One day after the NIU men’s basketball team gave Central Michigan its first MAC win, the women’s team gave Akron its first conference win, 43-42.

Akron (6-14 overall, 1-8 MAC) lost its previous 20 MAC games, including the first eight of the year, before Tuesday’s win at Rhodes Arena in Akron.

Despite outrebounding the Zips 42-32, the Huskies (9-13, 4-7) lost for the fourth consecutive time.

“I thought we were just a little tentative early, and just didn’t execute well as a team,” NIU coach Carol Hammerle said. “We did a better job in the second half, especially defensively. We got the ball inside more, but we came up short when we needed it most. It’s hard to win a close game when you don’t take care of the basketball.”

The Huskies held Akron to 30.8 percent shooting from the floor, but shot 31.9 percent themselves. NIU also turned the ball over 22 times, including six turnovers by senior forward Jennifer Youngblood.

Youngblood, NIU’s leading scorer at 10.5 points per game, scored four points on 1-for-6 shooting from the floor. She added 10 rebounds.

NIU was led by freshman point guard Stephanie Raymond with 13 points and three steals.

Akron guard Lori Krezeczowski led all scorers with 17 points.

The two teams combined for seven points in the final 7:13 of the game and the Huskies scored only once from the field in the last 10:08 of the game.

NIU had a chance to win in the final seconds, but guard Lindsay Secrest’s three pointer was off the mark at the buzzer.

The Huskies trailed by five points at halftime, but scored the first eight points of the second half to take the lead.

“We came out well in the second half and took the lead, but we just couldn’t sustain it,” Hammerle said. “We gave Akron some good looks. They hung around and were one point better tonight.”