SAN ANTONIO – Northern Illinois University (NIU) used a 40-28 first-half run to take control early and cruise to a 69-55 victory over UTSA on the opening day of the UTSA Thanksgiving Classic at the Convocation Center.
UTSA (1-4) fell behind 15-2 early and never led. The Roadrunners were down 12 (28-16) when sophomore Tija Hawkins hit a jumper to spark an UTSA 8-1 run with 6:52 remaining in the half. UTSA got the deficit down to five with 4:16 left in the period but a 3-pointer from NIU's Mikayla Voigt shifted the momentum back to the Huskies. NIU pushed its lead back to 12 (40-28) at the halftime and led by as many as 22 points over the final two quarters.
The Roadrunners turned it over 21 times leading to 22 points for the Huskies.
Hawkins led the Roadrunners with 13 points while senior Crystal Chidomere added 12 points and sophomore Marie Benson chipped in with 10. Chidomere and Benson also tallied a team-best nine rebounds apiece.
The Huskies shot slightly better than the Roadrunners (40.3 percent to 36.7 percent), but made eight 3-point field goals (five in the first half) and outrebounded UTSA 44-42.
The Huskies had a 19-5 edge in fast breaks but UTSA dominated in bench points (26-5) and in second-chance points (11-6).
The Roadrunners will conclude play in the classic by facing North Dakota on Saturday at 2 p.m. The game will be streamed on C-USA.tv.
