MACOMB, Ill. –  Valencia Kelly and Sadie Webb each scored career-highs but it was not enough as Western Illinois fell to Northern Illinois by a 73-65 scored in the 2010-11 home-opener.

"There's no doubt the effort was there tonight from us," said head coach Leslie Crane. "We really felt this was a winnable game for us and we had worked a lot on defense to keep them in front of us. I think the guards for Northern Illinois gave us a lot of problems with their quickness today and that was big in the result."

The Fighting Leathernecks (0-2) took a quick 4-0 lead in the first two minutes, but the Huskies (2-1) went on a 9-2 run over the next three minutes to grab a 9-6 lead.

Western would battle back to take a 12-11 lead on Kelly's layup at the 13:19 mark before the junior guard hit a three-pointer to push the lead to four at 15-11 with just under 13 minutes to play.

A 13-0 run by the Huskies over the next five minutes would give them a 24-15 lead at the 7:47 mark. Northern Illinois guard Marke Freeman scored nine points during the run and finished with a game-high 26 to lead all scorers.

"Right now our biggest weakness is our consistency," said Crane. "We need to get better at being able to make a stop when we need it and then score when we need to. We do a lot of good things but it's been in spurts and that's something we need to work on before we get to league play."

The Leathernecks would mount a run of their own late in the first half. Kelly's layup at the 7:06 mark stopped a five minute scoring drought and propelled Western to a 14-5 run to draw even at 29-29 with 2:24 remaining.

The Huskies scored four-straight points to end the period and entered the locker room with a 33-29 halftime lead. Northern Illinois shot 52.0% in the first half (13-for-25) but Western Illinois was able to stay in the game by converting all eight of its first-half free throws.

In a game that remained close early in the second half, Western Illinois pulled within one point five different times before the Huskies reeled off 11 points in a row to push their lead to 54-42 midway through the period.

The Leathernecks would pull within three on a free throw from Anne Borgertpoepping with two minutes to go but Northern Illinois hit all eight of their free throws in the final minute to secure the victory.

Western Illinois shot just 36.4% (20-of-55) from the floor including 33.3% (6-of-18) from beyond the arc. The Leathernecks fared much better in the second half, connecting on 40.0% of their shots (10-of-25) including 5-of-11 from the three-point line.

Western's 86.4% (19-of-22) conversion rate from the free-throw line was its highest since making 94.1% (16-of-17) at Oakland on Jan. 4, 2010.

Webb led all Leatherneck players with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting while Kelly added 13 on 6-of-15 from the floor. Brittany Demery pulled down a team-high eight boards while Jackie Rieger (6-for-6) and Michele Salvatori (4-for-4) were perfect from the charity stripe.