Saturday's Scoreboard
Central Michigan 82, Bowling Green 75
Ohio 84, Miami 70
Akron 64, Eastern Michigan 53
Ball State 69, Buffalo 58
Western Michigan 68, Northern Illinois 65
Kent State 87, Toledo 68
Stories Courtesy of MAC Sports Information
Central Michigan 82, Bowling Green 75
Box Score
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Kyra Bussell drilled a career-high five 3-pointers in scoring 23 points on Saturday as the Central Michigan women's basketball team escaped a potential upset bid from Bowling Green, 82-75, in a Mid-American Conference game at McGuirk Arena.
The Chippewas, who are ranked sixth in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll, won for the 18th time in 19 games, improving to 19-4, 12-0 MAC.
They remain three games ahead in the overall MAC standings and in the MAC West two-thirds of the way through the season.
"We've got a lot of different people stepping up in key moments," CMU coach Heather Oesterle said. "That Bowling Green team … they're a lot better than their record is. They made it difficult for us on the defensive end of the floor."
Ohio 84, Miami 70
Box Score
ATHENS, Ohio – The Ohio women's basketball team (16-7, 9-3 MAC) won its third-straight game after defeating Miami (11-14, 4-9 MAC), 84-70, on Saturday afternoon at Millett Hall.
"I thought at times we were really good today," head coach Bob Boldon said. "There was a 10 minute stretch at the end of the first quarter and into the second quarter where Miami scored nine points over 10 minutes. We had that type of defense over a couple of stretches. I'd like to see that extended a bit more but I was really pleased with our effort today."
Ohio was led by redshirt sophomore guard Erica Johnson (Mansfield, Ohio), who had 23 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. Johnson was 8-of-20 from the field and 4-of-9 from the three-point line. Johnson was +16 in 37 minutes on the floor.
Akron 64, Eastern Michigan 53
Box Score
YPSILANTI, Mich. – Courtesy of a big first half lead and lockdown defense in the fourth quarter by the Zips, the Akron women's basketball team defeated Eastern Michigan, 64-53, to complete the regular-season series sweep of the Eagles that was highlighted by senior Haliegh Reinoehl (Westfield, Ind.) scoring her 1,000-career point on Saturday afternoon inside the Convocation Center.
Reinoehl scored her seventh point of the game at the 2:05 mark of the third quarter knocking down a pair of free throws at the charity stripe. While the free throws were routine for the senior forward, the result of the pair carried a huge significance as it marked the exact moment Reinoehl scored her 1,000-career point. The Zips three-year captain became the 19thplayer in program history to reach the 1K point mark. It is just the fourth time in program history that two Zips accomplished the feat in the same season as Edmonds broke the 1K threshold on Jan. 22. The pair joins Pam Arnold & Dianne Hollish (1987-88), Rachel Tecca & Sina King (2012-13), and Anita Brown & Hannah Plybon (2015-16) in program history.
Eastern Michigan turned a 13-point deficit (37-24) at the halftime break into as little as a one point deficit (45-44) with 2:23 to play in the third quarter before the Zips rattled off seven straight points to take a 51-44 advantage into the final period of play.
In the fourth quarter, the Zips turned up the intensity on the defensive side of the ball holding Eastern Michigan to 2-of-16 shooting and two turnovers. Offensively, sophomore Kendall Miller (Akron, Ohio) took over for Akron in the fourth scoring seven straight points for UA that sparked 13-5 run for the Zips and an eventual 64-53 victory.
Three players scored in double figures to direct the Zips offensively, including senior Shaunay Edmonds (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Reinoehl, and Miller. Edmonds led all Akron players for the second game in a row scoring 15 points while adding two assists, and a steal. En route to her 1,000-career point, Reinoehl scored 13 points on the day and picked up her team-leading seventh double-double grabbing 13 rebounds. Miller scored 10 points with seven coming in the fourth and added three boards.
A balanced offensive and defensive attack for the Zips allowed Akron to control the game in the first half. UA shot 44.1-percent from the floor (15-of-34) including a first half-high 47.1-percent (8-of-17) in the first quarter. On the opposite end of the floor, suffocating defense limited the Eagles offense to just a 24.1-percent clip from the field, a low 14.3-percent from beyond the arc, forced nine turnovers, three steals, and scored six points off of EMU's miscues.
Akron held a 9-7 advantage at the first media break of the game. In the final 4:30 of the quarter, UA went on a 10-4 run to extend its advantage to +8 at the conclusion of the first 10 minutes of play. Four Zips found their name in the point column with Edmonds and Dawson scoring a combined 13 points.
The Zips came out of the gates of the second quarter attacking on the offensive end of the floor in hopes to begin to put the game out of reach. UA succeeded as Akron blitzed the Eagles with an 8-2 scoring run that included back-to-back triples by Edmonds and Miller.
Eastern Michigan used a 7-2 offensive spurt to trim its deficit no single digits (29-20), but four straight points for Akron from Vari and Dawson lifted the Zips lead back to 13-points (33-20).
From that point on, the Zips and Eagles went back and forth in the closing minutes of the half with Akron heading into the locker room with a 37-24 lead in its grasps.
Despite allowing the Eagles back into the game in the third, Akron buckled down in the fourth to pull out its 11thwin of the season and fourth inside Mid-American Conference play.
With six games remaining in the 2019-20 season, the Akron women's basketball team closes out a two-game road trip at Buffalo. The Zips and Bulls first of two meetings is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 19, at 7 p.m. from inside Alumni Arena.
Ball State 69, Buffalo 58
Box Score
BUFFALO, N.Y. - Sophomore Thelma Dis Agustsdottir helped the Cardinals to a 69-58 Mid-American Conference road victory at Buffalo Saturday afternoon in University Arena after registering a career high 26-point performance against the Bulls. With the win, Ball State improved to 17-7 overall and moved to 9-3 in league play while the Bulls drop to 13-10 on the year and 4-8 in MAC action.
Although the score may have indicated it was an easier win than games past, it still came down to the final quarter. Buffalo never gave up the fight, but the Cardinals answered every time by rebounding, stellar defense and making some much needed shots.
Agustsdottir led the charge with a career best 26 points after shooting 76 percent (10-13) from the field and 85 percent (6-7) from behind the arc. Freshman Sydney Freeman also reached doubles figures with 16 points while Junior Oshlynn Brown led the squad defensively, pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds.
Ball State sealed the victory by shooting 55 percent from the field in the third quarter and then finished shooting 50 percent from the floor in the final frame. The Cardinals maintained their defense in the fourth period to help hold off Buffalo with any last scoring sprees that the Bulls tried to make happen.
The opening minutes of the game lately for Ball State has had the same theme and today's competition at Buffalo was no different. The Cardinals and Bulls were neck and neck in the opening 10 minutes of the contest. Both had leads and both knotted the game four times. Ball State had possession as time was winding down in the first quarter but couldn't score. BSU still took the one-point (13-12) edge over Buffalo as both teams headed into the next frame of action.
The Cardinals began to find a rhythm in the first three minutes of the second period. At the seven-minute mark, Ball State went on a 6-0 scoring run that was capped off by a fast break layup from senior Arbrie "Deuce" Benson to sophomore Blake Smith, making the score, 19-14. Buffalo answered by outscoring the Cardinals 9-0 while holding Ball State without a field goal for over three minutes to take back the lead. The Cardinals fought back though, Brown and freshman Annie Rauch went 2-for-2 from the charity stripe to put Ball State back up by two (25-23) with 2:21 on the clock. After that, Agustsdottir nailed 3-pointer on the left side off of the assist from freshman Estel Puiggros, accompanied by two more Agustsdottir jump shots in the paint, allowed the Cardinals to take the 32-26 advantage over Buffalo at intermission.
Buffalo came out of the gates strong after the half, quickly cutting the Cardinals lead to two (32-30). Agustsdottir answered by hitting her third 3-pointer, followed by an old fashioned 3-point play from Smith and a fast break layup from Brown. That sequence quickly put Ball State back up by nine (42-33) at the 6:45 mark. Ball State led by as many as 11 (46-35) after Freeman sank a 3-pointer at the 6:13 mark. Buffalo came out guns a blazing after the media timeout, the Bulls picked up their defense and started attacking the rim to bring Buffalo back to within four (46-42) with 1:32 remaining in the third. Ball State closed out the third frame scoring three points, a free throw from Brown and a layup from Freeman to put the Cardinals up by seven heading into the final 10 minutes of play.
The Ball State women's basketball team returns to Worthen Arena Wednesday for a 7 p.m. Mid-American Conference West Division match-up against Northern Illinois.
Western Michigan 68, Northern Illinois 65
Box Score
DEKALB, Ill. – The Western Michigan women's basketball team collected their second straight win with a 68-65 victory over Northern Illinois on the road on Saturday afternoon.
In an extremely fast-paced and score-trading game in DeKalb, the Broncos shot 28-of-62 (45.2 percent) from the filed compared to the Huskies shooting 39.7 percent off 25 field goals. The teams were tied with 38 rebounds and 19 turnovers apiece. Saturday's contest saw five ties and six lead changes over the course of the game.
Breanna Mobley had 18 points and 11 rebounds, good for her 15th double-double of the season. Two more Bronco starters reached double digits, Leighah-Amori Wool and Chelayne Bailey each with 11 points. Wool went the distance on offense, shooting 3-for-5 (60 percent) from long range. Kamrin Read and Jordan Walker tied for the lead in assists with four each.
It was a total team effort for the Brown and Gold as nine of the ten players that found the court scored. Ashley Konkle led the second string with eight points and four rebounds, sinking the first three-pointer of her career. Reilly Jacobson converted three field goals with two rebounds.
The first quarter was a back-and-forth 10 minutes with Northern Illinois taking a 19-15 lead into the second quarter. The Huskies put up a trio of three-point shots in the frame, while WMU was held to just one in the first minute of the game, from Wool.
Western Michigan came into the second quarter with comeback momentum. Konkle sunk a corner three and Northern Illinois responded with one of their own. A jumper from Bailey, followed by shots at the line and another field goal by Reed tied the game 24-24. The Broncos closed out the quarter behind a three from Reed and points from Mobley to head to the locker room just one point behind their opponent.
Kent State 87, Toledo 68
Box Score
KENT, Ohio – Kent State put more than 20 points on the board in three quarters while committing a season-low six turnovers in a decisive 86-67 victory over visiting Toledo during the annual Play4Kay game on Saturday afternoon in the M.A.C. Center.
The Golden Flashes (14-9, 7-5 MAC) shot 33-for-67 from the field and had a 44-24 advantage in paint scoring. Freshman Katie Shumate led the way with a career-high 24 points while adding six rebounds and two blocked shots. Sophomore Asiah Dingle went for a season-best 22 points and team-high six assists.
"This was a pretty good performance for us on both sides of the ball and definitely gives us something to build on this time of year," head coach Todd Starkey said. "It was good to see Katie [Shumate] get going early and set the tone. Obviously, Asiah [Dingle] did some really nice things getting to the basket in transition. When we have multiple players are really able to get to the basket like that and shooters like Lindsey [Thall] and Hannah [Young], it really puts your opponent in tough spot defensively."
Hannah Young logged a career-high 31 minutes in one of her most productive performances in a Kent State uniform, finishing with 12 points and a game-high seven rebounds. The sophomore made several plays late in the third quarter to push the lead back to double-figures going into the fourth. She swished a corner three-pointer to make it 60-48 with 1:10 left in the period. After scooping up a loose ball on the defensive end, Young boarded a missed free throw and then sank a pair of freebies after being fouled.
"Hannah's just been some confidence and game reps away from having those types of things happen for her," Starkey commented. "She was a highly recruited player out of high school and is very talented. Everybody's timeline is a little different, and it's nice to see her kind of assert herself and do the little things."
