Mid-American Conference

ORLANDO, Fla. - Akron held Central Florida (4-6) without a field goal for more than eight minutes (8:18) in the second half to stretch a three-point margin into its ninth-consecutive victory as the Zips (9-0) posted a 73-64 women's basketball triumph past the Knights on Wednesday.

"No. 1 we won the game and played a really good Central Florida team on the road and anytime you can win on the road it is a good victory for us," Akron head coach Jodi Kest commented. "They did some things that hurt us – offensive rebounds and turnovers, and we have to get to work and do a better job on Saturday."

Four Zips finished with double-figure scoring efforts led by senior Sina King (Waterford, Ohio) registering her team-leading sixth double-double of the season on the strength of an 18-point, 10-rebound performance.

Joining her in double figures with 15, 13 and 10 points, respectively, was freshman Kerri McMahan (Novi, Mich.), junior Anita Brown (Warren, Ohio) and sophomore Hannah Plybon (Orrville, Ohio). The Knights were paced by a 26-point evening from Zykira Lewis and an 11-point, 21-rebound performance from Brittni Montgomery.

The Zips had to fight down to the wire for the victory as they committed a season-high 23 turnovers that enabled UCF to keep it at a single-digit deficit over the game's final few minutes.

Akron had an opportunity to put the game away at the free-throw line but struggled at the charity stripe over the final three minutes making only six of its 12 attempts.

The Zips connected on 45.8 percent of their shots from the field in the affair, while limiting the Knights to a 32.9 percent shooting mark.

Akron garnered 10-, eight- and six-rebound efforts from King, junior DiAndra Gibson (Ravenna, Ohio) and Brown, but was outrebounded in the affair, 51-46, including 25-11 on the offensive glass.

Distributing a game- and team-high six assists was junior Megan Barilla (Fairview Park, Ohio).

The Knights jumped out to a 10-5 advantage in the contest before the Zips parlayed an 11-0 run to assume a 16-10 lead after a jumper by McMahan at the 12:11 mark.

Back-to-back baskets by UCF cut the deficit to 16-14 before the Zips got baskets from freshman Alli Ball (St. Louis, Mo.), King and Brown to stretch their lead to 22-14.

After exchanging the next three baskets, Akron went on a 5-0 run to assume its largest lead of the half, 29-18, after a free throw by Gibson with 6:42 left in the half.

UCF chipped away at the lead before the Zips entered the intermission holding a 37-30 advantage.

Akron connected on 44.1 percent of its shots in the initial stanza, while limiting the Knights to a 37.5 percent shooting mark. The Zips' Achilles heel in the first half was turnovers as Akron committed 12 in the initial 20 minutes.

The second half began as a back-and-forth affair before the Knights fought back to cut Akron's lead to 52-49 after a jumper by Lewis with 12:31 remaining.

UCF didn't score another field goal over the next 8:18 as the Zips used defensive pressure and a 15-2 run to assume their largest lead of the game (16), 67-51, on a lay-up by King with 6:20 left in the game.

The Knights were able to cut Akron's lead down to five, 69-64, with 1:16 remaining on a three-pointer by Lewis.

UCF though missed its final three shots and committed a turnover as the Zips left the court victorious, 73-64.

Akron returns to action on Saturday, Dec. 20 as the Zips host Ohio Christian at the James A. Rhodes Arena. Game time is slated for 2 p.m. with the contest serving as the team's We Back Pat game. The contest is designed to raise awareness of Alzheimer's disease and educating others on Pat Summitt's dedication to defeating it.

DeKALB - The NIU women’s basketball team played a well-rounded offensive and defensive game Wednesday night versus SIU Edwardsville as the Cougars (3-6) were held under 50 points and the Huskies (3-5) shot .528 from the field to defeat SIUE, 69-47. The win improved the Huskies to 2-1 at the NIU Convocation Center this season.

Senior Amanda Corral (Hobart, Ind./Hobart) scored a season-high 26 points on an 11-of-17 shooting performance, a new career-high in field goals made. Sophomore Ally Lehman (Nineveh, Ind./Indian Creak) scored 15 points with six assists and three blocks. Danny Pulliam (Indianapolis, Ind./Pike) dished five helpers to reach the 200 assist plateau and become the 20th Huskie to reach that mark in her career.

“I thought we shot the ball really well tonight and did nice job shutting their zone down. We were able to get some things going offensively against the zone which was good to see. We did enough in the first half to get the win and we really played hard on the defensive end but I wish we would have played better in the second half,” said Head Coach Kathi Bennett.

The Huskies opened the contest with a hot shooting hand as they made 15-of-30 shots in the first stanza for an even 50-percent field goal percentage. NIU’s offensive furry tied its season-high for points in the first half at 36, last recorded versus Delaware State on Nov. 30.

Defensively, the Huskies were just as strong in the period as they created 15 turnovers and accounted for 15 points off takeaways. The Huskies closed the first period on a 23-5 run.

The Cougars finished the half shooting 37-percent, going 7-for-19 from the field. Micah Jones led the Cougars at the half with five points, scoring three from the free throw line.

Corral led NIU with 13 points in the first half, going 6-of-10 from the field. The senior was followed closely by Lehman, who accounted for eight points.

The Huskies would go on to build a 25-point lead in the second half as Lehman hit a jump shot at the 10:45 mark. The Cougars closed the gap to 15 points in the final half of the stanza as they were 14-of-19 from the free throw line in the period.

However, NIU finished strong as it closed the final six minutes of the game on an 11-4 run. The Huskies forced the Cougars to turn the ball over 20 times on the night, the third-straight game NIU has forced 19-or-more takeaways.

Of their 28 field goals in the contest, a new season-high, the Huskies recorded 19 assists as Lehman led the way with six, followed by Pulliam who registered five in the contest.

Lehman set new career-highs on the night in three-point field goals made (3) and blocks (3) and tied her career mark in assists with six to lead all players in the game.

The Huskies will return to the court Sunday as they head to Cedar Falls, Iowa to take on Northern Iowa.

KENT, Ohio – A solid start sizzled late for the Golden Flashes (1-8) as they fell to visiting Arkansas State (4-4) 59-44 Wednesday night at the M.A.C. Center.

Kent State put forth a strong first half effort to find itself down by a slim 21-30 margin at the break.  They took an early lead off the opening tip and surged ahead to as much as a nine point advantage.  The game became tied at the 8:57 mark in the first before Arkansas State went on an 11-2 run to close out the half.

In the second, the Golden Flashes continued to keep it close, as the Red Wolves weren't able to extend their lead into double digits until half way through the period.  Arkansas State then heated up to extend its lead to as much as 23 before making it the final of 59-44.

Turnovers troubled the Golden Flashes as they committed 27 that gave the opponent 25 points.  The Red Wolves had 24 steals in the game but the Golden Flashes outrebounded them 38-32.

CiCi Shannon finished with a team-high 12 points while both Jordan Korinek and Melanee Stubbs netted 11.  Stubbs and Montia Johnson both led with seven rebounds while Shannon and Korinek were close behind with six each.  Shannon also had four blocks in the contest.

Kent State will finish non-conference play on the road by travelling to Colgate this Sunday and New Orleans on the 30th.