Saturday's Scoreboard
Eastern Michigan 64, Akron 46
Northern Illinois 87, Miami 79
Ohio 93, Central Michigan 84
Bowling Green 69, Toledo 57
Story Courtesy of MAC Sport Information
Eastern Michigan 64, Akron 46
Box Score
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team defeated the University of Akron in a Mid-American Conference matchup, 64-46, and picked up its first home win of the season today, Saturday, Jan. 16, inside the Convocation Center.
The Eagles (7-5, 4-3 MAC) got revenge on Akron (4-5, 1-5 MAC) that was nearly a year in the making, as the Zips twice took down the Green and White during the 2019-20 season. Through its first 12 games, EMU has captured one more win (7) than it had through the same duration a season ago (6).
"I feel like we (the team) are an eight-cylinder engine, but we are only using about five of them right now," said fifth-year Head Coach Fred Castro during his postgame press conference.
If Castro is right, EMU could be a serious MAC title contender, especially considering that their margin of victory has been 19 points in its last two victories including today (def. Miami, 61-41, Jan. 13).
Junior Jenna Annecchiarico (Baldwin, N.Y.-Baldwin) led Eastern with 14 points, 10 rebounds, and three assists to register a double-double. The Baldwin, N.Y. product's performance is her first double-double of the season, and second of her career. Annechiarico's 10 boards was a season-high and ties her career-high. Redshirt sophomore Ce'Nara Skanes (Oklahoma City, Okla.-Putnam City West (Florida International)) also recorded a double-double as she dominated in the paint with 21 points, 10 boards, and tied her career-high in blocks (2). Redshirt senior Areanna Combs (Oklahoma City, Okla.-Putnam City West (Oklahoma State)) led all players in scoring, as she dropped 19 points to go along with nine rebounds. The Oklahoma City native also paced the Eagles with four steals and three assists.
The Eagles came out slow offensively, unable to convert a field goal in the first three minutes of the contest. However, the defense forced early turnovers to contain the Zips' lead to four. With 6:57 on the clock, Corrione Cardwell (Cleveland, Ohio-New Tech East) drained a three to ignite the offense, starting an eight-point run and establishing the Eagles' first lead of the day, 8-4. Both teams traded runs of seven-plus points over the next stretch of minutes to bring the score to a 21-15 Eagles' advantage at the conclusion of the first quarter. Annecchiarico proved to be unstoppable from beyond the arc as she converted three-of-five for nine points. As a unit, EMU's offense developed momentum, ending the first quarter shooting 42.1 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from deep, compared to Akron who shot 35.3 and 20.0 percent respectively.
The Eagles found themselves in the midst of a five-minute scoring drought as the second quarter began. With 6:27 on the clock, Combs muscled her way through the paint to produce a layup and cease the Zips' scoring stretch. This maintained a four-point separation between the two teams, setting the score at 23-19, Eastern. From there, the Green and White took flight, going five-for-six over the next few minutes to establish their first double-digit lead of the contest, 34-23, with three minutes remaining in the half. With under 60 seconds to go, Combs converted on a skillful fade-away jumper to exceed ten points on the day. This set the score at 38-26 Eagles after the first 20 minutes of play. EMU displayed dominance on the boards, outworking Akron 29-19, including seven rebounds from Annerchiarico just 14 minutes into the match.
The Eagles and Zips went back and forth in the early moments of second-half action. Skanes notched her 10th point of the day with 7:26 on the clock, which enlarged the Green and White's edge to 11, 41-30. Akron's offense then capitalized and cut the deficit to six with 2:26 left on the clock. EMU then scored five points in under 20 seconds, to tally the score at 49-38. The third quarter concluded in a stalemate, with both teams scoring 14 points, leaving the score at 52-40, with the Eagles up by a dozen heading into the final stanza.
The fourth quarter proved to be an offensive struggle for both teams, as the scoreboard read 56-42 Eagles with just over five minutes remaining. At the 2:53 mark, Annecchiarico caressed her tenth rebound of the game to produce her first double-double of the season. Skanes scored six points in the final minutes as the Eagles ran away with the contest, closing the game with a 64-46 victory.
EMU was more efficient from the field, shooting 24-of-66 (.364) from the floor and 6-for-19 from deep (.316) compared to Akron's 19-of-68 (.279) and 3-for 20 (.150). The Green and White also held the advantage in points in the paint (32-20), second-chance points (9-4), and fast-break points (14-11). Akron had a slight edge in forced turnovers (13-12) and bench points (7-4).
Eastern will head north to Mount Pleasant on Wednesday, Jan. 20 to face MAC-rival Central Michigan University. The Green and White came up short in their last meeting with the Chippewas, 76-69, Mar. 7, 2020. Tipoff from McGuirk Arena is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
Northern Illinois 87, Miami 79
Box Score
OXFORD, OH – Led by a career-high 29 points from Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) and a double-double from Mikayla Brandon (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais), the Northern Illinois University women's basketball team won its fourth consecutive game on Saturday by a score of 87-79 over the Miami RedHawks at Millett Hall.
"Life on the road is never easy," said head coach Lisa Carlsen. "We battled through some carelessness with the ball. Miami was really physical and we didn't handle that well at times. Down the stretch we did what we needed to do as far as getting some stops, making free throws, and obviously we're excited about getting the win."
Koker was 8-for-17 from the field and 10-for-12 at the free throw line to best her previous career high of 28 points scored against Ohio on Dec. 16. She also had five rebounds and three steals. Brandon posted her second double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Errin Hodges (Pontiac, Ill./Evansville Central [Ind.]) was the third Huskie to score in double figures, putting up 12 points with a career-high four assists.
NIU (6-5, 4-2 MAC) trailed 19-17 after the first quarter but took the lead at the 6:45 mark of the second when back-to-back threes from Koker and Brandon put the Huskies ahead 28-26. Sparked by back-to-back Jada Duckett layups, the RedHawks went on a 10-3 run to take a 36-31 lead at the 2:38 mark of the quarter. NIU responded with a 12-3 run to close the quarter and take a 43-39 halftime lead. Koker scored eight of the 12 points in that stretch, going 6-for-6 at the free throw line as the Huskies scored the last eight points of the half to take a lead into the break.
The Huskies grew the lead to eight early in the third on a pair of Koker free throws that put the score at 48-40 at the 7:12 mark. Miami (1-10, 0-7 MAC) cut the deficit to four with 6:32 to go in the quarter on a three by Abbey Hoff but Paulina Castro (Elgin, Ill./Harvest Christian) answered right back with a triple of her own to put the Huskies' lead back to seven, 52-45. NIU took its largest lead of the game with 3:55 left in the third when a Grace Hunter (Monroeville, Ind./Bellmont) three-pointer put the Huskies up 10, 58-48. The RedHawks then went on a 9-3 run over 1:38 to get within three as a Peyton Scott three put the score at 62-59 with 0:24 to go. Koker put NIU up five, 64-59, on a jumper in the final seconds of the third.
NIU got the lead back up to 10 with 5:54 remaining in the fourth when Brandon capped a 12-5 Huskies run with back-to-back jumpers, making the score 76-66. The junior forward had seven of the 12 points in that stretch. The RedHawks had one last run in them late in the game. Scott made a jumper with 0:49 left to get Miami within eight, 82-74. Katie Davidson then knocked down a three off a steal to make the score 82-77 with 0:34 left. After Koker and Hodges both split two free throws, Scott made another basket to make the score 84-79 with 0:11 but that was as close as Miami would get.
The Huskies shot 42.1 percent from the field and was 10-for-20 from the three-point line. NIU made a season-high 29 free throws to Miami's 13 and held a 47-39 rebound edge.
"Rebounding sometimes is as contagious as shooting," Carlsen said about her team's effort on the glass during this current winning streak. "We have some players on this team who have great instincts as far as finding the basketball, and they've been able to stay consistent with that especially in the last four games."
Scott led all scorers with 34 points, adding eight rebounds, eight steals and seven assists.
NIU is back on the road Wednesday, Jan. 20 to take on the Ball State Cardinals. Tipoff at Worthen Arena is set for 6 p.m
Ohio 93, Central Michigan 84
Box Score
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Behind 26 points from both redshirt junior guard Erica Johnson and senior guard Cece Hooks, the Ohio women's basketball team (6-4, 4-3 MAC) took down Central Michigan (7-4, 5-2 MAC) on the road, 93-84, on Saturday afternoon at McGuirk Arena.
"We showed a lot of character and toughness today and those are two things as the season goes on we are very excited about," head coach Bob Boldon said. "Our backs were against the wall and we were looking at having a losing record in the conference for the first time in a long time. That gets your attention and they had to do it against the best team in the conference and they did just that. The team deserves a lot of credit."
Johnson (Mansfield, Ohio) posted 26 on 7-of-14 shooting. Johnson was 3-of-5 from the three-point line and 9-of-9 from the free-throw line. Johnson added a career-high six steals, four rebounds and two assists.
Hooks (Dayton, Ohio) had 26 points on 12-of-20 shooting. Hooks was 2-of-4 from the free-throw line and added four assists and two steals in 31 minutes on the floor before fouling out.
Hooks has scored 20 or more points nine times this season. Johnson has scored 20 or more six times this season.
Senior forward Gabby Burris (Baltimore, Ohio) had 15 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field and 3-of-5 from deep. Burris added eight boards and was +14 on the floor.
Redshirt junior Caitlyn Kroll (Bridgeport, Ohio) posted her third-straight game with 10 or more points after knocking down three from behind the arc and finishing with 12 points. Kroll had eight rebounds. Redshirt freshman Madi Mace (Parkersburg, W. Va.) recorded her career-high with 12 points on 3-of-9 shooting and a perfect 6-of-6 from the free-throw line.
Overall, Ohio shot 29-of-61 (47.5 percent) from the field and 9-of-22 (40.9 percent) from the three-point line. CMU was 30-of-61 (49.2 percent) overall and 8-of-25 (32.0 percent) from deep. Ohio was 26-of-30 (86.7 percent) from the free-throw line while CMU was 16-of-18 (88.9 percent).
Ohio forced 22 turnovers and had 12 steals. Johnson's six swipes led OU, while Mace posted three.
Both CMU and Ohio had 32 rebounds. Ohio posted nine offensive boards. Both Burris and Kroll had eight boards, while Mace came down with six. Johnson hauled in four while sophomore Peyton Guice (Westerville, Ohio) had one rebound to add to her two points. OU had 18 points off of turnovers.
Ohio assisted on seven buckets, with Hooks posting a game-high four. Johnson had two and Kroll posted one.
The Bobcats took a 41-32 lead into halftime, with Hooks posting 15 first-half points. OU shot 15-of-33 in the first half and 3-of-12 from deep.
After outscoring CMU 24-20 in the third, Ohio outpaced CMU 32-28 in a fast-paced fourth quarter. Ohio was 6-of-9 (66.7 percent) from the field in the final frame, and 13-of-14 (92.9 percent) from the free-throw line to ice the game.
Ohio will return home to continue Mid-American Conference play on Wednesday. The Bobcats will take on Buffalo at the Convocation Center at 6 p.m.
Bowling Green 69, Toledo 57
Box Score
TOLEDO, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team led from wire to wire on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 16), as the Falcons posted a 69-57 road win over the University of Toledo in Mid-American Conference action at Savage Arena.
Freshman Lexi Fleming led the Falcons (9-3, 5-2 MAC) and tied for game honors with 21 points, while junior Kadie Hempfling added 11 points.
BGSU forced the Rockets (7-4, 3-4 MAC) into 25 turnovers, and the Falcons had a 29-19 advantage in points off turnovers, including a 21-7 lead in that category in the first half.
The Falcons had a total of 15 steals on the day, with four players recording three or more.
Freshman Kenzie Lewis had 15 rebounds, the highest total of her young career, and was one of seven BGSU players to score at least five points.
A trio of Falcons – seniors Madisen Parker and Angela Perry and sophomore Elissa Brett – had eight points apiece, with Lewis adding six and freshman Nyla Hampton five.
BGSU, as mentioned, never trailed, and the Falcons led by a game-high 21 points with under three minutes to go, before a late UT surge cut the final margin to 12 points.
