Wednesday’s Recaps
courtesy of MAC school web sites
Ohio 77, Akron 68
ATHENS, Ohio ? The Ohio women’s basketball team wrapped up its Mid-American Conference regular season with a 77-68 overtime victory over Akron on Senior Night at The Convo on Wednesday night.
Domenica Silva , the Bobcats only senior, and senior managers Courtney Cormier and Chris Feller were honored in a pre-game ceremony by Head Coach Sylvia Crawley.
With the win, Ohio improves to 17-11 overall and 10-6 in the MAC, while Akron drops 10-18 overall and 3-13 in MAC competition.
Simone Redd led the Bobcats in scoring with 17 points off the bench. Redd shot 7-of-13 from the field, including 1-of-3 from behind the three-point line and a perfect 2-of-2 from the charity stripe.
“I just wanted to come in off the bench and contribute,” said junior guard Simone Redd. “I know things weren’t going the way they should’ve, so I just wanted to come in and do whatever I could,. I enjoy being able to come in and help out wherever Coach needs me to.”
Quintana Ward chipped in 14 points, including a 6-of-6 effort from the free throw line. Rachel Frederick recorded her league-leading eleventh double-double of the season with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Lauren Kohn added 11 points and Silva chipped in with seven points and 10 rebounds. Jennifer Bushby had six points, Chandra Myers had five and Lauren Hmiel posted four.
Akron was led by Teresa Scott and Jessica Deville, who scored 21 points each. Sarah Tokodi added 14 points and seven assists in the loss.
Ball State 81, Northern Illinois 70
DEKALB, Ill. ?The Northern Illinois University women’s basketball team dropped its regular season home finale to Ball State, 81-70, Wednesday night at the Convocation Center.
“It was a disappointing loss for us today, being senior day,” NIU head coach Carol Owens said. “ We lost the game in the first two minutes of the second half. We turned the ball over and we couldn’t get a rebound. We panicked a little and got on our heels. They went to a zone and we stood around.”
The Huskies (17-11, 8-8) were unable to withstand a 10-0 run by Ball State (22-5, 13-3) in the opening minutes of the second half and being out-rebounded 39-28. With the loss, the Huskies have lost back-to-back games for the second time this season.
The Huskies came out strong on Senior Night, leading throughout the first half. They shot 45 percent from the field, going 6-12 from beyond the three-point line. NIU led by as many as 14 points with 5:18 left to play, before Ball State was able to cut the deficit to 41-32 heading into halftime.
Ball State’s Porchia Green keyed the Cardinal charge, scoring five points during the Cardinal run. Kristin Wiener scored a lay up to slow the run. The lead changed hands five times before Ball State took control and led for good with 15:30 left to play.
Kelsey Corbin led all scorers with 22 points, while Julie DeMuth was right behind her with 20. Porchia Green finished 17
Wiener finished with 18 points, while Jessie Wilcox led the Huskies with 19. Stephanie Raymond was the third Huskie to finish in double figures, tacking on 15. Seniro Margaret Batteast finished with a career-high eight points.
Kent State 62, Buffalo 47
Kent, Ohio - Kent State wrapped up a second place finish in the Mid-American East Division with a 62-47 victory over Buffalo Wednesday night (Feb. 28) at the M.A.C. Center. Behind a relentless defensive effort, the Golden Flashes also clinched a first round bye in next week’s 2007 Kraft MAC Tournament.
Offensively, senior guard Kristin Peoples led three Flashes in double figures with 18 points. On the other end of the floor, KSU held the Bulls to just 22 points in the first half and forced 23 turnovers for the game.
“I thought this was a great game for our seniors to go out on,” said Head Coach Bob Lindsay. “We had an excellent defensive effort out there today. Buffalo is a tough team to play against, they’re very physical on the inside, but I think our defense was the deciding factor.”
Tiffany LaFleur pulled down a team-high eight rebounds and hit double figures in scoring for the first time in 14 games. James finished with eight points and five steals in the final game at the M.A.C. Center for six KSU seniors.
Kourtney Brown was the only UB player in double figures as she scored 16 points.
Toledo 74, Western Michigan 66
TOLEDO, OH - On Senior Night, it was a senior Danielle Bishop, who stepped up and led Toledo to a 74-66 victory over Western Michigan in Savage Hall on Wednesday. Bishop led a balanced Rocket attack with 16 points, including 12 points in the second half.
"This is a real satisfying win for our program," Toledo Head Coach Mark Ehlen said. "We beat a solid team. We were floundering much of the latter part of the year and we wanted our last two games to be the start of a new season. Western Michigan is a team who had just won four out of five. To beat them twice this year is a good feeling, especially going into the conference tournament on a two-game winning streak."
Junior TaYani Clark and classmate Tamesha Scotton added 11 points a piece in the regular-season finale. Toledo's other senior, Savannah Werner, had nine points.
The victory moves Toledo (10-18, 6-10 MAC) into a tie with Western Michigan (13-17, 6-10 MAC) for fourth place in the West Division of the Mid-American Conference. With its two victories over the Broncos, UT secured the No. 4 seed in the West, and will play Buffalo, the No. 5 seed from the East, in the third game of the MAC Tournament on Sunday at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Tip-off is 30 minutes after Game No. 2, approximately 5:45 p.m.
Toledo trailed at the half, 33-32, and fell behind by as many as four points early in the second half. But a layup by Bishop with 14:27 left gave Toledo a 45-44 lead it never relinquished. WMU was down by only one, 61-60, with 4:23 left, but Bishop capped a 9-0 run with a three-pointer to give UT a 70-60 lead with 1:38 to play.
Western Michigan was led by Carrie Moore with 29 points. The nation's leading scorer entering the game with a 25.2 average, Moore shot just 5-of-13 in the second half, including 0-of-4 from three-point range.
Bowling Green 92, Miami 62
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team shot 68.0 percent in the second half en route to a 92-62 win over Miami University Wednesday night (Feb. 28). The Mid-American Conference game was held at BGSU's Anderson Arena.
With the victory, the Falcons end the regular season with an overall record of 26-3, and a final MAC mark of 15-1. The RedHawks close the regular-season schedule at 12-17 and 6-10, respectively.
On 'Senior Night' at Anderson, the Falcons' five active seniors combined for 73 of BGSU's 92 points. Two of those seniors, Carin Horne and Ali Mann, scored 23 and 22 points, respectively.
Jenna Schone led the RedHawks with 19 points, while Amanda Jackson had 17.
BGSU's lead was just four points, 37-33, at halftime, but the Brown and Orange scored the first six points of the second half -- before the RedHawks were able to even take a shot -- to open up a 10-point lead with less than a minute elapsed. The Falcons outscored the 'Hawks by a 55-29 count in the second half.
BGSU shot over 60 percent for the third time this season, but the first in MAC play, tying a season high with the 92 points. The Falcons made 31 of 51 shot attempts (60.8%) on the night, while holding the visitors to a 31.3% success rate.
Junior Kate Achter scored 13 points and dished out eight assists for the home team, while seniors Liz Honegger and Amber Flynn had 11 points apiece. The Falcons' fifth active senior, Megan Thorburn, took just three total shots in the game, but was a perfect 2-for-2 from three-point land for six points in (hopefully) the final game for the seniors at "The House That Roars."
Eastern Michigan 57, Central Michigan 50
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. ? With a first-round bye in the upcoming Mid-American Conference tournament on the line, the Eastern Michigan University women’s basketball team entered Rose Arena riding a 13-game winning streak against the Central Michigan Chippewas. After a slow start and a sluggish first half, the Eagles were able to turn it around in the second half, putting together an 11-4 run to close out the game and earn the 57-50 victory.
With the win EMU improves to 15-12 (10-6 MAC) while CMU falls to 11-18 (3-13 MAC). The victory extends the Eagles dominance over the Chippewas, as they have won the past 14 meetings.
Eastern Michigan was led by senior Patrice McKinney, who would score 11 of the last 14 Eagle points for a game-high mark of 18. Also, scoring in double figures for EMU was freshman Kelly Watts, who tied a career-high with 16 points.
CMU was paced by Sharonda Hurd with 14 points and Latisha Lucketts with 12 points.
For the game EMU connected on 43.4 percent (23-of-53) of its shots while CMU managed to connect on 40.7 percent (22-of-54) of its attempts. Eastern controlled the glass 36 to 29 and from beyond the arc, connecting seven times compared to just two for CMU.
