Women’s basketball cruises past Northern Illinois

The women’s basketball team (2-0) cruised to a 61-47 victory over Northern Illinois (1-1) Monday night at the UIC Pavilion.

The Flames are back in action Saturday at Miami Ohio (0-0). The Flames picked up a 76-66 home win last season versus the RedHawks.

UIC led by as many as 19 in the second half and held NIU to 28 percent shooting. The Flames have held their opponents to a combined 90 points over two games this season. UIC out-rebounded the Huskies, 45-32, and scored 15 second-chance points.

Redshirt junior Ruvanna Campbell tied her career high with 23 rebounds, the second highest in program history. She added a game-high 15 points, eight assists, three blocks and two steals.

Sophomore Melita Emanuel-Carr poured in 14 points for her second straight double-figure performance. She was 2-of-5 from downtown and 6-of-11 from the field. She set a career high with seven rebounds.

NIU scored the first three points of the contest but UIC responded with a 9-0 run. The Huskies took a 16-14 lead on Cassidy Glenn’s three-pointer at 10:16 but the Flames regained the lead with an 8-0 run.

UIC went into halftime up 30-22 and scored seven of the first nine points in the second half to go up 37-24. NIU narrowed the UIC lead to 54-45 with 3:16 left to play but the Flames stayed ahead for the win.