DEKALB, Ill.- Junior Erica Lewis scored 17 points to lead the Fighting Leatherneck women's basketball team over Northern Illinois, 50-48, Tuesday evening.

"The win tonight is a huge step for our program in comparison to where we were at this time last year," said Western Illinois head coach Leslie Crane. "Northern came to us last year and beat us by 20 and we didn't know how were going to be after the Purdue game. This win was a huge step for our program."

With 1:13 left in the game, Lewis drove through the right-side of the defense uncontested and laid the ball in to give Western a 49-48 lead over Northern. However, it wasn't Lewis' scoring ability that lifted the Leathernecks over the Huskies in the end, it was her selfless defense. With eight seconds left to play, Lewis stepped up and took a charge as Northern's Marke Freeman tried plowing through the lane for an attempt at the game-winning shot, but was called for the offensive foul. Anne Borgertpoeping connected on a free throw with three seconds remaining to give the Leathernecks their first win of the season, 50-48.

"I saw the girl dribbling baseline and I knew someone had to stop her," said Lewis. "I went into the lane and got into position because she was dribbling out of control. I just got setup and got lucky with the charge call."

The entire game was back and forth as the contest was tied 10 times as well as having 11 lead changes.

After two lead changes in the first half, Christina Jones made her first career basket at the 1:40 mark to regain the lead and make the score 22-21. The Huskies would take the momentum into the locker room after Courtney Shelton knocked down a three pointer with 26 seconds left on the clock to give Northern a 24-22 advantage.

Offensively, Lewis led all scoring with 17 points. Senior Jordon O'Brien chipped in nine points while dishing out a team-high four assists. Michele Salvatori added seven points while Anneloes Kodde and Jackie Barton contributed five points each, respectively.

Senior Ashley Lord led the team on defense for the second consecutive game, pulling down a team-high seven rebounds. O'Brien grabbed six rebounds in the defensive effort as well as a game-high three steals.

Northern won the overall battle on the glass, pulling down four more boards (42-38), but Western had five more offensive rebounds (15-10) in the contest. The Leatherneck defense was able to force 23 turnovers in the game and only committed 15 turnovers of their own.

"We did a great job rebounding tonight even though rebounded us, but we held onto the ball better causing 23 turnovers," said Crane. "Down the stretch, it becomes very important to take care of the ball. If you can take care of the ball better, it makes a huge difference."

The Leathernecks will be back in action against Wichita State, Friday, Nov. 20 at 7:05 p.m.

"We have worked well together the last two games," said Lewis about the team two games into the season. "When the defense is on us tight, we are able to find the open player and when we see our teammates in trouble, we try to get into open spaces so we can relieve our teammates."