Ex-Sycamore stars Lexi Carlsen, Kylie Feuerbach square off as Iowa tops NIU

IOWA CITY – The first road game of the season presented a good test for the Northern Illinois women’s basketball team, and while the Huskies came up on the short end in a 91-73 loss to Iowa on Wednesday night, NIU coach Lisa Carlsen saw several positives.

“I think we competed for 40 minutes. I was proud of our resiliency,” she said. “There were times throughout the course of the game that we really could have kind of quit when things weren’t going well, and we never did that. So I think that’s really important in an atmosphere like this, against a team like that.”

The game was the first of two matchups this week – and three this season – featuring a pair of Sycamore alums squaring off. Iowa fifth-year senior Kylie Feuerbach and NIU freshman Lexi Carlsen ended up guarding each other for various stretches over the final three quarters, and both were thrilled with the experience.

“I give Kylie a lot of props, she’s done great here for the past couple of years she’s been here, and it’s great to always see around – and see her on the court tonight. It’s great for our community to see two people in a game like this,” Lexi Carlsen said. “A lot of people from Sycamore came out today to support both of us, and it was huge to see that. Although I never played with Kylie – I played with Faith, and we play her team [St. Thomas] on Sunday, so I get to see the Feuerbachs a lot, and that’s exciting – but it’s great to see Kylie and play against her.”

“It’s crazy, just one of those things where, honestly, you think, ‘What are the odds?’” Feuerbach said. “Getting to play against Sycamore players – it’s not a huge school or huge program – is very special. I kind of gave her a little tap on the back during warmups before the game started, to let her know, ‘Hey you got this.’ It’s really exciting to see her flourish. I know she’s going to have a great four years at NIU, and it’s really cool.”

Kylie was also excited to see her “hometown” team to start her final season at Iowa.

“It’s so cool to see NIU come in here, just very exciting. DeKalb is our neighborhood, it’s super close to us, and I think it’s kind of awesome that this all worked out the way it did,” Feuerbach said. “I was telling everybody on my team, ‘I’m from this place, so we have to win.’ It was really exciting, and Coach Carlsen and Lexi, we’ve had great relationships, and obviously they were our opponent tonight, but it’s just really fun, and it’s a really surreal experience and it doesn’t happen very often.”

Feuerbach stuffed the stat sheet in the Hawkeye win, finishing with career highs of 14 points – with four 3-pointers – nine rebounds and six steals, while also dishing five assists with just one turnover. The rebounds and steals led the Hawkeyes, and the points and assists were second to new teammate Lucy Olsen (19 points, 7 assists).

Defense and the transition game got Iowa going after a slow start, as the Hawkeyes (1-0) went on a 14-0 run after trailing 11-8 late in the first quarter and 16-15 early in the second. Sidney McCrea’s 3-pointer provided the first lead, and two free throws by Alecia Doyle provided the second for NIU (1-1).

A few minutes later, Feuerbach hit a 3-pointer and nabbed a steal under the basket after a missed layup on Iowa’s next possession, and she hit that basket for a 36-21 Iowa lead.

While her near double-double got a lot of questions in the postgame press conference, she was excited to talk about her defense; in addition to the steals, she also played the role of on-ball defender on the perimeter until she was forced to play through a bit of foul trouble in the second half.

“It’s just as satisfying, if not more, that be able to play that defense,” Feuerbach said. “That’s something that I’ve always focused on; one thing you can always do is work hard on the defensive end, and I think that also helps with the intensity.”

Still, NIU didn’t back down. Trailing 41-24 with 2:06 left before halftime, the Huskies closed the half with a 10-4 surge that included a 3-pointer by Lexi Carlsen with 43 seconds left the cut the deficit to 45-34 at the break.

Iowa then built a 72-52 lead through three quarters, and stretched it to 23 (78-55) on an Olsen layup with 8:18 to play. But again, the Huskies kept battling, shaving eight points off that lead in the next two-and-a-half minutes before the teams traded baskets the rest of the way.

“We talked a lot about staying aggressive, regardless of the score,” coach Carlsen said. “This is a situation where you have to come in and play one possession at a time and not get too far ahead of yourself, and I think we really did that for 40 minutes.”

Brooke Stonebraker led NIU with 15 points and four rebounds, while Alecia Doyle added 14 points and three steals, and McCrea chipped in 12 points – on four 3-pointers – and dished a team-high five assists. Lexi Carlsen finished with a pair of 3s for six points to go with two rebounds in nearly 19 minutes of game action.

“It feels natural out there, which is super exciting; I don’t think there are a lot of freshmen that can say that,” Lexi Carlsen said. “I’ve come in with advantages of being around college basketball for my whole life, but it’s been nothing short of amazing. I’m grateful every day that I get to step on the floor, wear this jersey, play for my mom. And Iowa being our second opponent is also a dream come true; I’ve been a Hawkeye fan just like everyone else int he whole world recently, and we have a lot of family from Iowa, so it’s super cool and I’m super grateful.”