Saturday's Scoreboard
Northern Illinois 78, Bowling Green 71
Kent State 70, Ball State 61
Central Michigan 79, Buffalo 63
Ohio 85, Toledo 66
Akron 84, Miami 77
Stories Courtesy of MAC Sports Information
Northern Illinois 78, Bowling Green 71
Box Score
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Four Huskies scored in double figures Saturday as the Northern Illinois University women's basketball team handed the Bowling Green Falcons its first Mid-American Conference loss of the season in a 78-71 win at the Stroh Center.
Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) led NIU with 18 points adding seven rebounds, four assists, and two steals. Paulina Castro (Elgin, Ill./Harvest Christian) made a career-high five three-pointers on her way to a career-high 15 points. Emily Meinert (Galesburg, Ill./Parkland College) also scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds in 22 minutes off the bench.
Errin Hodges (Pontiac, Ill./Evansville Central [Ind.]) was 7-for-9 from the field to score 14 points. Mikayla Brandon (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) led all players with 14 rebounds, tying a career-high set earlier this season at Bradley.
"Paulina took great shots and she knocked down the shots we needed her to make today," said head coach Lisa Carlsen. "Emily's physicality on both ends of the floor was critical today. She did a good job on the glass today and her 3-for-3 from three was a bonus."
After a 16-16 first quarter, NIU (4-5, 2-2 MAC) got some separation from the Falcons behind back-to-back threes from Castro and Riley Blackwell (Plainfield, Ind./Plainfield) which gave the Huskies a 27-22 lead with 6:41 to play in the second. The lead grew to seven at the seven at the 3:56 mark when Meinert and Jayden Marable (Bolingbrook, lll./Bolingbrook) combined for consecutive layups to make the score 33-26. Bowling Green got as close as four but NIU ended the half on an 8-2 run with threes from Koker and Castro giving the Huskies a 41-31 lead at the break. NIU shot over 50 percent from the field in the first half and held the Falcons to 2-for-15 from the three-point line.
Bowling Green (8-2, 4-1 MAC) got a three from Kadie Hempfling to open the third quarter, but Koker responded with seven straight points of her own to put NIU ahead 48-34 at the 8:07 mark. The Huskies led 50-37 when Lexi Fleming sparked a 9-3 Falcons run that got Bowling Green within seven, 53-46, with 3:35 left in the quarter. NIU put the lead back into double digits on baskets by Meinert and Hodges that made the score 57-46 with under 2:00 remaining in the third, but the Falcons held the Huskies without a field goal for the last 1:50 to cut the deficit to eight, 58-50, heading into the fourth quarter.
Kent State 70, Ball State 61
Box Score
KENT, Ohio — Kent State's bench accounted for 51 points on Saturday to lift the team to a 70-61 victory over Ball State on Senior Day. Sophomore Nila Blackford led the way with her fourth double-double of the season. Freshman Casey Santoro and junior Hannah Young also made key contributions while logging more minutes of court action than any other game this season.
The Golden Flashes (5-2, 4-0 MAC) have won five games in a row and are one of only two remaining unbeaten teams in the Mid-American Conference women's basketball standings.
Not being in the starting lineup for the first time this season, and just the second time during her Kent State career, was not a deterrent for Blackford. The forward from Louisville scored a game-high 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting, grabbed 11 rebounds and came away with a career-high three steals in the rare reserve role.
Santoro played a career-high 33 minutes, which included the entire second half. She finished with 12 points and a career-best three assists. Young had her best game of the season with 12 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore Katie Shumate added seven points to round out the bench scoring. Shumate also grabbed five boards and blocked two shots.
After allowing 21 points in the opening period and trailing by four through 10 minutes of play, the Flashes' defense held the Cardinals to 21 points on 8-of-27 shooting over the next 20 minutes. Meanwhile, a 21-5 run over an eight-plus minute span late in the first quarter and into the second helped Kent State build a 37-30 halftime lead.
Ball State hung around and trailed by six late in the third, but Lindsey Thall had a personal 5-0 run over the final 90 seconds to push the lead to 11 entering the fourth. Thall finished with 11 points and five rebounds.
A 7-0 run early in the fourth quarter helped the Flashes start to pull away. A three-pointer by Casey Santoro made it 58-45 at the 8:20 mark. Hannah Young scored on a pass from Nila Blackford on the next trip down the floor. Santoro added a fast break layup to give Kent State its largest lead of the day, 62-45, with 6:41 to play. Ball State closed with a 9-2 run over the final three minutes to get within single digits for the final score.
The Flashes held a decisive 43-33 rebounding advantage and led 17-2 in second-chance scoring. Kent State finished with more assists (13) than turnovers (12) for the second time this season. Sophomore Clare Kelly had a career-high four assists to lead the way.
The Flashes will make the trip down the road to play rival Akron in a Crystal Clinic Wagon Wheel Challenge contest on Wednesday, January 13 at 6 p.m.
Central Michigan 79, Buffalo 63
Box Score
BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Central Michigan women's basketball team made eight second-half 3-pointers and all five starters scored in double figures on Saturday as the Chippewas won a battle of Mid-American Conference heavyweights.
Maddy Watters hit five 3-pointers in scoring 21 points as CMU downed Buffalo, 79-63, at the Bulls' Alumni Arena. It was the fourth-consecutive win for the Chippewas, 7-2, 5-0 MAC. The Bulls are 7-3, 4-1.
CMU, which is seeking its fifth-consecutive MAC championship, is one of two unbeaten teams in league play. Kent State is 4-0 in the conference. At the start of play on Saturday, there were four unbeatens atop the standings, but that number was cut in half with the Bulls' loss to the Chippewas and Bowling Green's 78-71 loss to Northern Illinois.
CMU is ranked seventh in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25. Buffalo is 11th.
Ohio 85, Toledo 66
Box Score
ATHENS, Ohio – The Ohio (5-3, 3-2 MAC) women's basketball team took down Toledo (6-2, 2-3 MAC), 85-66, on Saturday afternoon at The Convocation Center.
"Toledo has two fantastic guards and I thought we did a great job of making it difficult on them," head coach Bob Boldon said. "Toledo traditionally runs their plays very well we did a good of disrupting the rhythm of what they were trying to do."
Ohio was stellar on defense, forcing Toledo to shoot 20-of-57 (35.1 percent) from the field and 4-of-21 (19.0 percent) from the three-point line. In the first half, UT shot just 6-of-30 (20.0 percent) and 2-of-13 (15.4 percent) from deep. The Bobcats were 32-of-76 (42.1 precent) from the field and 13-of-36 (36.1 percent) from the three-point line.
Ohio was led by senior guard Cece Hooks (Dayton, Ohio), who posted 24 points on 9-of-27 shooting. Hooks knocked down two from deep and was 4-of-5 from the free-throw line. Hooks filled up the stat sheet, posting a season-high six steals, five rebounds, a season-high four blocks and three assists.
"This week, she has been fantastic," Boldon added. "It started when she showed up at Miami with a little bit of an edge and disrupted what they were trying to do, and then today she was everywhere. She blocked shots, got loose balls, and was tipping balls. She was everywhere."
Akron 84, Miami 77
Box Score
AKRON, Ohio - A career-high 30 points from senior F Jordyn Dawson (Huntington, W.Va.), including 16 in the decisive second half, propelled the University of Akron women's basketball team to it first Mid-American Conference victory of the season, an 84-77 triumph over Miami (1-8, 0-5 MAC) on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 9, at James A. Rhodes Arena.
Dawson stuffed the stat sheet with 30 points, seven rebounds, six assists, two steals and numerous game-changing plays on the afternoon. She had plenty of help from junior G Gabrielle Brown-Mitchell (Solon, Ohio) and junior G Kendall Miller (Akron, Ohio), who scored 13 and 10 points, respectively. Adding nine points for Akron was sophomore F Lonasia Brewer (Akron, Ohio).
The Zips (4-4, 1-4 MAC) shot a sparkling 55.2 percent from the field, a season-high mark, and harassed the visiting RedHawks into 21 turnovers en route to the triumph. Akron turned the miscues into 31 points on the afternoon.
Kelly McLaughlin led Miami with 27 points, while Peyton Scott added 22 in the setback.
Play in the paint was dominant for both sides in the affair as each team scored 52 points, while the Zips posted a 16-14 edge in bench points and 19-8 in fast-break opportunities.
Playing at home for the first time in nearly three weeks and for the initial time in 2021, Akron fell behind early, but never panicked, steadily fighting its way back into the game behind Dawson's stellar play and red-hot shooting from the entire roster.
The latter stages of the third quarter proved to be the tipping point in the contest as the Zips closed the stanza on a 7-0 run over the final 1:46 to take a 56-49 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Dawson contributed a lay-up and a steal, junior F Colleen Neitzel (Rocky River, Ohio) added lay-up, while redshirt freshman G Layne Ferrell (Franklin, Ohio) scored the final three points of the period to fuel the scoring run.
When Miami staged a fourth-quarter rally, it was again Dawson who delivered the crucial rebuttal, converting an acrobatic lay-up with 4:48 remaining to stake the Zips to a 67-59 advantage. She added four clutch free throws in the final minute to seal the triumph.
With her team trailing by nine points early in the second quarter, Dawson willed the Zips back into the game, banking in a long three-pointer from the top of the key, adding a driving lay-up on Akron's ensuing possession and forcing a Miami turnover at the other end of the court. Her efforts sparked a 7-0 run that narrowed the RedHawks' lead to two, 23-21, in the span of 1:41.
Even after Miami was able to build its lead back to seven, Akron's reserves were able to power the Zips back into the game as freshman G Alexis Stewart (Hamilton, Ontario) and Ferrell both tallied baskets in a burst that tied the game at 36-all in the final minute of the first half.
Despite both teams struggling with turnovers in the first two quarters, Akron scorched the nets at a 51.9-percent clip, including 64.3-percent (9-of-14) shooting in the second quarter. Additionally, the Zips forced 11 Miami turnovers before intermission and converted those miscues into 18 points on the offensive end.
Akron is scheduled to host rival Kent State in the first installment of the Crystal Clinic Orthopaedic Center Wagon Wheel Challenge on Wednesday, Jan. 13, at James A. Rhodes Arena. The 6 p.m. tilt will be broadcast on the Akron Radio Network 640 WHLO AM with Bill Morgan calling the action.
