DeKALB, IL - The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team shot 58 percent from the field in the second half Wednesday night to run away with an 88-63 win over the Akron Zips at the NIU Convocation Center in the annual Play 4 Kay Pink Game.
 
"When we've been at our best we play like we did tonight," said head coach Lisa Carlsen following the Huskies' second straight win. "We're moving the basketball, sharing the basketball, getting the right shots for the right people and everybody being the best versions of themselves. There's a lot of games left but I'm really proud of what we did on the home floor tonight."
 
Senior guard Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) led all scorers with a season-high 27 points, adding five assists. Koker made a career-high seven three-pointers, surpassing the previous high of six last set at Ball State last season. She was 7-for-9 from the three-point arc and 10-for-14 from the field overall.
 
"That's a testament to how well we moved the ball tonight," said Koker on her shooting night. "We made it so hard for them to guard us and that created a lot of open shots."
 
NIU (12-10, 4-7 MAC) raced out to a 13-2 lead in the first 3:37 Wednesday night, with Koker scoring six points in that opening stretch. The Huskies led by as much as 10 in the first quarter before a Reagan Bass jumper sparked a 13-1 Akron run that put the Zips up 21-19 at the end of the first quarter. The Zips closed the quarter making its last six shots in a row with a Faith Stinson jumper putting Akron up with under 2:00 to go.
 
Akron (14-8, 5-6 MAC) led by as much as four early in the second before Koker and A'Jah Davis (DeKalb, Ill./Montverde Academy [Fla.]) combined to go on a 6-2 run to tie the game at 25 with 7:56 to go until halftime. The Zips scored the next five points, but a Koker three sparked an 11-2 NIU run over 5:06 that gave the Huskies a 36-32 lead with 2:00 to go in the first half. Just as it did in the first quarter, Akron went on a run to close the second. The Zips scored five of the last six points to tie the game at 37-37 going into halftime.
 
The Zips scored the first two points of the third quarter on a Molly Neitzel jumper to take a 39-37 lead, but that would be Akron's last lead of the game. NIU pulled away with a 24-2 run over 5:20 to take a 61-41 lead with 3:08 to go in the quarter. The Huskies scored nine unanswered points, capped by a Koker three, to take a 46-39 lead with 6:25 remaining. After a Bass layup, NIU rattled off 15 straight points on six consecutive made baskets to go up by 20. Janae Poisson (Matteson, Ill./Marian Catholic) knocked down back-to-back threes to put the exclamation point on that scoring burst by the Huskies.
 
"We definitely came out of the locker room ready to play in the second half, and that third quarter was really the difference," Carlsen said. "A lot of people got involved which is really important for us, and there's going to be a lot of stats that we'll look at and be really happy with."
 
NIU shot 61 percent from the field in the third quarter, making 5-of-7 three-point attempts to outscore Akron 31-10 to go up 68-47. Davis and Koker combined to score the Huskies' first nine points of the fourth to extend the lead to 26, 77-51, with 6:57 remaining. The Huskies took their largest lead of the game with 4:32 to go when Poisson's fourth three-pointer of the night put NIU up 31, 87-56.
 
The Huskies finished the game shooting an even 50 percent from the field, with Akron shooting 48.1 percent. NIU made 13 threes and shot 44.8 percent from the arc and held the Zips to 6-for-17 from long range. The Huskies outrebounded Akron 44-21, their second-straight game with a rebound margin over 20. Davis had a game-high 16 rebounds to go with 19 points. Poisson finished with 14 points off the bench. Rachel Martindale led Akron with 17 points.
 
NIU goes on the road on Saturday, Feb. 11 to take on the Ohio Bobcats. Tip-off is set for 12 p.m. CT.
 
--NIU--