroh Center.

• Then, the Orange and Brown will wrap up the regular-season schedule with a game at Eastern Michigan next Saturday (March 8), with tipoff set for 2:00 p.m.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Wed., March 5 | KENT STATE | 7:00 p.m.
Sat., March 8 | at Eastern Michigan | 2:00 p.m.
Wed., March 12 | MAC Tournament Quarterfinals (Cleveland, Ohio)

FOR MORE INFORMATION...
• For more information on all things BGSU women's basketball, follow the Falcons on Facebook (@BGWBB), Twitter/X (@BGSU_Athletics and @BGSUWBB) and Instagram (@bgsuwbb), as well as right here at BGSUFalcons.com.