DEKALB, Ill. – After one of its best defensive efforts of the season in Wednesday night's win at Bowling Green, the Northern Illinois University women's basketball team hosts the Akron Zips Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. at the NIU Convocation Center.
 
NIU (10-6, 2-2 MAC) tied a season-low for points allowed in the 66-52 win at Bowling Green on Jan. 16. The Huskies held the Falcons to 33.9 percent shooting from the field, 25 percent from three-point range, forced 19 Bowling Green turnovers, and outrebounded the Falcons 47-40. NIU is 8-2 this season when holding opponents to 75 points or less, and 4-0 when holding opponents to 60 points or less. The Huskies are also a perfect 9-0 this season when outrebounding its opposition.
 
Redshirt-Junior forward Ally May (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) led NIU in scoring at Bowling Green with a career-high 18 points and five steals. She also grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds for her third double-double of the season. In the last six games, May is averaging 10.8 points and 9.5 rebounds per game while shooting 62.7 percent from the field. May was 9-for-15 from the field Wednesday night. Mikayla Voigt (Slinger, Wis./Kettle Moraine Lutheran) had 12 points and made three of NIU's five three-pointers.
 
NIU leads the all-time series against Akron 20-11, winning nine of 13 meetings in DeKalb. The Huskies have won three of the last four meetings, including last season's 84-61 win at Akron. The Zips are 2-2 in the MAC, and 11-4 overall, after losing 72-60 to Eastern Michigan on Wednesday night. Megan Sefcik led all players with 20 points, making five three-pointers with five assists. Shaunay Edmonds added 14 points. Sefcik is sixth in the MAC in scoring, averaging 16.5 points per game. She is also fourth in the MAC with 3.3 three-pointers per game and sixth in three-point field goal percentage at 35.9 percent. Akron is fifth in the conference in scoring defense, allowing 60.9 points per game. The Zips are scoring 66.3 points per game.  
 
Saturday is "The Office" Day at the Convocation Center, with many themed promotions from the NBC sitcom. Fans named Jim, Pam, Dwight, or Michael can receive free admission Saturday as part of NIU's "The Office" day promotion. For tickets, log on to NIUHuskies.com/tickets.
 
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