Mid-American Conference

DETROIT, Mich. - The Western Michigan women’s basketball team was led by junior Miracle Woods who posted season-highs in both points (20) and rebounds (8) leading the Broncos to the 71-57 victory over Detroit on Saturday afternoon.

Senior Jessica Jessing would tie a season-high with 15 points along with four rebounds. Junior Alex Morton contributed in a big way as well with 10 points and 7 assists. The Broncos as a team shot a season-high 43.8 (7-16) percent from three point range. The Brown & Gold have totaled 38 assists in the past two games including a season-high 21 assists against Detroit.

The Broncos started off hot from the three point line in the first five minutes of the game, with three of their first five shots coming via the long ball. Jessing got the scoring going for WMU with a long range three from the top of the key followed by a floater in the lane from Morton to give WMU an early 5-0 lead.

After five straight points from Detroit, Western Michigan would compile a 12-5 run extending the lead to 17-9 with 12:13 remaining. After a 22-13 lead, the Titans would grind their way back into the game with a 10-4 run and six straight points to close the margin to 28-23 with 3:30 remaining. The Brown & Gold took a 35-26 lead into halftime, holding the Titans to just under 27 percent from the field and wreaked havoc as Detroit committed eight turnovers.

The second half would start the same way the first half did with Jessing rattling in a long three point shot from the top of the key and sparked WMU as they jumped out quickly to a 42-29 lead. The Titans would inch to within nine of the lead before sophomore Meredith Shipman swiped the ball from the Detroit player and dished a beautiful assist to Jessing trailing to push the Bronco lead back up to 11 with 12 minutes remaining.

Detroit pulled within seven with nine minutes remaining before the WMU defense clamped down forcing two straight turnovers just 15 seconds apart. The Broncos would extend their lead to 13 before the Titans would battle back yet again as Detroit pulled to within seven with three minutes remaining. However, Detroit would go cold from behind the three-point line as the Bronco defense secured their second road win of the season, 71-57.

Western Michigan will enjoy the holidays before heading out to Stony Brook, New York to play in the Stony Brook Classic, Dec.28 and 29.  The Broncos will play tournament host Stony Brook at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 28 and will take on Holy Cross the next day at 12:00 p.m.

NEW ORLEANS, LA – Toledo outscored Southern Illinois 43-27 in the second half en route to registering a 64-48 win on Saturday in the second round of the New Orleans Shootout in the Convocation Center on the campus of Xavier University of Louisiana. With the victory, the Rockets improve to 6-4 on the season.

UT shot a blistering 54.8 percent (17-of-31) from the field over the final 20 minutes and 77.8 percent (7-of-9) from the charity stripe to improve to 22-5 (.815) in pre-conference tournaments under the direction of head coach Tricia Cullop.

Junior Ana Capotosto scored 12 of her team-high 20 points after the intermission, while sophomore Janice Monakana posted eight of her career-best 17 points in the second half to pace the Rockets to their second win in as many days. UT posted a 65-56 win against Nevada in the first round on Saturday.

UT also received nine points and a squad-best nine boards from senior Inma Zanoguera and six points each from junior Brenae Harris and sophomore Sophie Reecher to claim the impressive 16-point neutral-site triumph.

For a second-straight game, Toledo did a nice job taking care of the basketball and finished with 10 assists and only 10 turnovers. The Midnight Blue & Gold was especially effective in the second stanza, totaling eight helpers with only three miscues.

Rishonda Napier led the Salukis (6-4) with 15 points and Cartaesha Macklin had 10.

SIU started fast and took advantage of five points from Azia Washington to hold a 10-2 lead at the 15:16 mark. Washington knocked down a triple and a pair of free throws to give the visitors an early three-possession advantage.  

The Rockets continued to trail as the first half wore on, and Southern Illinois utilized a mini 5-0 burst to create a 17-10 cushion with just under nine minutes remaining in the period. Washington accounted for the first two points and Macklin knocked down a trey to establish a seven-point bulge for Southern Illinois.

UT needed an offensive spark to get back in the game and five straight points from Monakana trimmed the deficit to 17-15 with 5:35 left in the opening stanza. The London, England native converted a layup and drilled a three-point field goal to make it a one-possession difference.

Monakana’s play jump-started the Rockets offense and Capotosto fed off the swing in momentum. The Saugatuck, MI native drained a pair of free throws and converted a steal and coast-to-coast layup to knot the score at 21-21 at the intermission.

Monakana and Capotosto combined to score 17 of Toledo’s 21 points in the opening half.

The Rockets remained red-hot to start the second stanza and hit their first four shots from the field to establish a 30-26 lead at the 17:49 mark. Reecher, Harris, Zanoguera and Monakana were each credited with field goals in the impressive start to the final 20 minutes. It proved to be a lead UT would not relinquish.

Moments later, UT extended the margin to double figures, 41-31, on a trey by Capotosto and four-consecutive points from Monakana, forcing SIU into a timeout with 11:53 left in regulation.

SIU’s Napier willed her team back into the contest with a pair of treys, before UT’s Capotosto responded by scoring nine straight points to push the lead back to 15, 58-43, to seal the victory.

Toledo will now take a couple days off to enjoy the holidays before closing out its non-conference slate vs. UW-Parkside on Tuesday, Dec. 30. The opening tip against the Division II member Rangers is slated for 7:00 p.m. in Savage Arena.

AKRON, Ohio - The Akron women's basketball team extended its season-opening win streak to 10 in a row on Saturday afternoon with a 97-62 victory over Ohio Christian (6-8) at the James A. Rhodes Arena, in the Zips' (10-0) final home game of the non-conference schedule.

The contest served as the We Back Pat game, which is designed to raise awareness of Alzheimer's disease and educating others on Pat Summitt's dedication to defeating it.

Junior Anita Brown (Warren, Ohio) led all players in scoring for the fifth time this season, issuing a 10-of-12 performance from the field and 3-for-3 showing from the charity stripe for 23 points for the Zips. Seventeen of her points came in her 17 minutes of first-half action. Brown went coast-to-coast twice during her four-minute appearance in the second half as she ended the game with three steals.

Three other Zips joined Brown in double-figures. Sophomore Hannah Plybon (Orrville, Ohio) followed equaling a career-high scoring output with 18 points in her 24 minutes of play, connecting on 4-of-7 from long range.

Junior DiAndra Gibson (Ravenna, Ohio) finished one board shy of a double-double, as she helped the Zips win the rebounding battle 44-27, including 34-19 on the defensive glass, by posting nine rebounds, each coming on the defensive end to go with 12 points.

Senior Sina King (Waterford, Ohio) chipped in 12 points along with five boards to round out the double-figure scoring.

Freshman Kerri McMahan (Novi, Mich.) and junior Megan Barilla (Fairview Park, Ohio) helped Akron's offense, dishing out six assists apiece, while 12 different Zips posted points in the scoring column for 26 bench points.

Akron shot a season-best 58.5 percent from the field after connecting on 38 of its 65 attempts, while shooting 43.8 percent (7-of-16) from behind the arc.

Ohio Christian's Baylee Wallace led the Trailblazers' offensive effort with 15 points and five rebounds.

Redshirt junior Therany Dunnigan (Cleveland, Ohio) netted her first career points as a Zip on a lay-up with 2:16 left in the game, while sophomore Sophia Simone (Silver Lake, Ohio) cracked the scoring column for the first time this season with lay-up with 7:09 remaining in the game. Pulling down a career-high two rebounds was freshman Kaitlyn Flowers (Lompoc, Calif.)

The Zips opened the game struggling with ball control as the Trailblazers recorded three steals in the opening eight minutes of play. However, Akron used the initial portion of the opening period to gradually get out to a 16-8 lead following a pair of free throws from Brown.

After trading triples with the Trailblazers, Akron rode a 17-3 run beginning at the 10:22 mark to extend its lead to 36-14 with 3:23 remaining in the half. Six different Zips contributed points to the seven-minute run, while the Akron defense held Ohio Christian to just seven points throughout the final 10 minutes of the opening period.

The Zips led 44-18 at the intermission and shot 61.3 perfect from the field after connecting on 19-of-31 attempts to the Trailblazers' 23.3 percent showing from the field in the first half.

Gibson returned to the floor strong, posting five points in the opening minute as Akron maintained its comfortable lead throughout the second half.

Plybon connected on her third and fourth three-ball of the game, helping Akron to an 11-0 run that lifted the Zips to a game-high 41 point lead at 72-31 with 13:00 remaining. The Zips remained ahead by at least 30 points throughout the end of the game.
Old Dominion 69, Miami 63

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The Central Michigan women's basketball team faced off against the best of the best Saturday afternoon, falling to No. 1 South Carolina, 80-45.

It is the first time in program history the Chippewas have competed against the top-ranked team in the country.

"They are number one for a reason," Head Coach Sue Guevara said. "They are big, they are physical. They scored 62 points in the paint, they just really abused us down low."

South Carolina (11-0) held Central Michigan (4-4) to just 45 points, the fewest CMU has scored since 2011.

Senior Crystal Bradford led with a game-high 20 points and pulled down four boards. Bradford's four rebounds moves her to third all-time in career rebounds with 1,012.

The Chippewas struck first with a field goal from Bradford just 12 seconds into the game, but South Carolina quickly answered with a score of its own.

CMU committed turnovers on the next three possessions giving the Gamecocks an opportunity to take the lead. A made bucket from South Carolina at the 16:10 mark would be the start to the Gamecocks 9-0 run.

The Maroon and Gold fell behind by as much 15 in the first half, but a made bucket from Bradford in the paint cut the deficit to 13 going into the locker room.

"It was a 13-point game at half, but I thought we had too many missed opportunities, we had missed layups and turned the ball over," Guevara said. "I think against a team like that you have to be on top of your game and again, I thought we had some inconsistent play and those are things we need to take care of."

South Carolina's size proved to be too much for CMU outrebounding the Chippewas 48-36, with 21 of the Gamecocks' points coming off the offensive glass, compared to just two for the Chippewas.