Wednesday's Scoreboard
Kent State 65, Buffalo 62
Western Michigan 66, Eastern Michigan 56
Toledo 72, Central Michigan 67
Ball State 82, Northern Illinois 79
Akron 84, Miami 63
Stories Courtesy of MAC Sports Information
Kent State 65, Buffalo 62
Box Score
KENT, Ohio — Kent State scored the final four points to earn a 65-62 victory over Buffalo in the annual Play4Kay game at the M.A.C. Center on Wednesday night.
The Golden Flashes (10-6, 9-4 MAC) held the Bulls to their second lowest-scoring game of the season and did not allow a field goal over the final 4:55 of the contest. Sophomore Clare Kelly hounded Buffalo star Dyaisha Fair on the game's final possession and the high-scoring guard's heave from 25 feet out didn't fall.
Sophomore Nila Blackford scored 16 of her team-high 18 points in the second half. The forward shook off 1-of-8 shooting in the first half by making 8 of 10 shots while playing all 20 minutes after halftime and also led Kent State with nine rebounds. Classmate Katie Shumate added 17 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots.
Junior Mariah Modkins, who scored seven of her 10 points during the final six minutes, put the Flashes ahead, 63-62, with a runner near the elbow as the shot clock neared expiration with 50.6 seconds to play.
Following a defensive stop, Kelly found Blackford open for a layup on an underneath inbounds play to extend it to 65-62 with 17.1 to play. Kent State forced another turnover but missed two free throw attempts with 10.7 on the clock to allow the Bulls to get the ball with a chance to tie it.
After a timeout, Buffalo got the ball into the hands of Fair, who made the team's only three-point field goal of the night, with 7.1 seconds remaining. The nation's sixth-leading scorer was unable to create space from Kelly and had to chuck a desperation shot that hit off the glass and grazed the rim before falling to the ground.
Kent State heads back on the road on Saturday when it attempts to complete a season sweep of Miami.
Western Michigan 66, Eastern Michigan 56
Box Score
YPSILANTI, Mich. – The Western Michigan women's basketball team picked up its first road victory of the season on Wednesday night with a wire-to-wire 66-56 win over in-state foe Eastern Michigan.
The Broncos earned their first road victory since March 4, 2020 when the Broncos defeated the Eagles at the Convocation Center. Western Michigan has now won back-to-back games for the first time this season and three of the last four.
For the sixth straight game WMU had three score in double figures led by redshirt senior Reilly Jacobson with 24 points, three shy of her career-high. It's the second straight 20-point performance for Jacobson and fourth 20-point game this season.
The redshirt senior forward was 8-of-15 from the field to go along with nine rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block. Jacobson was also 3-of-5 from behind the three-point line and 6-of-9 from the free-throw line.
In her second straight start junior Maddie Watters matched her career-high with 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field in 40 minutes of action. Watters was nearly perfect from long distance shooting 4-of-6 from behind the three-point line. It was Watters fifth game this season scoring in double figures.
Rounding out the double digit scorers was redshirt freshman Taylor Williams with her eighth double-double of the season. Williams was 4-of-12 from the field with three three-pointers for 13 points to go along with 10 rebounds, two of which came on the offensive glass. Williams in 35 minutes also had two assists and two steals.
As a team the Broncos shot 38.9 percent from the field and was a staggering 11-of-23 from behind the three-point line. It's the fourth game this season the Broncos have registered double-digit three-pointers and the first time since Feb. 6 against Central Michigan.
Western Michigan forced EMU to commit 18 turnovers on Wednesday night while EMU out rebounded WMU, 45-39. The Broncos scored just 16 points in the paint to EMU's 22 and had 15 assists on 21 made field goals.
With the win the Broncos have won two straight and have an overall record of 5-13 and 4-12 in Mid-American Conference play. WMU returns home on Saturday, Feb. 27 for a showdown with the Huskies of Northern Illinois. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m. inside University Arena.
Toledo 72, Central Michigan 67
Box Score
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – The University of Toledo women's basketball team took an early lead against Central Michigan on Wednesday and fended off a late Chippewa run to win 72-67 at McGuirk Arena.
Freshman Sammi Mikonowicz scored 15 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter to help Toledo seal the deal. Sophomore Sophia Wiard added 15 points and four assists, while classmate Quinesha Lockett contributed 12 points, five rebounds, and three steals.
The Rockets grabbed control of the game early, taking a 22-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. But CMU slowly chipped away at its deficit, whittling it down to nine at halftime and to just one, 51-50, through three quarters. Central Michigan briefly took the lead in the fourth quarter, but Toledo recovered and held on for win. The victory moves the Rockets to 10-11 overall and 6-11 in Mid-American Conference play. CMU is now 13-8 overall and 11-6 in league play.
"I'm proud of this team for the way they played tonight," head coach Tricia Cullop said. "I'm so happy for our players because we've experienced some heartache in the final minutes of our last few games. They were given the chance to earn a victory today and that's exactly what they did. We'll enjoy this one tonight before we have to get up tomorrow and get ready for our next game."
The Rockets started the game shooting 52.9 percent from the field in the first quarter and ended it by shooting 50 percent in the fourth quarter.
Central Michigan was led offensive by Molly Davis and Micaela Kelly, who both scored 21 points. Jahari Smith grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds.
Ball State 82, Northern Illinois 79
Box Score
DEKALB, Ill. - So many good things happened tonight for the Cardinals, not only did senior forward Oshlynn Brown become the program's all-time leading rebounder, BSU also punched its ticket to Cleveland for the 2021 Mid-American Conference Tournament.
Tonight's game was an up and down affair between the two schools with both teams having significant leads at some point during the 40-minute duration.
But it was the Cardinals (12-9, 10-7 MAC) that prevailed, taking home the 82-79 victory over the Huskies (11-9, 9-6 MAC) Wednesday night in the Convocation Center.
"Extremely proud of this group and the resolve they showed in this win tonight,"Ball State head coach Brady Sallee said. "Our group showed some major league toughness in this big win. It was awesome to see Osh break the all-time rebound record, especially in a winning effort."
Although tonight's contest was another close call for BSU with the game knotted late at 79 apiece with just a minute left. A missed layup by NIU's Shelby Koker gave Ball State the ball back with 31 seconds remaining.
As the clock was winding down, Brown did what she does best, powering through two defenders to get the layup and draw the foul. Brown completed the old fashioned 3-point play to give BSU the lead back for good.
Akron 84, Miami 63
Box Score
OXFORD, Ohio - Sparked by a 21-point and 11-rebound performance from senior F Jordyn Dawson (Huntington, W.Va.), the University of Akron women's basketball team registered a resounding 84-63 road triumph over Miami (3-18, 2-16 MAC) in Mid-American Conference action on Wednesday, Feb. 24 at Millett Hall.
The 21-point win marked the second-largest margin of victory for the Zips (6-12, 3-12 MAC) all-time against the RedHawks in Millett Hall.
"This was a great win tonight," Akron head coach Melissa Jackson commented. "We had a really good week of practice in which we were able to put some new things in. It was awesome to see them execute in the game today. We got contributions from different players in many areas, which truly makes this a team win. I am really proud of Kendall (Miller) for giving us a huge spark, while Lo (Brewer) and JD (Jordyn Dawson) did a great job on the glass. Molly (Neitzel) and Layne (Ferrell) had some huge buckets and I love how they were aggressive offensively."
Dawson directed four Zips scoring in double-figures with a team-high 21 points to record her ninth career double-double. Sophomore F Molly Neitzel (Rocky River, Ohio), redshirt freshman G Layne Ferrell (Franklin, Ohio) and junior Kendall Miller (Akron, Ohio) added 13, 12 and 11 points, respectively. Neitzel posted a career-high in scoring, while Ferrell, in her first career start, equaled a career-best 12 points, en route to scoring in double figures for the third consecutive contest.
Peyton Scott directed Miami's offensive efforts pouring in a game-high 27 points.
The Zips finished the contest shooting 53.7 percent from the field and better than 47 percent (.471) from beyond the arc, while limiting the RedHawks to an overall 36.2 percent shooting mark on the night.
Akron posted a 34-33 edge in rebounding, which the Zips parlayed into a 40-24 margin in points in the paint and 11-8 edge in second-chance points. Led by 13 and 11 points from Molly Neitzel and Miller, Akron garnered a 34-14 margin in bench scoring.
The opening quarter was a back-and-forth affair as neither team led by more than four points in the stanza, one that featured four lead changes and two ties as Miami took a 17-15 lead into the second quarter.
Four more ties occurred in the opening five minutes of the second quarter before the Zips' offense broke open a 25-all stalemate with a 16-3 run to close to half to take a 41-28 lead into the half. Fueling the run with six points was Molly Neitzel, while sophomore G Rachel Martindale (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and redshirt freshman G Emma Tecca (Tallmadge, Ohio) each connected on a three pointer.
Akron was 10-of-17 from the field in the second quarter to finish the period shooting 58.8 percent, including connecting on a trio of three pointers.
