It was one bad minute of play that doomed the Huskies against Bowling Green.

Wednesday night, it was one good minute that saved the NIU women’s basketball team against the Akron Zips and allowed them to keep pace in the MAC West.

After squandering a 14-point halftime lead, the Huskies led by only five after sophomore Ebony Ellis hit one of two free throws with 1:02 remaining.

The Zips were not going quietly, however, as they charged down the floor and sophomore Kara Murphy scored her 27th point of the game to cut the Huskies’ lead to three.

Akron then made a devastating mistake, as freshman Zip Kyle Baumgartner committed a hard fifth personal foul on a 94 percent free-throw shooter.

Senior Huskie Jessie Wilcox sunk her two free throws to push it to 69-64 with 25.2 seconds remaining. Again, the Zips would not go quietly. Junior guard Ayla Guzzardo bolted past the NIU defense and made an uncontested layup to make a 3-point game yet again, this time with only 14.5 remaining.

As sophomore Huskie Mauvolyene Adams was fouled on the inbound, the forward had flashbacks to the Bowling Green game, and the Huskies’ late game meltdown. All she could do was step up to the line and make this night different.

“[I thought of] Bowling Green and not making both the last time,” Adams said. “The way we played in the last two minutes and how we showed that we learned from the last game; it was the same thing on the free throw line. When everybody stepped to the line we all took care of business.”

Adams drained both free throws and put the pressure on Akron with 13.7 seconds left. It was NIU as a whole, however, that cemented the Zips’ fate, as a strong defensive showing caused Akron a five-second violation on the ensuing inbound.

NIU now had the ball, as well as its fate, in its hands. As the pass moved into redshirt sophomore Marke Freeman’s hands, she simply stood with it at half court.

Expecting the immediate foul, the Huskies were understandably surprised when Akron stood idly by allowing 11 seconds to drain off the clock before finally fouling Freeman with 2.7 seconds left. She drained both free throws, but by then the game was over.

“The game was pretty much over anyway,” said Akron head coach Jodi Kest. “It was a mental breakdown. That’s not the reason why we lost the game.”

Sometimes winning a game comes down to nothing more than making your free throws.

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