NIU women’s basketball won its second round matchup against Akron Wednesday on a tipback by senior Kim Davis with 6.4 seconds remaining in regulation.

Davis put the ball back in the net after a missed jumper by senior Courtney Shelton, and Akron (14-16, 6-10 MAC) missed its last second shot attempt to give the Huskies (14-18, 7-9 MAC) a 61-60 victory.

Having secured a second round victory, the Huskies will take on Toledo today in the quarterfinals of the MAC Tournament.

“We’ve played them twice this season,” Shelton said. “We’ll look at the scouting report and see what they’ve been doing. They’re a great team, they have good shooters and post players, but at the same time, they’re very beatable.”

The NIU and Akron game featured 10 ties, but the stat box was mostly dominated by Akron, leading in rebounding (53-31), bench scoring (29-14) and free throws (14-18, 10-12).

The Huskies led by four entering half-time, and kept the score close enough to make the last second shot to seal the victory.

“My first instinct was to get back on defense,” Davis said. “I was definitely excited after the fact.”

Shelton said NIU’s defense was a large factor, pressuring Akron, as the Zips shot 24.2 percent in the first half, but shot over 40 percent in the second.

“We played very well defensively at times,” Shelton said. “Our goal was to get in those girls shots and make every shot contested, and I think we did that today.”

NIU coach Kathi Bennett said the seniors were one of the driving factors that allowed the Huskies to secure a victory.

“It was a great win for us,” Bennett said in a press release. “The seniors did a great job, and Kim had an incredible play to tip that ball in.”

The Huskies were also efficient with the ball, committing eight turnovers the entire game, while Akron turned it over 16 times. However, the Zips still lead in points off of turnovers 13-10.

“We want our identity to be defense,” Bennett said. “We want to be a bunch of grinders and wear teams down. We struggled a bit early, but caught ourselves and really got intense. I’m proud of the way my team played.”