When teams struggle with shooting the ball, the easiest way to break out of it is by finding open shots.

That is exactly what the NIU women’s basketball team did Tuesday night when they faced off against MAC opponent Central Michigan.

The Huskies used solid ball movement to find the open shooter and when they did, the shots fell. Fueled by a first half in which they shot almost 60 percent, NIU beat up on the Chippewas to the tune of an 87-60 victory at the Convocation Center.

“It was awesome tonight,” Sophomore Kylie York said. “We always talk about games where everything is clicking and this was one of them.”

York was a big part of the Huskies’ success, but not because of her shooting. The guard dished out seven assists, one shy of her season-high.

Coming into the game, NIU (5-11 overall 1-2 MAC) was last in the conference in assists, averaging just 10 a game. Tuesday night they dished out a season-high 23.

“It was all about rotation and finding people open,” NIU head coach Carol Owens said. “They played zone and we were finding people on the weak side.”

The key to the Huskies’ success was a mix of outside shooting and the inside play of Freshman Ebony Ellis.

Ellis scored 17 points on 8-12 shooting, which kept the CMU (4-12, 0-3) defense focused on the interior. This opened up the outside, where NIU shot 7-17 from three point territory.

“We work on passing everyday, and it paid off tonight,” Owens said, “This is a team that can play, and tonight we shot well and drew attention to the inside and kicked it to the open person.”

At one point during the second half, NIU had 18 assists to 22 field goals.

NIU’s previous high in assists was 20, which came in a 90-82 win over Saint Joseph’s earlier this season.