MAC Women's Basketball Tournament First Round Results
MAC Women's Basketball Tournament First Round Results
No. 8 Akron def. No. 9 Western Michigan, 76-65
No. 5 Eastern Michigan def. No. 12 Miami, 82-74
No. 6 Buffalo def. No. 11 Ball State, 82-73
No. 10 Ohio def. No. 7 Northern Illinois, 72-56
Stories Courtesy of MAC Media Relations Offices
No. 8 Akron def. No. 9 Western Michigan, 76-65
AKRON, Ohio - The University of Akron women's basketball team advanced to the quarterfinals of the FirstEnergy Mid-American Conference Tournament with a 76-65 win over Western Michigan on Saturday afternoon at James A. Rhodes Arena. The Zips (14-15, 7-10 MAC), the No. 8 seed, snapped a three-game losing streak and earned their second win of the season over the Broncos (9-21, 5-12 MAC), the No. 9 seed. UA moves on to face No. 1 seed Toledo at 5 p.m. ET on Wednesday, March 9 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
Recording her fourth consecutive double-double and 16th of the season, sophomore forward Rachel Tecca led the Zips with 19 points, 11 rebounds, and a career-high four blocks. Senior Kara Murphy, playing in her final game at the JAR, added 18 points and five boards, including a perfect 3-for-3 from behind the arc. Jasmine Mushington and Sina King rounded out four Zips in double figures with 10 points apiece.
Senior Ebony Cleary led all players with 23 points and 12 rebounds for Western Michigan, while junior Miame Giden totaled 20. The Zips finished 22-for-57 from the floor (38.6 percent), slightly behind the Broncos who went 25-for-63 (39.7 percent). Akron won the battle on the boards, however, out-rebounding WMU 44-36. The Zips also managed to make 26-of-30 free throws (86.7 percent) to help pull out the win down the stretch.
The Broncos got off to a fast start, but Akron battled back behind the play of Tecca inside to make it 10-8 in favor of WMU five minutes into the contest. Out of the first media timeout, a nifty pass from Natasha Williams to Young tied the game at 10, and the Zips regained possession by forcing a jump ball on the other end of the floor.
The Zips took a one-point lead when Hanna Luburgh converted a 3-point play underneath, but Western Michigan answered with a layup on the ensuing possession. With 11:54 to play in the half, Akron trailed 13-15. A pair of free throws by Sina King would tie the game again at 17 with 10:10 to play. Back-to-back buckets by the Broncos put them ahead 21-17, but Murphy knocked down two free throws of her own to stop the run.
After missed opportunities by the Zips, WMU jumped out to a six-point lead, but a triple from Murphy cut it to 27-24 with 4:00 to go until the break. Tecca followed on the next possession with a bucket and a foul, and after converting the free throw, the game was knotted at 27.
King nailed a trey from the left corner, but the Broncos added a basket and a freebie to even the score at 30 all. Jasmine Mushington then hit a mid-range jumper as the score remained tight. Another 3-ball from Murphy in the final minute gave Akron a 35-31 lead heading into the locker room.
At the half, Murphy lead all players with 12 points, followed by Tecca with 11 points and six boards. Cleary paced the Broncos with 10 and five. The Zips went 12-for-30 from the floor for 40.0 percent, while Western was one shot better at 13-for-30 (43.3 percent).
The back-and-forth pace of play continued, as both teams started hot in the second half. Carly Young's first 3-pointer of the game gave Akron a 42-36 advantage with 16:55 to go, its largest lead of the day. Three-straight free throws by the Broncos cut their deficit to three, 42-39, but Murphy drilled another triple from the corner to push the lead back to six.
After several minutes with no scoring, Western Michigan's Aurielle Anderson hit a layup to pull her team within two, 45-43, but King added her second 3-pointer of the game to make it 48-43 in favor of the Zips with 11:30 to play. On the next possession, Tecca got her own rebound and made a layup to widen the gap to seven. After a defensive stop, Luburgh converted her second old-fashioned 3-point play to make it 53-43, Akron's largest lead of the game.
Four consecutive free throws by the Broncos trimmed Akron's lead to 53-47 with 8:17 remaining. The Zips were hanging on to the momentum as Western committed back-to-back turnovers. A driving layup by Mushington and a jumper from King again put Akron up by double digits, 59-47, with 5:00 to play. Western converted a 3-point play, but Murphy knocked down a pair of free throws and Ti'eshia Stubbs added a layup to help Akron maintain its lead. With 3:25 left, the Zips were up 63-52.
Western Michigan would try to come back, but Akron did not relent. A steal and breakaway layup by Mushington made the score 69-56 with 1:40 left to put the game out of reach for the Broncos. UA was sent to line down the stretch with the game in hand in the final minute.
Akron will advance to the quarterfinals of the MAC Tournament to face top-seeded Toledo (22-7, 14-2) on Wednesday, March 9 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET.
No. 5 Eastern Michigan def. No. 12 Miami, 82-74
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) - It was a tale of two halves Saturday, March 5, as the Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team came back from a 15-point first half deficit to upend the Miami RedHawks, 82-74, in the first round of the FirstEnergy 2011 Mid-American Conference Women's Basketball Tournament, here at the Convocation Center.
After falling down 45-30 heading into intermission, the Eagles used a 15-1 run to start the second half, bringing them to within one point, 46-45, and completed the impressive feat by outscoring Miami 20-9 over the final 7:59 of the game.
Tavelyn James (Detroit, Mich.-Mumford) led EMU with a season-high36 points, while Cassie Schrock (Wadsworth, Ohio-Wadsworth) (14 points and 11 assists) and Paige Redditt (Kansas City, Mo.-Belton)(21 points and 12 rebounds) each had double-doubles. Senior forward Kristen Thomas (Winter Park, Fla.-Hillsborough C.C.) cleaned up on the glass, snagging 14 rebounds in 32 minutes of action. Deja Wills (Anderson, Ind.-Anderson) was also instrumental in the Eagles' comeback, hitting two key baskets during the run, as she poured in seven total points.
The RedHawks had four players in double figures, as Courtney Osbourn scored 17 points on 5-of-20 shooting, Maggie Boyer and Kristen Olowinski each tallied 14 points, and Erica Almady posted 12 points. Olowinski notched a double as she was also able to grab 11 rebounds.
James paced the Eagles' blistering tempo in the second half, as the junior guard jump-started the Eastern's offense with a long deuce and another layup. Schrock and Redditt joined the comeback effort as each would also net key buckets during the stretch.
The Green and White took its first lead of the ballgame with 14:18 left in the game when James hit two free throws, giving EMU a one point advantage at 51-50. The teams battled back and forth, exchanging points on each end up and down the court, as neither team was able to take a stranglehold of the contest.
The hosting Eagles would start to pull away with 5:08 remaining as a driving James was put on the line with the game tied at 69 apiece. She swished the two freebies, putting Eastern ahead 71-69, added a layup and two more free throws after a Miami score, to put EMU ahead 73-69. Seven more free throw and one more James layup over the final 2:35 iced the game and helped Eastern advance to the second round of the MAC Tournament.
For the game, Eastern shot 41.8 percent (23-of-55) from the field and out-rebounded Miami 47-37. Miami was 27-of-66 from the field (40.9 percent) but shot less than 50 percent from the free throw line. Eastern was 32-of-44 from the line.
In the first half, the Eagles started the game flat, not scoring their first point until a Schrock free throw got them in the scoring column at the 16:57 mark in the game. Miami, on the other hand, was red hot from the field, netting four of its first five shots (including 3-of-3 from beyond the arc) and bolting out to an early 11-0 advantage.
EMU's offense finally showed up as Schrock hit two more free tosses and Redditt would score two layups in a 33 second span to bring the Eagles to within six points, 21-15. Miami responded to Eastern's mini-run with one of their own, as a 10-2 spurt would again propel Miami ahead by double digits, 31-17, with 7:46 left in the first half. MU's Maggie Boyer, who had gone down earlier in the half with a knee injury, returned to knock down a three pointer to fuel the spurt.
Over the remainder of the opening stanza, Schrock was the only Eagle aside from James to score, as the junior sharpshooter scored EMU's final 11 points of the frame. Miami went tit for tat with the Green and White, however, and took a 45-30 advantage into the locker room at intermission.
EMU was plagued by 12 first-half turnovers as MU scored 18 points off of those miscues. The Eagles were led in the first half by James and her 13 points, while Schrock was able to notch eight points, including shooting 6-of-9 from the charity stripe, but she also had five turnovers. Olowinski led Miami as she scored 10 points and nabbed nine rebounds, while Boyer had 12 points and Osbourn added 10 also. Almady chipped in with seven.
The Eagles will battle the No. 4-seeded Kent State Golden Flashes in the second round of the FirstEnergy 2011 Mid-American Conference Women's Basketball Tournament on March 9, at 7:30 p.m. in Cleveland, Ohio at Quicken Loans Arena. The game will be broadcast live on WEMU 89.1.
No. 6 Buffalo def. No. 11 Ball State, 82-73
BUFFALO, NY - The University at Buffalo women's basketball team kept its season alive on Saturday evening as it defeated Ball State, 82-73, in the first round of the 2011 Mid-American Conference Tournament. The sixth-seeded Bulls now advance to the Quarterfinals in Cleveland, OH where they will face Central Michigan on Wednesday.
The visiting Cardinals shot the ball extremely well all game, shooting 52.7 percent from the floor, however the UB defense played well, forcing 22 Ball State turnovers, 12 of those coming off steals. The Cardinals scored the first five points of the game and had their largest lead of the contest at six just two and half minutes in. The Bulls cut it to one on a three from Brittany Hedderson before Ball State would get the lead back to five at 17-12. The Bulls then went on a 13-4 run to go up by four points and they would not trail for the rest of the game. The Bulls got their lead up to as many as nine in the opening half as senior Kourtney Brown converted on a three point play with 3:38 to go in the half, going up 34-25. Both teams then traded buckets back and forth for the rest of the half, including two amazing drives to the basket from Ashley Zuber to keep the UB lead at nine. Buffalo ended up taking a seven-point lead into the half.
The Bulls led through out the second half, but it was extremely close as the Cardinals cut the UB lead to one with 13:03 left. Over the next six minutes the teams traded baskets as UB led by no more than four points. Ball State continued to hang in there again cutting it to one point with 5:30 to go before the Bulls went on a game-clinching 8-0 run over the next two minutes, capped off on a layup from Bridgette Kendricks. The Cardinals would get no closer than six as UB finally came away with the 82-73 victory.
"Our intensity was definitely there for 40 minutes tonight and it was great to see that," said head coach Linda Hill-MacDonald. "We didn't want this to be the last game for our seniors and it showed in the way we played. We are excited to be going back to Cleveland for the next round."
The Bulls were led by 27 points from Brown, who also added nine rebounds, four blocks and two steals. The nine rebounds give her 352 for the season, breaking her single-season mark from a year ago. Hedderson finished with 16 points and five rebounds, while Jessica Fortman added 15 points, five rebounds, six assists, four steals and a block. Kendricks rounded out the double figure scorers with 10 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals. Zuber had six points and six assists for UB. The Bulls also got four points off the bench from Nicki Hopkins and Beth Christensen.
The Bulls turned the ball over just eight times, their lowest total since prior to the 2001-02 season. Even more impressive was that UB turned the ball over just two times in the second half.
The Cardinals, who end their season at 9-21, were led by 20 points from Ty'Ronda Benning and 14 points from Ebony Jackson. Benning and Brandy Woody each finished with four assists.
The Bulls are back in action on Wednesday afternoon in the MAC Tournament Quarterfinals. They will face Central Michigan at 2:30 pm at Quicken Loans Arena.
No. 10 Ohio def. No. 7 Northern Illinois, 72-56
DEKALB, Ill.-Ohio freshman Erin Bailes nailed five of seven 3-point attempts and all eight of her free throws en route to a season-high 23 points as the 10th-seeded Ohio women's team defeated seventh-seeded Northern Illinois 72-56 Sunday evening in first round action of the Mid-American Conference Tournament at the Convocation Center in DeKalb, Ill.
The Bobcats improved to 9-21 and will face second-seeded Bowling Green in a quarterfinal matchup Wednesday at 12 p.m. ET in Quicken Loans Arena. The Falcons defeated Ohio 66-54 in Athens on Jan. 5 and 77-63 in Bowling Green on Feb. 16.
Tenishia Benson had 12 points and Kamille Buckner posted 10 to join Bailes in double digits. Benson recorded seven rebounds and three steals and Buckner added three blocks. Shavon Robinson chipped in five assists as well.
NIU was led by Ebony Ellis' 18 points and 15 rebounds, 10 of which came on the offensive end.
Ohio led wire-to-wire in this one, making half of their shots (24-48), while NIU connected on just 30.2 percent (19-63). The Bobcats' first double-digit lead came at the 9:26 mark of the first half on a Bailes 3-pointer to give Ohio a 20-10 advantage. The Bobcats led 35-20 at the break.
The lead grew to as many as 19 twice in the second half, the last time coming on a Robinson layup at the 13:24 mark (47-28). NIU drew to within 10 (54-44) on an Ellis layup with 5:06 to go, but Ohio hit enough free throws down the stretch to keep the home team at bay.
NIU outrebounded Ohio 43-34, including 20-7 on the offensive glass. Bailes' scoring explosion gave Ohio a 32-13 in bench scoring as well.
