AKRON, OH – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team outscored the Akron Zips 26-17 in the fourth quarter to rally and win 70-65 at James A. Rhodes Arena to snap a six-game losing streak.
 
"It was a total team effort today," said head coach Lisa Carlsen following NIU's first conference win of the year. "It's great to get that first conference win, but the way we got it was just as exciting. We saw a lot of toughness from our team and that's huge for us going forward."
 
Courtney Woods (Brisbane, Australia/St. Margaret's) led all scorers with 20 points, adding a team-high seven rebounds and three assists. She passes Tammy Hinchee for third on the NIU career scoring chart in the game and stands with 1,934 points. Myia Starks (Plainfield, Ill./Nequa Valley) had 10 points and six rebounds. Riley Blackwell (Plainfield, Ind./Plainfield), Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran), A'Jah Davis (DeKalb, Ill./Montverde Academy [Fla.]) and Gabby Nikitinaite (Orpington, Kent, UK/Coopers School) each had eight points.
 
NIU (5-11, 1-4 MAC) led by two points at the half, but Akron opened the third quarter on a 13-2 run. Back-to-back layups from Haileigh Reinoehl and Shayna Harmon put the Zips ahead 40-31 with 4:46 left in the third. The Huskies cut the deficit to three with 3:16 to go in the quarter as a Koker layup capped a 7-1 NIU run. NIU made five of its last six shots from the field in the third with a pair of Woods jumpers getting the Huskies within four, 48-44, heading into the fourth quarter.
 
The Huskies started their rally with 8:01 to go in the game. Sparked by a Blackwell layup, NIU went on a 12-2 run over 3:19 with Nikitinaite's second three of the game giving the Huskies a 61-55 lead with 4:42 remaining. Akron closed within two points but a Woods three at the 3:39 mark put NIU back up by five 64-59. The Zips got within one point late but NIU made its free throws down the stretch to come away with the 70-65 win.
 
"From a confidence standpoint, this is something that can propel us going forward," Carlsen said. "Whether at home or on the road, we need consistent efforts like this going forward in the league."
 
NIU jumped out to a 9-4 lead with 5:17 to go in the first quarter behind a pair of Davis layups and a Koker three-point play. After a Kendall Miller jumper got Akron within three, Woods and Davis combined to score six straight points to give the Huskies a 15-6 lead with 2:38 remaining in the quarter which forced a Zips timeout. NIU shot 50 percent from the field in the first to take a 17-11 quarter.
 
Akron (8-8, 1-4 MAC) came out firing to start the second quarter. The Zips made six straight shots from the field, including threes from Miller and Harmon, to go on a 14-2 run and take a 25-19 lead with 5:33 left until halftime. NIU responded with a 10-0 run of its own, bookended by three-pointers from Woods and Grace Hunter (Monroeville, Ind./Bellmont) to go ahead 29-25 with 1:41 left in the quarter. The Huskies' defense held Akron to 0-for-9 from the field to close the quarter but a pair of Lonasia Brewer free throws in the final minute made the score 29-27 NIU at halftime.
 
NIU shot 56.3 percent from the field in the fourth quarter to finish the game at a season-high 45.9 percent. Akron shot 40.6 percent from the field with the Huskies holding the Zips to 21.7 percent from the three-point arc. Each team had 38 rebounds. Reinoehl led Akron with 19 points and nine rebounds.
 
The Huskies return to the NIU Convocation Center on Wednesday, January 22 to face Ohio at 6 p.m. Tickets for all remaining home games, including flex passes, are available now online at NIUHuskies.com/tickets or by calling the NIU Ticket Office at 815-753-PACK (7225).
 
--NIU--