Saturday's Scoreboard
Ball State 78, Western Michigan 71
Northern Illinois 66, Miami 52
Bowling Green 76, Toledo 59
Central Michigan 66, Buffalo 62
Ohio 85, Akron 55
Story Courtesy of MAC Sports Information
Ball State 78, Western Michigan 71
Box Score
KALAMAZOO, Mich. - No road victory is easy, heck lately Ball State (8-5, 6-3 MAC) has taking its last four wins down to the final minutes, but today at Western Michigan (2-10, 1-9 MAC) the Cardinals managed to outlast their opponent once again, taking home a 78-71 victory Saturday afternoon from University Arena.
The Cardinals started out strong at the start of the contest, leading at the half 37-32. But the Broncos took a page out of BSU's last three opponents' books and continued to annoyingly nip at the heels of the Cardinals throughout the entire 40 minutes of action.
WMU's head coach Shane Clipfell, who was hired at the helm of the Broncos the same year (2012-13) that Brady Sallee took the reins at Ball State, both have the upmost respect for one another. Sallee said after the game that he gave a lot of credit to Clipfell for having a great game plan against the Cardinals this afternoon.
Clipfell's plan was well played in the third quarter, as the Broncos took advantage of the fact that BSU's star senior forward Oshlynn Brown had to sit on the bench due to early foul trouble.
The Broncos went on to outscore Ball State, 23-13, to take a 55-50 edge over the Cardinals heading into the fourth quarter.
But the Cardinals said, not so fast, we've got this, outscoring WMU 28-16 in the final stanza.
Sallee told his team with six minutes to play that they knew what they had to do to win this game and apparently the pep talk worked.
With the game knotted at 69-69 with 2:49 remaining in the contest, Brown completed a fast break layup to give BSU the boost it needed.
After that, junior forward Thelma Dis Agustsdottir, who led her team in scoring with 18 points, nailed a 3-pointer off the dribble to give BSU a five-point (74-69) cushion.
Although, the Broncos would score on their next possession, the Cardinals' late run was too much for WMU to overcome.
Sallee attributed the last few minutes of play to executing the ball well because that is what you have to do on the road to come out on top.
Three other Cardinals finished in double figures along with Agustsdottir. Her teammate sophomore guard Sydney Freeman finished with 16 points, while redshirt sophomore Anna Clephane ended the day with 14 and Brown with 10.
The Ball State women's basketball team continues Mid-American Conference action on the road at Central Michigan Wednesday at 5 p.m. ET in McGuirk Arena.
For the most up-to-date news on the Ball State women's basketball team, please follow @BallStateSports, @BSUCoachBrady and @BallStateWBB on Instagram or twitter.
Northern Illinois 66, Miami 52
Box Score
DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team held the Miami RedHawks to 20 points in the second half Saturday at the NIU Convocation Center, outscoring Miami by 17 to come away with a 66-52 win.
The win is the Huskies' sixth in the last seven games. Sophomore guard Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) led all players with 26 points and added seven assists, one shy of her career high. Mikayla Brandon (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) had 10 points, six rebounds and two steals. Errin Hodges (Pontiac, Ill./Evansville Central [Ind.]) led the Huskies with seven rebounds and a career-high two blocks while scoring six points.
"They definitely made me work for it," Koker said about her eighth 20-point game of the year. "My teammates did a good job within our system on offense and I was just going with the flow and doing what I had to do."
NIU (8-6, 6-3 MAC) held Miami to 15 percent shooting from the field in the first quarter en route to a 16-10 lead. The Huskies took a 19-10 early in the second on a Riley Blackwell (Plainfield, Ind./Plainfield) three-pointer, but the RedHawks responded with a 20-5 run over the next 7:13 to take a 30-24 lead with 2:14 to go until halftime. Abbey Hoff and Jada Duckett combined for 10 of Miami's 20 points in that stretch. NIU cut the deficit to one on a Paulina Castro (Elgin, Ill./Harvest Christian) three and a pair of Hodges free throws but Peyton Scott put in a layup in the final seconds to give Miami a 32-29 halftime lead.
The Huskies got off to a fast start in the third, going on a 9-2 run capped by Castro's second three of the day to put NIU up 38-34 with 8:11 to go. NIU's run extended to an 18-5 run after nine straight Huskie points put the home team up 10, 47-37, with 2:45 remaining in the quarter. Koker had six points in that stretch, including back-to-back layups that put the lead in double digits. Miami got as close as five, but a Koker three with 0:24 left capped a 21-10 quarter that put NIU up 50-42 heading into the final period.
"Miami's physicality and length caused us some problems in the first half, and in the second half we had a much better understanding of what we needed to do to spread them out," said head coach Lisa Carlsen. "When we made our run in the third the biggest thing was being able to string stops together. Making shots makes players really confident but getting stops makes teams confident as well."
Miami (1-14, 0-11 MAC) got within six in the fourth when consecutive baskets from Duckett and Scott made the score 54-48 with 6:06 to play. The Huskies then put the game away from there. Behind eight points from Koker, NIU closed the game on a 12-4 run to tie its season-low for points allowed with the 66-52 win.
"We stayed in system more on the defensive end and we brought a lot more energy," said Brandon about NIU's defensive showing in the second half. "When our team has a lot of energy on the bench and the floor, our defense is a lot better."
NIU shot 43.1 percent from the field and 46.7 percent from the three-point arc, holding Miami to 31.7 percent from the field and 23.3 percent from long distance. The Huskies outrebounded the RedHawks 43-33 and assisted on 13 of 22 made baskets. Hoff led Miami with 11 points as Scott had 10 points, nine assists and five rebounds.
The Huskies host Bowling Green on Wednesday, Feb. 3 at the NIU Convocation Center at 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
Bowling Green 76, Toledo 59
Box Score
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team shot 60 percent from the field over the final three quarters Saturday afternoon (Jan. 30), en route to a 76-59 win over the University of Toledo. The Mid-American Conference game, the latest edition of the 'Battle of I-75,' was held inside the Stroh Center.
With the win, the Falcons (13-3, 9-2 MAC) have won five consecutive games, and BGSU completed a sweep of the season series with the Rockets (8-7, 4-7 MAC).
The Falcons shot over 50% from the floor for the third consecutive game. After hitting just 5-of-18 shots in the first quarter, BGSU made 27-of-45 shots from the field (60.0%) over the last three periods.
Senior Angela Perry was 9-of-15 from the field, including a 7-for-9 second-half performance, en route to a game-high 18 points, while sophomore Elissa Brett and freshman Lexi Fleming had 13 apiece.
Perry scored her 18 points in just over 14 minutes of action.
Brett added seven rebounds, good for second on the team behind freshman Kenzie Lewis's game-high 10 boards. Freshman Nyla Hampton had nine points and left it all on the floor Saturday, with a game-high five steals as BG picked up 11 as a team.
Senior Clare Glowniak had eight points on Saturday, as she and fellow senior post player Perry combined to go 13-of-24 from the field. The Falcons had a 48-24 lead in points in the paint on the day.
The Falcons trailed by one point after 10 minutes but – with Fleming on the bench for the entire second period after picking up two first-quarter fouls – outscored the Rockets by a 24-9 count in the second quarter to take a 14-point halftime lead.
UT got back within nine early in the third quarter, but back-to-back buckets by Fleming put the lead back into double digits for good, and the Falcons led by as many as 25 points in the latter stages of the fourth quarter.
Quinesha Lockett was the lone Rocket in double figures in the scoring column, with 17 points on the afternoon.
Central Michigan 66, Buffalo 62
Box Score
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – It was far from easy. It seemingly never is when it comes to Central Michigan and Buffalo in women's basketball.
Micaela Kelly hit the go-ahead bucket with just over a minute remaining and finished with 19 points on Saturday as the Chippewas wrestled away a 66-62 Mid-American Conference victory from the Bulls at McGuirk Arena.
It was CMU's third-consecutive win as it swept the two-game season series from the Bulls. CMU improved to 10-5, 8-3 MAC, and moved past the Bulls and into third place in the league standings. Buffalo is 9-5, 6-3.
?Ohio 85, Akron 55
Box Score
ATHENS, Ohio -- It took senior guard Cece Hooks (Dayton, Ohio) just three quarters to score a game-high 31 points as the Ohio women's basketball team (9-5, 7-4 MAC) blew by Akron (4-9, 1-9 MAC), 85-55, in a Mid-American Conference matchup on Saturday (January 30) at the Convocation Center.
"Cece Hooks has been so dialed in," head coach Bob Boldon said. "She took 18 shots - her efficiency and the tempo that she has been playing with has been fantastic. I don't know if I have ever experienced five games like this. We have great games, but to do it like she has over the last five games is impressive."
Hooks logged her third 30-point effort of the season and eighth of her career in only 30 minutes of action as she sat out the fourth quarter with the Bobcats holding a commanding 31-point lead. She went 13-of-18 from the field, including a 4-of-5 effort from three-point land. She has scored at least 20 points in 12 of Ohio's 14 games this season, including each of the last five contests. Hooks also finished with a game-high three steals and tied a game-high with five assists in addition to collecting five rebounds.
The Bobcats shot 47.3 percent (35-of-74) from the floor as a team and drained 12 treys en route to their largest margin of victory this season. Ohio dominated Akron on the glass, 53-25, and also held decisive advantages in points in the paint (46-24) and second-chance points (22-3).
Hooks was one of three Ohio players in double figures in points in a contest in which 10 Bobcats played and eight scored. Senior forward Gabby Burris (Baltimore, Ohio) contributed 16 points to reach double digits for the 12th time this year. She also logged seven rebounds. Redshirt junior guard Erica Johnson (Mansfield, Ohio) finished with 12 points before exiting the contest with an injury. She has hit double figures in all 13 games she's played in this season. Johnson matched Hooks with a game-high five assists. Redshirt junior guard Caitlyn Kroll (Bridgeport, Ohio) just missed out on a double-double, recording eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds, marking the second time in her career she has pulled down double-digit boards.
"I've been playing faster," Hooks said. "I already play fast but I'm playing faster for the whole game and it's been helping me out a lot. I need to keep that up so I can have the team up the tempo as well."
Hooks powered Ohio to a hot start in what proved to be a wire-to-wire win, draining three triples and forcing the Zips to burn a timeout just over two and a half minutes into the contest as the Bobcats opened with a 12-2 lead. Eight of Ohio's 13 made field goals in the first quarter came from beyond the arc, with the Bobcats shooting 72.7 percent from three-point land in the opening 10 minutes to build a 34-20 advantage. Hooks nearly outscored the Zips by herself in the first quarter, putting up 14 points by going 5-of-7 from the floor and a perfect 4-of-4 from deep.
Akron strung together a 7-0 run early in the second quarter to trim Ohio's advantage to nine with just over seven minutes remaining in the first half. A layup by Kroll put the Bobcats back up by 11, though, and Ohio never led by less than double digits the rest of the way in the second quarter. Ohio finished the half shooting 55.9 percent from the field and converted at a 47.1 percent clip from three-point range. Hooks led all scorers with 20 points while Johnson added 12 to join her in reaching double-digit points in just 20 minutes of action.
The Bobcats blew the contest open in the third quarter, outscoring the Zips by a 24-4 count. Hooks added 11 more points on to her total while Burris scored 10 of hers in the third act as Ohio made 52.9 percent (9-of-17) of its shots.
"I thought we did a great job of communicating," Boldon said. "There's a lot of moving parts to Akron's offense and I thought we did a good job of keeping a person on a person and we forced some pretty tough shots. It was just good, solid defense."
Ohio's largest lead of the game came with 2:26 to play when senior guard Hunter Rogan (Urbana, Ohio) turned a steal into a driving layup off of a fastbreak to put the Bobcats up by 36 at 85-49.
"It was good to see some different players that have been working hard in practice get some minutes," Boldon added. "They did some things well and did some things poorly and we can start correcting them and try to get them ready."
Senior forward Jordyn Dawson led Akron with 15 points and was joined in double figures by sophomore guard Rachel Martindale (11) and sophomore guard Molly Neitzel (10). The Zips were plagued by 18 turnovers, including 11 in the first half.
Ohio will look to continue its winning ways when it plays host to Kent State next Wednesday, February 3. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET at the Convo.
