Wednesday's Scoreboard
Ball State 70, Xavier 49
Notre Dame 54, Toledo 51
Illinois State 69, Northern Illinois 66
Akron 91, Youngstown State 62
Western Michigan 82, Detroit Mercy 67
Stories Courtesy of MAC Sports Information
Ball State 70, Xavier 49
Box Score
MUNCIE, Ind. - In front of 4,235 screaming fans on the fourth-annual Ball State Athletics Field Trip Day, women's basketball opened home action with a 70-49 win over Xavier Wednesday afternoon in Worthen Arena.
Ball State (2-2) set the tone early against the Musketeers (1-3) outscoring, Xavier 18-6 in the first quarter which was capped off by a last second 3-pointer from freshman Sydney Freeman off of the dish from junior Oshlynn Brown. Both Freeman and Brown ended the game in double figures, as Freeman had a season best 14 points off of 4-of-8 shooting from behind the arc and Brown led all scorers with 19 points. Brown also pulled down 12 rebounds, for the 19th double-double of her career and 26th double-digit rebounding performance.
Not only were the Cardinals making shots from outside the arc, Ball State's post players also made a strong statement, outscoring the Musketeers, 22-12, underneath the basket. Freeman and Thelma Dis Agustsdottir, who finished second on the team in scoring with 15 points, combined for seven of the Cardinals eight 3-pointers.
However, it was not necessarily the scoring that led to the Cardinals 21-point victory over Xavier. Ball State's defense played a huge roll early on in the ball game, becoming a big part of the equation. The Cardinals held Xavier to only 15 points in the first half, marking the lowest amount of points Ball State has allowed against its defense since Jan. 24, 2018 when the Cardinals held Bowling Green to 13 points after the first two quarters in Worthen Arena.
Notre Dame 54, Toledo 51
Box Score
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - For a second-straight year, Toledo women's basketball gave perennial power Notre Dame all it could handle. Unfortunately for the Rockets, they once again came up a little short in a tough 54-51 setback on Wednesday before 7,269 fans in Purcell Pavilion. With the loss, the Rockets fall to 1-2 on the season.
"I'm extremely proud of our effort," Head Coach Tricia Cullop said. "There are a lot of real positives to take from tonight's game. I was so pleased with how hard we played against a very talented team in a pretty tough environment."
Toledo held a 44-41 lead heading into the fourth quarter, but the Midnight Blue & Gold was outscored 13-7 over the final 10 minutes and suffered its sixth-straight loss to the Fighting Irish (3-2).
The Rockets misfired on 11 of their 14 shots (21.4 percent) in the fourth period, including 0-of-5 from beyond the arc, while ND connected on four of 10 field-goal attempts and made five free throws to stake claim to the hard-fought three-point win.
"I wish we would could have back a couple of those four-quarter possessions," Cullop said. "We went cold at the wrong time. We had some good looks down the stretch, but we just couldn't get enough shots to fall."
Junior Nakiah Black paced Toledo with 12 points, a career-high nine rebounds and two steals.
Freshman Mali Morgan-Elliott added a season-high 10 points, followed closely by junior Tatyana Davis with nine.
As a team, the Rockets shot 34.4 percent (21-of-61) from the floor, including 20.0 percent (5-of-25) from three-point land, and 80.0 percent (4-of-5) from the free throw line.
Sam Brunelle led Notre Dame with a game-high 19 points and a contest-best 13 boards to post a double-double, while Destinee Walker and Kaitlyn Gilbert contributed 12 and 11 points, respectively. This trio accounted for all 13 points in the pivotal fourth quarter to propel ND to the home victory.
Illinois State 69, Northern Illinois 66
Box Score
NORMAL, IL – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team was tied with the Illinois State Redbirds 58-58 with under two minutes to play Wednesday night at Redbird Arena, but could not take the lead as the Huskies fell 69-66.
Redshirt-Senior Courtney Woods (Brisbane, Australia/St. Margaret's) led all scorers with 26 points, going 7-for-7 at the free throw line. She also had five rebounds and five assists. Woods scored 20 points in the second half with 15 coming in the fourth quarter.
"Courtney feels the pressure to score late in games, and she's been in that situation so much in her career," said head coach Lisa Carlsen. "She's at her best in crunch time situations like that."
Myia Starks (Plainfield, Ill./Nequa Valley) had 12 points and five rebounds in the game. Mikayla Brandon (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) led NIU with seven rebounds in 18 minutes off the bench.
NIU (2-2) trailed by 13 points midway through the third quarter before closing the deficit to four. Woods scored seven points in an 11-2 run over the final 4:41 of the period to get within four, 42-38, heading into the fourth quarter. The Huskies got within three points with 6:00 to play on back-to-back threes by Woods and Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran), making the score 52-49. NIU finally drew level with Illinois State with 1:57 to play as a Woods' third three-pointer of the second half and a Starks layup tied the game at 58. The Redbirds then went on a 7-2 run, sparked by a Tete Maggett three, over the next 1:29 to take a 65-62 lead. NIU closed the gap to two points twice in the last 13 seconds but could get no closer.
Illinois State (3-1) opened the game on a 9-0 run over the first 2:52, prompting a quick NIU timeout. The Huskies responded by scoring the next six points as back-to-back Gabby Nikitinaite (Orpington, Kent, UK/Coopers School) baskets made the score 9-6 at the 5:54 mark. NIU got within four, 14-10, with 2:45 to go but Starks' jumper was NIU's last basket of the quarter. Lexy Koudelka scored the final seven points of the quarter for the Redbirds to put Illinois State ahead 21-10.
NIU ratcheted up the defense in the second quarter, forcing 12 Redbird turnovers. The Huskies got within four with a 9-0 run over 3:08 to make the score 23-19 with 2:34 remaining. Starks had four points in that stretch as Koker added a three and A'Jah Davis (DeKalb, Ill./Montverde Academy [Fla.]) had a layup as well. Woods had the Huskies' last four points of the half to get NIU within five, 28-23, at the break.
"There's a lot of things you can take from games like this," said head coach Lisa Carlsen. "We don't want to continue to play from behind like we had to do again tonight. We can't continue to put ourselves in an early hole against Illinois State or anyone else on our schedule. I'm proud that we fought out of it but that's not the way we want to play throughout the season."
NIU finished the game shooting 40.3 percent from the field after starting the game 4-for-14 in the first quarter. Illinois State shot 42.4 percent from the field and outrebounded the Huskies 40-39. The Huskies scored just seven points off of 22 Redbirds turnovers, while Illinois State had 23 points off 24 NIU turnovers. Lexi Wallen led Illinois State with 18 points as Maggett had 17 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
The Huskies are back on the road Sunday afternoon for a 1 p.m. game at Purdue. The game will be broadcast on BTN+ and can be heard locally on WLBK 98.9 FM and 1360 AM.
Akron 91, Youngstown State 62
Box Score
AKRON, Ohio– From the first tip to the final buzzer, the Akron women's basketball team dominated in all facets of the contest and rolled to a 91-62 victory over Youngstown State in non-conference action from inside James A. Rhodes Arena on Wednesday night.
In the match-up against the Penguins, the Zips shot 45.8-percent (33-for-72) from the floor as a team, including 12-of-32 from long range (37.5-percent) and 13-for-16 (81.3-percent) from the free-throw line. The Zips scored 30 points, 24 second-chance points courtesy of a game-high 14 offensive rebounds, 18 points off 20 turnovers, led by as many as +34 and led for 39:19 of the 40-minute contest.
Scoring came in bunches for the Zips as all 12 Akron players who checked into the game etched their names into the scoring column. UA turned in a season-high five players in double-figures including senior Shaunay Edmonds (Pittsburgh, Pa.), junior Jordyn Dawson (Huntington, W. Va.), sophomore Gabrielle Brown-Mitchell (Solon, Ohio), senior Shayna Harmon (Ashville, Ohio), and senior Haliegh Reinoehl (Westfield, Ind.).
Dawson registered her second double-double of the season as the Zips forward scored 16 points and pulled in a game-high 11 rebounds. Edmonds scored a game-high 18 points to direct the Zips offense while the point guard dished out three assists, grabbed three rebounds, and recorded one steal. Brown-Mitchell turned in a season-high 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including three triples. The senior duo of Reinoehl and Harmon garnered 10 points each and combined to post nine rebounds, four assists, and two steals.
After opening the contest on back-to-back triples off the hands of Dawson and Harmon, the Zips went on a 13-2 run in the first five minutes of the quarter.
While the Penguins ended the quarter with a 12-6 advantage, the Zips held onto a 19-14 lead at the break. UA connected on four three-pointers by Dawson, Edmonds, Harmon, and freshman Molly Neitzel (Rocky River, Ohio), who scored the first points of her Akron career.
Out of the quarter break, the Zips continued to light up the field and went on an 8-0 run in the first two minutes, and again, shared the scoring wealth as Vari (4 points), Reinoehl (2 points), and Edmonds (2 points) found the bottom of the net.
While the Akron offense stayed hot, so did the Zips defense. During UA's offensive spurt, Youngstown State committed four turnovers in a four-minute span. Akron turned those four turnovers into five points.
The Zips ended the quarter outscoring the Penguins, 23-13, to take a 42-27 lead into the locker room.
Quarter number three was more of the same for the Zips offense as Akron outscored YSU, 26-13, hit five of their first six shots and went on a 19-4 scoring burst which included the biggest lead of the night, 65-31 (+34) at the 4:04 mark after Brown-Mitchell knocked down a jumper.
The trio of Dawson, Edmonds, and Brown-Mitchell accounted for 22 of the Zips 26 third period total.
While YSU found an offensive rhythm in the fourth and took advantage at the free-throw line following nine Akron fouls, the Penguins hole was too deep to climb out of and as the final buzzer roared throughout the JAR, Akron walked away with the victory.
Akron takes to the road after its three-game homestand that spanned just under two weeks. The Zips begin a two-game road swing starting in Detroit, Mich., on Saturday, Nov. 23, as UA takes on Detroit Mercy at 12 p.m.
Western Michigan 82, Detroit Mercy 67
Box Score
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan women's basketball team won their second straight home contest of the season on Wednesday, Nov. 20, defeating University of Detroit Mercy, 82-67.
Four Broncos scored in double-digit figures, with Kamrin Reed leading the way with a season-high 17 points. Breanna Mobley followed with 16 points along with a team-high 15 rebounds and three blocks, good for her second straight double-double on the season. Jordan Walker added 14 points and was two rebounds shy of a double-double, while Leighah-Amori Wool scored 13 points.
Western Michigan shot 39.0 percent from the field, converting a season-high 30-of-77 field goals. WMU also shot 35.5 percent from beyond the arc with 11 three-pointers, another season-high for the Brown & Gold. The Broncos forced 20 Titan turnovers, scoring 22 points off the takeaways.
The Broncos jumped out on an 11-2 lead to the open the game, earning their first points of the contest off a fast-break layup from Mobley and a three from Reed. With five minutes left to play, sophomore Maddie Watters came off the bench scoring back-to-back threes to extend the Bronco lead to 22-12. The early advantage was guided by 5-for-12 shooting from beyond the arc, coupled by strong defense with the Broncos surrendering just one turnover to Detroit Mercy's eight.
The Broncos opened the second quarter with two free throws sunk by Wool after a technical foul called on the Titans. WMU kept possession to score again on a layup by Walker, who went on to end a late-quarter scoring drought with two deep three-point shots to extend the lead in Western's favor.
WMU maintained its lead throughout the second half, taking a 39-27 advantage into the third quarter. The Brown & Gold shot 50.0 percent from the field, led by a strong defense tallying eight steals and 17 fast-break points leading into the final stanza.
Detroit Mercy pushed back in the fourth quarter, outscoring the WMU 7-0 to force a timeout as the scoring gap narrowed to just a six-point difference. Graduate transfer Chelayne Bailey took charge with a fast break layup quickly followed by a three from Reed en route to an 11-0 run for the Broncos. Sydney Shafer came off the bench to sink a pair of three-pointers to seal the victory for the Brown & Gold, 82-67.
Western Michigan (2-1 overall) will conclude their three-game home stand on Sunday, Nov. 24, going up against Florida Atlantic University at 1 p.m. The Broncos are then slated to compete in the UTEP Thanksgiving Classic Nov. 29-30 in El Paso, Texas, facing the University of Texas El-Paso and New Mexico State.
