Wednesday's Scoreboard
Kent State 68, Akron 50
Bowling Green 82, Ohio 68
Ball State 66, Toledo 60
Buffalo 88, Miami 72
Northern Illinois 65, Eastern Michigan 59
Central Michigan 76, Western Michigan 60
Stories Courtesy of MAC Sports Information
Kent State 68, Akron 50
Box Score
KENT, Ohio – Kent State prevented visiting Akron from making a basket for the final 9:30 of Wednesday night's 68-50 victory in a Crystal Clinic Wagon Wheel Challenge contest inside of the M.A.C. Center.
The Golden Flashes (16-10, 9-6 MAC) limited the Zips to their lowest scoring output of the season while shooting a season-worst 30.2 percent on 16-of-53 from the field. Redshirt senior Megan Carter had a career-high four steals and sophomore Lindsey Thall rejected three shots as Kent State held its rival under 60 points for the fifth meeting in a row.
"This is a great win for us," said head coach Todd Starkey. "You have to be tough this time of year, and I thought we were for the most part down the stretch. We played terrific on the defensive side of the ball, except for a stretch in the third period. I thought we did a really good of staying true to our scout and communicating."
Just as she did in the first matchup between the rival squads two weeks ago, sophomore Asiah Dingle took over in the second half. Dingle shot 6-of-8 and poured in 14 of her game-high 18 points following halftime. She added seven rebounds and five assists. Lindsey Thall and Megan Carter joined her in double-figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
The Flashes controlled the glass and finished with a decisive 46-27 rebounding advantage. Returning to action for the first time since the first Flashes-Zips contest on February 12, freshman Nila Blackford pulled down a career-high 15 boards, including seven on the offensive end to help Kent State lead 19-7 in second chance scoring.
Kent State will attempt to complete its third sweep of a Mid-American Conference East Division opponent on Saturday when it travels to Bowling Green for a 2 p.m. tip from the Stroh Center.
Bowling Green 82, Ohio 68
Box Score
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team got key contributions from a host of players on Wednesday night (Feb. 26), as the Falcons knocked off Ohio University, 82-68, at the Stroh Center. Some of the many highlights, from a BGSU perspective, of the win over the Mid-American Conference East Division leaders...
• Junior Madisen Parker had a game-high 21 points and hit seven three-pointers, just one shy of the school record.
• Freshman Olivia Trice exploded for a career-high 17 points, going 6-for-8 from the field, hitting three long-range shots and adding six rebounds.
• Fourth-year Falcon Caterrion Thompson scored in double digits for the 21st time this season, with 17 points and three triples of her own.
• Sophomore Kadie Hempfling had seven points, a game-high nine rebounds and a whopping 15 assists.
• Post players Angela Perry and Clare Glowniak scored 8 points apiece. Glowniak went 4-for-4 from the field for the second-straight game.
The Falcons shot nearly 52 percent from the field in the win, and held the Bobcats to just a 32.8% success rate from the floor. Led by Parker's seven three-pointers -- just one away from tying the BGSU school record -- the Orange and Brown knocked down 13 shots from the arc. And, BG outrebounded the visitors by a 38-35 count.
Ball State 66, Toledo 60
Box Score
MUNCIE, Ind. - Junior Oshlynn Brown turned in her third straight double-double and 13th of the season with a 22-point, 13 rebound performance in the Cardinals 66-60 win over Toledo Wednesday night in Worthen Arena. Also, in double figures for Ball State was redshirt freshman Anna Clephane who finished with 10 points.
With Ball State's (19-8, 11-4 MAC) victory tonight over the Rockets (11-15, 6-9 MAC) the Cardinals improved to 8-0 at home in Mid-American Conference action.
The teams traded baskets throughout the opening minutes of the ball game, with three ties and four lead changes. Ball State finally gained a little bit of footing holding onto a slight lead four over a four-minute stretch, but Toledo kept on the heels of the Cardinals tying the contest 19-19 with 19 seconds on the clock. Sophomore Thelma Dis Agustsdottir closed out the first frame with a last second layup to give the Cardinals the 21-19 lead over Toledo.
Senior Arbrie "Deuce" Benson opened the second quarter with a quick layup, sparking a 7-2 run to stretch the Cardinals lead over the Rockets (28-21) by the media timeout. Back-to-back layups from Brown and Benson helped build the lead to nine. The Cardinals made it a double-digit cushion (36-25) over Toledo at intermission after layup from graduate senior Jasmin Samz. Ball State used an aggressive defense in the second period, holding the Rockets to only three field goals and a 17 percent shooting percentage. By halftime, Brown had already reach double figures leading all players with 14 points.
Buffalo 88, Miami 72
Box Score
BUFFALO, NY – Powered by a 30 point effort from freshman guard Dyaisha Fair, the University at Buffalo women's basketball team won their second straight game, leading wire-to-wire in an 88-72 win over Miami (OH) on Wednesday night at Alumni Arena.
Fair was one point shy of her career high, scoring 30 points to go along with five rebounds, three assists and five steals. Senior guard Theresa Onwuka recorded her fifth double-double of the season, scoring 22 points while grabbing 11 rebounds. Junior Marissa Hamilton also had a breakthrough performance, scoring 11 points, including 3-of-7 from behind the arc, to go with four rebounds and three assists.
The Bulls got off to a hot start, opening the game on a 9-0 run, including four points in transition, to force an early Miami timeout at the 7:28 mark. Buffalo would extend the run to 18-0, capped by a steal from Fair who found Adebola Adeyeye for the transition bucket. Miami would finally get on the board at the 4:34 mark to jumpstart a 6-0 run, but UB would maintain a 20-8 lead at the end of the first.
The eight first quarter points were the second fewest given up by the Bulls in a quarter this season.
Buffalo would extend their lead to 17 early in the second quarter on a second chance layup by Keowa Walters to take a 27-10 lead at the 7:56 mark. The two teams would trade baskets from there before the RedHawks put together a mini 4-0 run to cut the UB lead to 33-22 at the media timeout. Miami would extend the run to 9-0 to pull within six at the 2:31 mark but Hamilton would stop the bleeding as she drilled a corner triple off the assist from Fair to spark a 5-0 run and Buffalo would take a 42-29 lead at the half.
Buffalo shot 47% from the floor in the opening half, including 5-of-9 from behind the arc. The 42 points first half points were the most scored by the Bulls in the first half since they scored 42 points at San Jose State in November.
The Bulls extended their lead back up to 17 early in the third quarter to take a 49-32 lead at the 8:04 mark. Later, Miami would cut the UB lead to 14 but the Bulls responded with a 7-2 run, capped by a Fair pull up jumper and an Onwuka fastbreak bucket to take a 55-38 lead and force a Miami timeout. Kenzie Schmitz knocked down a three for the RedHawks out of the timeout but Hamilton answered with a triple of her own on the other end off of the offensive rebound and assist from Aireal Dickson and UB would go up 58-43 at the media timeout. Miami would chip away again, cutting the lead to 12 at the 1:56 mark, but the Bulls would close the quarter on a 4-0 run to take a 67-51 lead at the end of the third.
Northern Illinois 65, Eastern Michigan 59
Box Score
DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team held an opponent under 60 points for the third time this season Wednesday night, earning a 65-59 win over the Eastern Michigan Eagles at the NIU Convocation Center to snap a three-game losing streak.
"It's always good to get the win and at home as well," said head coach Lisa Carlsen. "It wasn't the prettiest basketball to say the least but I was proud of the way we found a way to get it done."
Myia Starks (Plainfield, Ill./Nequa Valley) led NIU with 15 points, a season-high six assists, and three steals. Gabby Nikitinaite (Orpington, Kent, UK/Coopers School) had 11 points off the bench, going 3-for-5 from the three-point line. Courtney Woods (Brisbane, Australia/St. Margaret's) had 10 points to give her 12 straight games in double-figure scoring. Freshman A'Jah Davis (DeKalb, Ill./Montverde Academy [Fla.]) led the Huskies with seven rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench.
NIU (9-17, 5-10 MAC) trailed 4-2 3:00 into the game, but went on a 10-2 run over the next 2:50 to take a 12-6 lead as a pair of Nikitinaite threes bookended that scoring stretch for the Huskies. Eastern Michigan got as close as four when a Corrione Cardwell jumper made the score 14-10 with 2:21 left in the first quarter. NIU closed the quarter on a 7-2 run as a Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) jumper put NIU ahead 21-12 at the end of the opening quarter, capping a first 10 minutes that saw the Huskies shoot 63.6 percent from the field.
"Gabby's first couple shots in the quarter were a huge boost for us," Carlsen said. "To see the ball go through the basket lets everybody relax a bit and I thought she was able to do that for us."
"Coach emphasizes in the locker room every game that we go out and start strong in the first quarter," added Nikitinaite. "I felt we did a good job doing it."
The Huskies held Eastern Michigan (13-13, 8-7 MAC) to just one field goal in the second quarter, something NIU did to the Eagles the last time they came to the NIU Convocation Center on February 27, 2019. However, Eastern Michigan was able to make 8-of-12 free throw attempts to outscore NIU 10-7 in the quarter. NIU was just 3-for-14 from the field in the second to take a 28-22 halftime advantage.
NIU's offense came alive in the third quarter. The Huskies got three-pointers from Grace Hunter (Monroeville, Ind./Bellmont) and Ninni Salmi (Kauhajoki, Finland/San Francisco) to open the third on an 8-3 run to go up 36-25 with 8:14 to go. Eastern Michigan chipped away at the Huskies' lead, using a 6-0 run sparked by back-to-back Areanna Combs layups to make the score 41-37 with 4:43 left in the third. Nikitinaite had the quick response with her third three of the game as NIU rattled off six straight points to back up 10, 47-37, at the 3:07 mark.
Eastern Michigan had one big run starting the fourth quarter. Combs scored the first six points of an 11-4 run that got the Eagles within three, 54-51, with 4:06 to play. After trading baskets, Hunter knocked down a three with 2:02 remaining and added a free throw 41 seconds later to put the Huskies back up by seven, 60-53, with 1:21 to go. The Eagles got as close as four points with 0:30 left, but Starks and Koker were 5-for-6 at the foul line in the final seconds to preserve the NIU win.
The Huskies held Eastern Michigan to 33.3 percent from the field, their second-lowest field goal percentage allowed this season. NIU shot 39.2 percent Wednesday night and was 10-for-23 from the three-point arc. Eastern Michigan outrebounded NIU 46-40 and forced 23 turnovers. Combs led all scorers with 29 points.
NIU is on the road Saturday, February 29 to take on Western Michigan. Tip-off is at 1 p.m. CT.
Central Michigan 76, Western Michigan 60
Box Score
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Sign it, seal it, deliver it.
Make it four and five straight.
Micaela Kelly scored 24 points and dished out eight assists while Molly Davis added 20 points as the Central Michigan women's basketball team claimed the Mid-American Conference regular-season title by defeating Western Michigan, 76-60, on Wednesday at McGuirk Arena.
It gave the Chippewas, 22-4, 15-0 MAC, their fourth consecutive MAC regular-season title and their fifth-straight MAC West crown. They have won 22 of their last 23 games and, with Wednesday's win, clinched the No. 1 seed in the MAC Tournament.
"To do something like this with the people that we get to do it with, with the assistant coaches and with this team, it's pretty incredible," said first-year head coach Heather Oesterle, who had served as an assistant for nine years with the program before taking the reins last summer. "The message to our team is that we're not done yet. We still have a lot more to do -- a lot more."
The Broncos, who had won four straight entering the game, are 15-11, 8-7.
