Ball State 77, Akron 73
Eastern Michigan 56, Miami 38
Ohio 67, Northern Illinois 40
Toledo 75, Buffalo 63
Western Michigan 82, Bowling Green 52
Courtesy of home MAC Athletic Communications Departments
Ball State 77, Akron 73
AKRON, Ohio - After battling down to the wire, the Akron women's basketball team was unable to capitalize on its final possessions as the Zips (14-3, 4-2 MAC) were held without a field goal for the closing three minutes, while Mid-American Conference Western Division leader Ball State (9-8, 5-1 MAC) ended the game on a 10-3 run to defeat Akron, 77-73 Wednesday night at James A. Rhodes Arena.
The Zips fought through eight ties and five lead changes and led the Cardinals four times throughout the second half, but never by more than two points. Neither team led by more than eight points throughout the contest.
Freshman Kerri McMahan (Novi, Mich.) gave the Zips their first lead of the game since the five-minute mark of the first half with a lay-up at the 6:17 mark for a 61-60 advantage.
Ball State posted five-straight points in response, which the Zips countered with a 7-0 run with McMahan again putting the Zips ahead with a long jumper, this time for a 68-66 lead with 4:04 remaining. Unfortunately, Akron connected on only one more field goal until the end of the game, which allowed the Cardinals to take control, and collect the victory.
Senior Sina King (Waterford, Ohio) led all players in scoring equaling a career high with 29 points, while pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds to register her team-leading ninth double-double of the season. The senior dished out four assists, while issuing a perfect 6-of-6 performance from the line. King cracked double digits by the 11:13 mark of the first half.
Junior Anita Brown (Warren, Ohio) followed, posting 17 points with a team-high four steals, while McMahan tallied 11 points after shooting 5-of-9 from the field.
Junior DiAndra Gibson (Ravenna, Ohio) finished two points shy of a double-double with an eight-point, 11-rebound effort, while junior Megan Barilla (Fairview Park, Ohio) dished out a game-high six assists.
Akron edged Ball State in the rebounding battle, 33-32, while both teams struggled with ball control. The Zips forced the Cardinals into 23 turnovers, while posting 19 giveaways of their own.
Ball State garnered a 27-0 advantage in bench points in the affair.
As the Zips struggling to find the bottom of the net to open the game, Akron forced four Ball State turnovers on the Cardinals' first five possessions to keep the Ball State offense at bay. King registered nine points by the 12:20 mark as the Zips found a rhythm to lead 15-11 following a brief 9-1 run.
Akron worked its way around the Ball State offense and led by as many as eight in the first half, dishing it inside the paint for 18 of their first 25 points to lead the Cardinals, 25-20, at the 8:20 mark.
Akron's offense suffered from turnovers and 1-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc in the first half as Ball State went on to tie the game at 27-all at the 5:04 mark after back-to-back layups. Nathalie Fontaine, who missed her first six shots of the game, hit three in a row for the Cardinals, giving Ball State its first lead of the game.
The teams traded buckets and knotted the game in a tie four more times until Ball State closed the half with a layup and a jumper for a 37-33 advantage at the intermission.
The Cardinals used three lay-ups to open the second half as King fought them off, sinking the first two Akron buckets of the period which sparked a 7-0 Akron run when sophomore Hannah Plybon (Orrville, Ohio) connected on just the second triple of the game and Brown followed, taking it to the rim herself to come within one of Ball State, 43-42, with 14:53 to play.
A pair of Ball State triples put the Cardinals up by seven at 58-51 with 9:15 remaining, but the Zips battled back when Brown and McMahan each snatched the ball and layed it in, allowing Akron to chip away at the deficit and make it a one-point game before McMahan struck again and put Akron in the lead to set up the closing possessions.
The Zips return to action on Saturday, Jan. 24, when they travel to take on Central Michigan for a 1 p.m. contest set to air on ESPN3.
Eastern Michigan 56, Miami 38
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) — Eastern Michigan University's women's basketball team secured its second Mid-American Conference victory of the season, taking down Miami University in a 56-38 decision at the Convocation Center, Jan. 21. The Eagles improve to 9-7 (2-3 MAC) on the season, while Miami falls to 3-14 (0-6 MAC). The 38 points scored by Miami are not only a season-low for the team, but it also marks the lowest number of points allowed by the Green and White against a Division I opponent since the Eagles defeated Toledo, 54-33, Feb. 21, 2012.
The Eagles were led by Cha Sweeney (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers) with 12 points and two steals, while Janay Morton (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) and Phillis Webb (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) each added nine points to their effort. On the boards, Brianna Puni (St. Charles, Mo.-Incarnate Word Academy (Illinois State)) and Jamaica Bucknor (Brooklyn, N.Y.-Weaver (ASA College)) each grabbed seven rebounds, with Puni added a game-high two blocks to her stat line.
As a team, the Eagles shot 43.6 percent off 24-of-55 shooting from the field, and kept the RedHawks to just 11 field goals on 47 attempts, good for 23.4 percent. Eastern also hit 6-of-17 three-pointers for a 35.3 percent efficiency, and dominated the game in the paint, 24-10. The team was stealthy on defense, coming away with 16 steals while surrendering just five to the hands of the RedHawks. Shannise Heady (Hazel Crest, Ill.-Hillcrest (Seton Hall)) led the team in steals with four.
Miami was led by Kayla Brown with 11 points, and Jazz Smith added nine points after drilling three triples for her team. Hannah McCue led all players with eight rebounds as well as one block. The RedHawks held the edge in rebounding, 43-31, but were bested in paint points (24-10), points off turnovers (28-9), and fastbreak points (11-0).
Eastern found itself down early in the contest after Kayla Brown swished a jumper and a triple to give the RedHawks the 5-0 lead. However, Morton would duplicate Miami's opening points with a jump shot and a three-pointer of her own to knot the score at five apiece. The Green and White took the lead with a pair of points in the paint from Heady, establishing a 7-5 edge in 3:38 of regulation play.
The Eagles stifled Miami's offense during the next five minutes, only giving up a single point. Sweeney came alive in that span, hitting a pair of long balls while a short jumper from Webb put the Green and White up 15-6 with 11:05 remaining in the half.
Miami remained scoreless for three more minutes, until Jazz Smith hit a trey, but Sweeney retailed with a pair of pull-up jumpers, giving Eastern a comfortable 21-9 lead with 6:41 to play. The RedHawks posted five more points, the majority of which came from behind the charity stripe, while Webb added a last-second three-pointer to keep Eastern in the lead, 24-14 at the half.
Sweeney paced all players with 10 points in the opening half on 4-of-8 shooting from the field. Webb and Morton each chipped in five points, while Webb added two steals to the defensive front. As a team, the Eagles were 10-of-26 from the field for a .385 clip, and scored 12 points off Miami's turnovers after swiping eight balls and forcing an additional four miscues.
Eastern and Miami traded baskets in the start of the second half, with the Eagles maintaining an 11-point lead over the RedHawks. Scoring came to a standstill for both teams until the 11:38 mark, when Webb hit a jumper off an inbound play. The play opened up more scoring opportunities for the Eagles, as Morton contributed a layup and-one and Bucknor broke downcourt for a fastbreak layup to give the team a 36-18 advantage with 10:41 to play.
Miami put an end to Eastern's 13-0 scoring run, which kept the RedHawks scoreless for 10 minutes, with four straight points by Kayla Brown in the paint. EMU's offense slowed slightly, receiving just four points from layups by Sweeney and Kabria Walker (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers) before the pace of the game picked up after a triple by Smith. Heady chipped in a jumper, directly after which Sasha Dailey (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers) snatched a steal and dished out to Sera Ozelci (Ankara, Turkey-TED Ankara College (Odessa College)) for a three-pointer that brought the entire Eagle bench to its feet in a robust applause. A pair of paint points by Heady gave the Eagles a 52-29 lead with 2:26 remaining.
The Eagles capped off the victory with two more buckets while Miami secured six more points from the free throw line and a three-pointer from Smith, bringing the final score to 56-38.
After a three-game MAC homestand, Eastern will make the short trip to Toledo, Ohio to take on the Rockets of the University of Toledo Saturday, Jan. 24. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m., and will be broadcast on ESPN3.
Ohio 67, Northern Illinois 40
Athens, Ohio - Ohio women's baskestball's defense locked down Northern Illinois to its lowest point total of the season en route to a 67-40 victory at the Convocation Center. It was the Bobcats' eighth win in nine games.
OHIO STARTERS: #2 Mariah Byard, #4 Kiyanna Black, #5 Quiera Lampkins, #10 Lexie Baldwin, #14 Kat Yelle
NORTHERN ILLINOIS STARTERS: #12 Danny Pulliam, #31 Ally Lehman, #22 Amanda Corral, #20 Jenna Thorpe, #Renee Sladek
How It Happened:
- Ohio's defense was rock solid in the first ten minutes of the first half, holding the Huskies to one made field goal until the 9:43 mark of the half and building an early 14-4 lead.
- Northern Illinois began the game shooting 3-of-16 from the field and fell behind Ohio by as much as 15, but a 9-0 run brought the Huskies back within a 21-15 deficit.
- The Bobcats answered with an 11-0 run of their own, powered by eight points from Mariah Byard.
- The Huskies had no answer for Ohio's backcourt trio of Kat Yelle, Kiyanna Black and Byard in the first half. Yelle scored a game-high nine in the first half while Black and Byard each added eight.
- Ohio carried a 36-17 lead into the half, limiting Northern Illinois to 6-of-25 (24 percent) shooting.
- The second half featured much of the same action as the first, with Ohio dominating defensively, holding the Huskies to 10-of-35 shooting (28.6 percent) in the final 20.
- For the game, Ohio shot 27-of-56 from the field (48.2 percent), while the Huskies made 16 of their 60 shot attempts (26.7 percent).
- Hannah Boesinger led the Bobcats with 13 points.
- The Bobcats had four players in double figures, with Boesinger (13), Black (12), Yelle (11) and Byard (10) all making significant contributions on the offensive end.
- Jasmine Weatherspoon led the Bobcats with seven rebounds.
- Black tied a season high with four steals
- Amanda Corral paced the Huskies offense with a game-high 15 points, while Ally Lehman led the team with a game-high 17 rebounds.
- Northern Illinois had 14 turnovers compared to 10 for the Bobcats.
- Ohio shot 8-of-22 (36.4 percent) from behind the arc while the Huskies hit 3 of their 18 attempts (16.7 percent).
- The Bobcats outscored the Huskies 36-14 in the paint.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Ohio reached the 14 win mark for the first time since 2011-12.
- The win improved the Bobcats' record to 5-1 in the MAC and put them alone in first place of the East Division.
- Black reached a double-digit point total for the 15th time this season and the 46th time in her Ohio career.
- It was the fourth time Ohio held an opponent below 20 points in the first half this season.
- Ohio has scored at least 60 points in 15 of its 17 games this season.
- Ohio defeated Northern Illinois at the Convocation Center for the first time since 2009, snapping a three-game home losing streak to the Huskies at home.
QUOTABLE
Head Coach Bob Boldon:
- "I thought we did a good job of guarding their guards on the initial catch. They do a tremendous job of moving without the basketball and we talked all week about guarding early, guarding before the catch, which is the complete opposite of what we did against Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan."
Sophomore guard Kiyanna Black:
- "Once I get a steal, I can play in transition whether it's attacking the basket or creating offense for my teammates."
Sophomore forward Hannah Boesinger:
- "I came off the bench and really wanted to try running as much as I could and rebounding. I guess it worked out for us and Kat did a really good job of passing me the ball and other players the ball and running the floor."
Junior guard Kat Yelle:
- "Like coach tells us, we've got to take it one game at a time and that game at that specific time is the most important game of the season. So just keep working at it one game at a time and not getting ahead of ourselves and that's how we're going to go with this season."
COMING UP
Ohio hits the road for its next matchup, traveling to Muncie, Ind. for a game against the Ball State Cardinals on Saturday, Jan. 24 at 4:30 p.m.
Toledo 75, Buffalo 63
TOLEDO, OH – Toledo fought and clawed its way to a 75-63 overtime victory against Buffalo (9-8, 2-4 MAC) on Wednesday before 3,866 fans in Savage Arena. UT was a perfect 4-of-4 from the field and 8-of-10 from the free throw line in the extra period to improve to 11-6 overall, 4-2 in the Mid-American Conference.
Senior Inma Zanoguera tied her career high with 28 points, including 24 following the intermission, and led three Rockets in double figures scoring. Freshman Jay-Ann Bravo-Harriott poured in 11 points off the bench and junior Brenae Harris had 10 to help the Midnight Blue & Gold improve to 9-0 all-time against the Bulls (9-8, 2-4 MAC) at home.
Zanoguera nearly posted the first triple-double in school history, finishing with eight rebounds and a game-high seven assists.
UT also received nine points from sophomore Janice Monakana and six each by sophomore Sophie Reecher and freshman Michaela Rasmussen to remain with one game of first place in the MAC West Division standings.
The Rockets shot a respectable 44.4 percent (20-of-45) from the floor, but an eye-popping 61.9 percent (13-of-21) after the intermission, to erase a 13-point second-half deficit.
The story of tonight’s cross-division match-up was Toledo’s ability to get to the charity stripe and convert. UT shot 28-of-36 from the free throw line, while UB was 3-of-7. Zanoguera sparked the effort at the line, sinking a perfect 15-of-15, the second-best mark in school history. Two-time MAC Player of the Year Kim Knuth holds the record at 16-of-16 against Akron on Feb. 28, 1999.
Kristen Sharkey paced Buffalo with 21 points, but she was its only player in double digits.
With the score tied for only the fourth time heading into the start of the extra period, Toledo reclaimed the advantage for good on a baseline jumper by Rasmussen, 60-58, at 4:28.
Following a missed jumper from UB’s Sharkey, the Rockets’ Bravo-Harriott knocked down her squadbest third triple of the game to extend the margin to five points, 63-58, with 3:49 remaining.
The teams thens traded baskets before Toledo’s Monakana put the game away with four-straight points to extend the margin to nine, 69-60, with 1:19 showing on the clock.
UT put the final nail in the coffin from the charity tosses by draining 6-of-8 over the final 57 seconds to make the ending score 75-63. Zanoguera knocked down four of the eight free throws, while Rasmussen had the other two to finish off the come-from-behind triumph.
The Bulls looked sharp at the outset and knocked down six straight field goals to race out to a 16-8 lead at the 11:35 mark, forcing UT into a timeout. Joanna Smith and Stephanie Reid sparked the quick start for the visitors with a pair of baskets each, prompting Toledo into taking an early stoppage in play.
The Rockets had their struggles finding the range as the first half wore on and as a result themselves down 22-10 at the 6:59 mark. UT misfired on 13 of its first 16 field-goal attempts and was guilty of nine turnovers, which resulted in the Midnight Blue & Gold down double figures.
Moments later, Bravo-Harriott started to heat up offensively and knocked down back-to-back treys to cut the deficit to 25-16 with 4:14 left in the first period.
Bravo-Harriott’s lethal outside shooting triggered a 14-4 burst to end the period and trim the margin to 29-24 at the intermission. UT converted four of its final five field goals and all four of its free throws to make it a two-possession difference.
Unfortunately for the Rockets, they were not able to continue their momentum from the late stages of the first half when the final 20 minutes started. The Bulls scored 12 of the first 16 points to open up a 41-28 advantage with 15:08 left in regulation. UB’s Sharkey started the opening burst with a pair of field goals to help push the margin back to double figures.
Toledo seemed to settle down and rattled off nine-straight points to make the score 41-37 at the 11:08 mark. Zanoguera contributed six of the nine points in the run, while Bravo-Harriott and Reecher also had two points each.
The teams then traded baskets for the next two-plus minutes until the Rockets scored eight-consecutive points to knock the score for the first time, 48-48, with 3:48 showing on the clock. Zanoguera once again triggered the burst with a pair of a free throws and a deep three-point field goal to draw the teams even.
The Bulls quickly responded, though, with a traditional three-point play by Sharkey and a triple from Christa Baccas to reclaim a six-point bulge, 54-48, at the 2:51 mark.
UT would not go quietly and countered with six-straight points by Zanoguera to make the score 54-54 with 1:39 remaning.
The teams traded field goals on their ensuing possessions before Buffalo’s Baccas knocked down a jumper in the lane to once again put the visitors in the lead, 58-56, with 32.1 seconds left.
Following a timeout, Toledo’s Monakana missed a triple from the top of the key, but Zanoguera came down with the huge offensive rebound and putback to tie the score at 58-58 with 17 seconds left in regulation.
Buffalo did not use a timeout in the waning seconds but rather ran a play on the fly for Reid, whose three-point field from the wing was off the mark as the final horn in regulation sounded to send the games into overtime.
The Rockets return to the court on Saturday, Jan. 24 when they host MAC West Division rival Eastern Michigan. The opening tip against the Eagles is slated for 2:00 p.m. and can can be seen on BCSN and ESPN3.
Western Michigan 82, Bowling Green 52
KALAMAZOO, Mich.- The Western Michigan women’s basketball team posted the program’s largest victory ever over Bowling Green, defeating the visiting Falcons by 30 points, 82-52, Wednesday at University Arena. With the win, WMU improves its record to 11-6 overall and 4-2 in the Mid-American Conference.
Western Michigan did about everything right against last year’s MAC regular season champion, out-shooting, out-rebounding and committing less turnovers than the Falcons.
The last time the Broncos recorded a 30-point plus MAC victory was in 2006 when WMU defeated Buffalo 86-42. WMU hadn’t beat Bowling Green by more than 22 points since 1977, which came under legendary coach Fran Ebert. BGSU has been known as the premier program in the MAC for over a decade, posting 11-straight seasons of 20-plus wins and more conference titles than any other team.
A Western Michigan win over Bowling Green isn’t a new occurrence in University Arena however, as the Broncos have now won three-straight against their MAC East opponent in Kalamazoo. WMU also picked up victories on its home floor in 2013 and 2011. The matchup alternates sites between Kalamazoo and Bowling Green year-to-year.
Western Michigan shot a blazing 54.8 percent for the game including 59.4 percent in the second half. The Broncos scored more points in the second half (47) against Bowling Green than they did in their entire game on Saturday, a 65-46 loss to Toledo.
WMU dominated down low, out-rebounding BGSU 44-19, and outscoring the Falcons 28-2 in second chance points and 46-18 in the paint. Bronco junior Miracle Woods had more offensive rebounds alone than Bowling Green’s entire team, grabbing eight while the Falcons had five collectively (two of which were offensive team rebounds).
Woods capped her night with her second consecutive double-double, totaling 19 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks. She shot 8-for-12 from the field and 3-for-3 from the free throw line.
All three Bronco bigs finished in double figures scoring. Junior post Jessica Jessing recorded 11 points and eight rebounds and senior forward Marquisha Harris had 10 points, four rebounds and three assists.
The hot outside shooting of A.J. Johnson helped stretch the defense, as the senior guard downed three 3-pointers and had 15 points. Johnson also contributed three assists and three steals.
Western Michigan had just nine turnovers, its second lowest total of the year.
WMU led by six (35-29) at intermission and held BGSU (8-9, 1-5 MAC) to 29.2 percent shooting in the second half.
BGSU freshman guard Rachel Myers scored 21 of her team’s 52 points and three other Falcons scored seven points apiece.
Western heads to Kent State Saturday for a 7 p.m. tip-off in Ohio. The Golden Flashes (3-13, 1-4 MAC) had a mid-week bye and did not play Wednesday.
