Akron, Ohio – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team scored an 84-61 victory over Akron at Rhoades Arena Wednesday night.
 
NIU (12-11, 4-8 MAC) led wire-to-wire as three Huskies finished in double figures with Courtney Woods (Brisbane, Australia/St. Margaret's Anglican School) leading the way. The Aussie tallied her seventh double-double of the season with 23 points and 12 rebounds. Kelly Smith was right behind her with 15 points, all coming in the first half, while Gabby Nikitinaite (Orpington, Kent, UK/Coopers School) added 12.
 
NIU shot 42 percent from the field, including 55 percent from three-point territory. The Huskies won the battle on the glass racking up 54 rebounds and took care of the ball on the offensive side of the floor. NIU committed 11 turnovers, while forcing 15 Akron miscues.
 
The Huskies jumped on top of Akron out of the gate with a Mikayla Voigt (Slinger, Wis./Kettle Moraine Lutheran) three pointer on their first possession and never looked back. NIU opened up a 12-point lead with two minutes left in the quarter.
 
After a slow start to the second quarter, in which Akron closed the gap to six points with 7:10 left in the half, the Huskies went on a 15-2 run to take a 38-19 lead with 55 seconds left in the half. An Akron three-pointer gave NIU a 38-22 lead heading into the break.
 
Smith and Woods were in double digits early in the second quarter with the Huskie duo scoring 15 and 14 points, respectively.  
 
NIU kept up the pressure in the second half as the Huskies opened up a 49-24 lead with 6:19 left in the quarter as Voigt, Nikitinaite and Woods each hit a threes in the opening minutes of the third. The Huskies led by as many as 40 points, but went into the fourth quarter with a 68-31 lead.
 
Akron (7-16, 1-11 MAC) put up a fight in the fourth quarter, outscoring NIU 30-16 in the period, but it was too little too late. The NIU defense held the Zips to 34 percent shooting from the floor, including 29 percent from three-point territory. The 23-point victory was NIU's largest since Nov. 10, 2017 when the Huskies defeated Eastern Illinois by 29.
 
NIU will return to the floor on Saturday, Feb. 10, when the Huskies play host to Bowling Green in the first game of a doubleheader. Tip-off versus the Falcons is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT. For tickets, call 815-753-PACK or log onto NIUHuskies.com.
 
-NIU-