NIU women run past Akron behind monster night from Chelby Koker

Senior guard Chelby Koker led all scorers with a season-high 27 points, adding five assists in an 88-63 win over Akron on Wednesday at the NIU Convocation Center.

Koker made a career-high seven 3-pointers, surpassing the previous high of six set at Ball State last season. She was 7 for 9 from the 3-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.”

Despite NIU (12-10, 4-7 MAC) leading 13-2 early, Akron (14-8, 5-6) led by as much as four early in the second before Koker and A’Jah Davis 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 3 sparked an 11-2 run and the game was tied at 37 at 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 was 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.

“When we’ve been at our best we play like we did tonight,” said NIU 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.”

Davis had a game-high 16 rebounds to go with 19 points. Janae Poisson finished with 14 points off the bench. Rachel Martindale led Akron with 17 points.