DEKALB, Ill. – Quinesha Lockett had a double-double and was one of four seniors to score in double figures, as the Toledo women's basketball team defeated Northern Illinois, 74-61, in DeKalb, Ill. on Wednesday.
 
The victory was the 10^th consecutive for Toledo (22-4, 14-1 MAC), which sits atop the Mid-American Conference standings, one game ahead of Ball State (24-4, 13-2 MAC) with three games left in the regular season. NIU fell to 13-14,6-9 in MAC play.
 
"Northern Illinois has a lot of confidence at home," said Head Coach Tricia Cullop. "They beat Ball State here, they beat us here last year. We kept reminding our kids of how focused we had to be because they're very dangerous."
 
Sophia Wiard led Toledo in scoring with 16 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the floor and added six assists. Lockett had 14 points to go with a game-high 12 rebounds, which matched her season high for caroms. Nan Garcia hit 4-of-5 from behind the arc and finished with a season-high 14 points and seven rebounds, while Khera Goss chipped with 11 points on 3-of-7 from long range.
 
Toledo knocked down 12-of-28 (42.9%) from three-point range and held NIU to 22-of-56 (39.3%) from the field while forcing 16 Huskie turnovers.
 
"We didn't particularly shoot it well from three in the first half but Nan Garcia got going in the second half," said Cullop. "Those back-to-back threes in the third quarter certainly helped us kind of pull away."
 
The game was tied after one quarter. Toledo battled back from a three-point deficit in the second quarter to take a 37-33 halftime lead and then outscored the Huskies 23-13 in the third quarter and never looked back.
 
Toledo next heads to Kalamazoo on Saturday to play Western Michigan (1:00 p.m./ESPN+).
           
1^st Quarter

• NIU jumped out to an 11-5 lead until back-to-back three-pointers by Khera Goss and Nan Garcia and a free throw from Jessica Cook put Toledo ahead 12-11.
• Neither side led by more than three points the rest of the quarter, with the first period ending in a 21-21 deadlock.

2^nd Quarter

•  Both teams struggled to score in the early part of the second quarter, with Toledo taking a 28-25 lead into the first media break at the 4:06 mark.
• NIU's Jayden Marable scored five points in an 8-0 run that gave the Huskies a 31-28 lead and forced Toledo to call a timeout with 2:56 left.
• Toledo closed out the half on a 9-2 run to take a 37-33 halftime lead.
• Eight Rockets got on the scoreboard in the first half, led by Quinesha Lockett with nine points.

3^rd Quarter

• Toledo unleashed a barrage of three-pointers to open the second half, pushing its lead to 49-37 and forcing NIU to call timeout at the 5:10 mark. Garcia hit a pair of triples in the run, while Lockett and Sophia Wiard each knocked down a long bomb.
• After NIU trimmed the lead to eight, Toledo went on a 9-0 spurt that pushed its advantage to 60-43.
• Toledo outscored NIU 23-12 in the third quarter.

4^th Quarter

• The Huskies never seriously challenged the Rockets in the fourth quarter, trailing by double digits the entire period.  

NOTES

• Toledo is now 79-15 (48-4 MAC) over the past three seasons, including 31-7 on opponents' home courts (23-3 MAC).
•  Toledo's 10-game winning streak is tied for the 10^th longest in school history. The all-time record is 17, set last season.