A year after falling in an upset loss in the Mid-American Conference tournament's quarterfinal round, Central Michigan knocked off the lower seeded Northern Illinois Huskies. The Chippewas took away the best component of the Huskies offense, their 3-point shooting, while getting exceptional bench performances.

The performance added up to a 83-69 Chippewa victory Wednesday at RocketMortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio. The Chippewas will take on the winner of the final quarterfinal matchup, between Ball State and Ohio, in the semifinals Friday.

"I thought, for maybe the first time all season, we put four quarters together," coach Heather Oesterle said. "Outscored Northern in four quarters and I was really proud of the way we came out in the first quarter because we talked a lot about throwing out the scouting report."

Key moments

CMU hit three triples early in the first quarter and jumped out to an 11-2 advantage. The Huskies rallied, however, beyond the shooting of MAC Sixth Player of the Year Janae Poisson and the interior play of A'Jah Davis. NIU trailed by two, 16-14, at the end of the first quarter.

"I thought we were the aggressors coming out," Oesterle said.

The Huskies held strong to start the second quarter, taking a lead as large as four nearly halfway through the quarter. However, the Chippewas unleashed a 13-0 run led by sophomore guard Molly Davis and senior guards Micaela Kelly and Maddy Watters. Behind the resurgent offense, the Chippewas led by nine, 37-28, at halftime.

Kelly scored on a driving layup to push the Chippewa lead to 13 early in the third, but the Huskies answered with five straight to cut the lead to eight. Redshirt sophomore wing Anika Weekes extended the lead to 11 on two separate occasions with 3-pointers, and the Chippewas led by 13 heading into the fourth after Davis beat the buzzer with a layup.

Weekes opened the fourth quarter with a layup and Watters followed with a 3-point play, soon stretching the Chippewa lead to 16. NIU rallied and cut the lead down to nine, but redshirt junior Kalle Martinez drilled a corner 3-pointer to push the advantage back to 12. When the Huskies rallied to within eight, it was Kelly who knocked down a triple.

"Actually it was team play," Kelly said. "The plays that were drawn up, we executed down the stretch."

The Huskies weren't done, once again rallying within six. However, Martinez once again answered the call to push the lead back to nine with just over three minutes to play. NIU continued to battle as the game neared its close, but the Chippewas converted free throw opportunities to seal the deal.

Key stats

The Chippewas kept the usually hot-shooting Huskies in check from beyond the arc. NIU shot just 6-for-24 (25 percent) while CMU hit 13 of its 31 (42 percent) attempts from 3-point range.

Overall, CMU was 28-of-59 (48 percent) from the field while NIU was 26-of-60 (43 percent). The Huskies won the rebounding battle, 34-31, and committed one more turnover than the Chippewas, 15-14.

Key players

The Chippewas were led by Davis, who rebounded from a 0-for-6 first quarter to finish with a game-high 24. Kelly finished with 23 points. Watters finished with 12 on three made triples while the experienced bench duo of Weekes and Martinez combined for 17.

"It's huge," Kelly said of the experience on the Chippewas' bench. "At the end of the day, you need people to come off the bench and contribute and actually stay composed as well. The experience is really good and can take you a long way."

NIU was led by Chelby Koker's 22 points while Davis finished with 21 and 11 rebounds. Poisson finished with 14.

Up next

The Chippewas are set to play the winner of the Ball State-Ohio game in the semifinal Friday at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland.