Akron 74, Kent State 67
Buffalo 75, Eastern Michigan 53
Northern Illinois 65, Ball State 62
Ohio 74, Central Michigan 66
Toledo 64, Bowling Green 48
Western Michigan 61, Miami 53
Courtesy of home MAC Athletic Communications Departments
Akron 74, Kent State 67
AKRON, Ohio – After seven ties and 14 lead changes the Akron women's basketball team used a late 11-2 run starting at the 7:20 mark of the second half to defeat Kent State, 74-67, on Saturday in the first installment of the PNC Wagon Wheel Challenge this season at James A. Rhodes Arena.
The Zips had three players score in double figures, led by junior Anita Brown (Warren, Ohio), who paced all players with a game-high 24 points. She tied senior Sina King (Waterford, Ohio) with four assists.
King followed Brown, coming in just one rebound shy of her 11th double-double of the year with a 20-point and nine-rebound effort. She issued a perfect 6-of-6 performance from the charity stripe.
Junior DiAndra Gibson (Ravenna, Ohio) rounded out the Zips double-figure scoring with 10 points to go with four rebounds and a pair of assists.
Despite a 15-6 advantage on the offensive glass, the Zips (16-4, 6-3 MAC) narrowly out-rebounded the Golden Flashes (3-16, 1-7 MAC), 34-31. Akron forced 17 turnovers, which it converted into 18 points. The Zips committed only 10 giveaways of their own.
Akron finished the contest shooting 39.4 percent from the field, while the Golden Flashes connected on 49 percent of their attempts.
Brown got off to an impressive start in the affair, hitting double figures by the 12:29 mark of the first half recording 11 of Akron's first 14 points to give the Zips a 14-11 lead.
The Zips struggled to connect, shooting 11-of-36 (30.6 percent) throughout the first half. Akron was held without a field goal for more than six minutes. Kent State also experienced a scoring drought for over three minutes, while suffering from nine first-half miscues to keep it at 16-15 in Akron's favor beginning at the 10:24 mark.
Neither team led by more than five points throughout the first period as the score was tied on three occasions and the lead shifted four times.
Kent State took its first lead, 19-18, with 5:22 left in the half and hung onto the advantage until the final seconds when King posted a pair of free throws for a 28-27 Zips' halftime lead.
The Golden Flashes returned to the floor to begin the final stanza and scored six-straight points to lead 33-28.
The Zips used the perimeter to catch up, posting three triples with Gibson draining a triple to tie the game and another to propel Akron to a 37-34 lead with 16:07 to play.
The teams continued to trade buckets in the back-and-forth battle until a Katie Nunan (Fairmont, W. Va.) free throw sparked the 11-2 run that allowed Akron to get out to a game-high lead at 62-57.
A triple by King and strong free throw shooting helped the Zips remain in control throughout the end of the game.
The Zips return to action at Rhodes Arena when they play host to Western Michigan at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 4.
Buffalo 75, Eastern Michigan 53
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team fell in a 75-53 decision to the Bulls of the University at Buffalo Saturday, Jan. 31, at the Convocation Center in a Mid-American Conference game.
The Eagles (10-9, 3-5 MAC) shot 30.4 percent from the floor, going 21-for-69, while making three three-pointers, and eight free throws. Eastern was led by freshman Sasha Dailey (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers) and Cha Sweeney (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers) who each notched 12 points for the Green and White, while Janay Morton (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) recorded 11 points for EMU. Sweeney also led Eastern on the boards with six rebounds, while Morton and Brianna Puni (St. Charles, Mo.-Incarnate Word (Illinois State)) pulled down five apiece. Defensively, the Eagles forced 23 turnovers, swiping 13 balls, five of which came from Morton.
Kristen Sharkey and Alexus Malone powered the Buffalo offense with each notching double-doubles on the afternoon. Sharkey nabbed a team-best 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while Malone scored 17 points and pulled down a game-best 11 boards. As a team, UB shot 46.8 percent from the floor, going 29-for-62, while draining six shots from beyond the arc.
Despite the Green and White scoring the first points of the contest on a jumper from Dailey, Buffalo came out of the gate with the hot hand, dropping five threes to get out to a 21-14 lead over Eastern Michigan heading into the halfway point of the first half. The Eagles fought their way back, using an 8-4 run to trail by just five points, 25-20, with 7:37 remaining in the first half.
UB went up as many as 10 on the Eagles before EMU used back-to-back layups to cut the lead to six, 33-27. The two teams exchanged baskets on their next few trips down the court, which would allow the Bulls to keep a slight nine-point lead over Eastern Michigan heading into the final media time out of the half. With one second on the clock, freshman Micah Robinson (Ann Arbor, Mich-Huron) laid in a fastbreak bucket to close out the half with EMU trailing Buffalo, 40-31.
The Eagles shot 35.1 percent in the first half, going 13-for-37 from the field. Sweeney led Eastern with nine points and four rebounds, while Morton dropped in seven points for the Green and White. As a team, Eastern forced Buffalo into 10 turnovers in large part due to two steals apiece from Morton and Ozelci.
The Bulls used 45.7 percent shooting from the floor and 6-of-12 shooting from beyond the arc to take the narrow lead into the locker room at halftime. Mackenzie Loesing notched a team-best 14 points, including three triples, while Sharkey added nine points to the Buffalo scoring effort in the first half of action.
Eastern opened up the second half with a 6-0 run before Buffalo scored its first bucket in an and-one play four minutes into the second half to maintain a 43-37 advantage over the Eagles. The Green and White continued to fight its way back from the deficit as a Sweeney three from the left side of the floor brought Eastern within four of the Bulls, 46-42.
After a two-minute scoring drought for both squads, Buffalo went on an 8-2 run to take a 54-46 with 8:57 remaining in the contest. The Bulls continued to string together baskets with a 12-2 run over the Eagles to take a 66-49 lead heading into the final five minutes of action.
The Eagles struggled to finish shots, scoring just seven points in a six-minute span, falling to UB 75-53 at the Convo. Although the Green and White struggled offensively to close out the contest, the EMU defensive was strong and forced Buffalo into two shot clock violation turnovers.
The Eagles will head back on the road Wednesday, Feb. 4, when they travel to Kent, Ohio to take on the Golden Flashes of Kent State University. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Northern Illinois 65, Ball State 62
MUNCIE, Ind. - Ball State women’s basketball coach Brady Sallee couldn’t conceal his frustration with the way his team performed Saturday in a 65-62 loss to Northern Illinois.
With five minutes left in the game, a Cardinal player sent a pass from the top of the key into the low post, but the ball sailed high and went out of bounds for one of their 16 turnovers.
Clearly frustrated, all Sallee could do was plop down on a chair and hold his hands over his head.
“I’m disappointed with how we looked out there,” he said, summing up 40 minutes of mistake-plagued basketball that was sparked by a lack of intensity from his players. “That usually points to a team that wasn’t truly ready to go. At this point of the conference season, if you’re not ready to go, that’s what it’s going to look like.
“We have to look ourselves in the mirror in this (coming) off week and get things figured out.”
The Cardinals fell in Worthen Arena to a Huskies team that came into the game with a 0-4 record in Mid-American Conference road games.
But Sallee said Northern Illinois out-toughed Ball State (10-10, 6-3 MAC) and his unit didn’t respond with the level of fight necessary to win. The Huskies (8-10, 4-4 MAC) led the final 35 minutes.
Ball State has lost its past two home games.
“I hope it’s a blip, but there’s been some consistency (issues) with the culprits, and we have to get that figured out,” Sallee said. “… It’s a rarity when you see us look that inept defensively, and we looked that inept: falling down, getting lost. That usually points to not being ready to go between our ears.”
Northern Illinois shot 48 percent from the field, and senior guard Amanda Corral dictated play with 26 points (four shy of her career high), a career-best eight assists and six rebounds.
Cardinals senior Shelbie Justice, who had 12 points, echoed her coach’s assessment on Ball State being outhustled.
“We just didn’t have any energy until the last 5 minutes, and you can’t win a basketball game like that,” she said. “You have to play like that over the full 40 minutes, and it can’t be just certain people.
“(Players) have to buy into it. You can’t say, ‘We’re going to do this, we’re going to do that.’ They have to deep down want to do it, and if they don’t, it’s not going to happen.”
The Cardinals’ only sustained burst in the game came with a frantic push in the closing minutes.
Jill Morrison shot Ball State within striking distance when she made a 3-pointer with 2:20 to go, closing Northern Illinois’ lead to 63-57.
Nathalie Fontaine brought Ball State within 63-58 on a free throw with 1:45 left. The Cardinals forced turnovers on the Huskies’ next two possessions, and Fontaine made a fast-break layup to bring Ball State within 63-60 with 26.5 seconds to go.
That’s where the rally ended, however. Ball State still trailed by three with 6.9 seconds to go when Northern Illinois inbounded against a full-court press and the ball bounced out of bounds.
The ball initially was awarded to the Huskies, but a replay review gave it to the Cardinals. Shelby Merder misfired on a 3-point shot with 4 seconds left that would have tied the score.
Northern’s Ally Lehman missed two free throws with 3.1 seconds to go, giving the Cardinals one more chance. But Candyce Ussery’s shot just inside the half-court line to send the game to overtime was off target.
Fontaine and Renee Bennett, who made her seventh start of the season, led the Cardinals with 14 points apiece. Fontaine also had a game-high eight rebounds.
Saturday’s loss knocked the Cardinals out of a tie for first place in the MAC West. Western Michigan improved to 7-2 by beating Miami, and Ball State is a game behind the Broncos at 6-3.
Ball State won’t play again until Feb. 7, when it travels to Toledo.
Ohio 74, Central Michigan 66
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Senior Crystal Bradford scored 29 points and became the all-time scoring leader in program history, but the Central Michigan women's basketball team fell to Ohio, 74-66, at McGuirk Arena on Saturday.
It was CMU's third loss in four games, dropping it to 10-9 overall, 5-3 in the Mid-American Conference. MAC East-leading Ohio improved to 17-3, 8-1 in conference play. It was Ohio's second win in two weeks over the Chippewas. The Bobcats topped CMU, 71-51, on Jan. 17 in Athens, Ohio.
Bradford's 29 points brought her to 1,951 for her career, passing Sue Nissen for the most in program history. Nissen totaled 1,938 points from 1988-91.
Bradford now owns CMU individual career records in points scored, field goals made, rebounds and blocked shots.
"(Bradford) can score in a variety of ways and she's a very special player," said Sue Guevara, who is in her eighth year as CMU's coach and in her 35th year of college coaching. "I've coached some pretty good players down at Auburn, down at Michigan, and at Michigan State. I would say (Bradford) is more versatile than anybody else I've coached."
Despite a strong offensive performance from Bradford, the Chippewas struggled as a unit, going 25-for-66 (37.9 percent) from the field and 2-of-22 (9.1 percent) from three-point range on Saturday. They also finished 14-for-24 from the free throw line.
CMU kept the game competitive deep into the second half with its work on the glass, ultimately outrebounding Ohio, 50-30.
But at the 9:43 mark in the second half, the Bobcats began a 12-0 run to give them a 55-45 lead with 6:51 left. Cushioned with the lead, Ohio iced the game down the stretch with stingy defense and successful free throw shooting. Ohio finished 22-of-25 (88 percent) for the game from the line.
"If you look at the stats, we had more field goals than (Ohio) and 20 more rebounds," Guevara said. "But a team that was shooting 59 percent from the free throw line coming in goes 22-of-25. That's a team that can shoot.
"I thought there was probably a 4-minute stretch in the second half where we lost it. We lost it on the defensive end of the floor. I thought they did a pretty good job of attacking our bigs. Our help side was late coming over.
"We were toe-to-toe with them until that stretch. I looked to see how many points we got off the bench, and we got just three. You know, at one point I've got three freshmen in there. I have to get them the experience right now so that they will be better down the stretch."
The Chippewas were in danger of not making a three-pointer, which would have been a first for a Guevara-coached CMU team. Kerby Tamm sank CMU's first triple of the game with 1:52 left. The bucket provided Tamm's only three points of the game. She had scored a combined 37 in CMU's previous two games. The Chippewas finished 2-for-22 (9.1 percent) from beyond the arc.
Three-point shooting has been hit and miss for the Chippewas this season, and they're still looking for another threat outside of Tamm from beyond the arc, Guevara said.
CMU senior Jas'Mine Bracey scored 16 efficient points on 7-for-11 shooting, and added 16 rebounds and three blocks.
Three Ohio players totaled double-digits in scoring. Kiyanna Black led the Bobcats with 19, while Quiera Lampkin and Lexie Baldwin recorded 15 apiece.
CMU's next game will be on the road at Bowling Green, Feb. 4.
Toledo 64, Bowling Green 48
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The visiting University of Toledo, trailing at the half, hit five consecutive three-point attempts to begin the second half Saturday afternoon (Jan. 31), rallying for a 64-48 victory over the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team before a record crowd at the Stroh Center.
Senior Deborah Hoekstra led the Falcons with 15 points, while junior Miriam Justinger added 14 for the Brown and Orange.
For the Rockets, Brenae Harris had 17 points to lead three players in double figures. Both Inma Zanoguera and Jay-Ann Bravo-Harriott scored 14 points on Saturday.
The attendance for Saturday's game was 3,498, the sixth-largest home crowd in BGSU women's basketball history, and the largest gathering to see a BG game at the Stroh Center in the history of the building, now in its fourth season.
"This is a great rivalry," said BGSU coach Jennifer Roos. "It's great for the community, it's great for the alums, and our fans were great tonight.
"We played really well in the first half, and took that lead into halftime. We talked about how the first four minutes of the second half would be key, but I thought the thing that swayed the score was their ability to get the ball inside. They kept it very simple, went high-low, and were able to get a lot of shots inside. They obviously responded to the halftime talk that they received."
The Falcons led, 25-21, at halftime, holding the Rockets to just a 1-for-9 effort from three-point range in the first 20 minutes. But, each of Toledo's first five long-distance attempts in the second half were on the mark as the visitors took the lead for good.
Toledo shot better than 60 percent from the field in the second half, hitting 14 of 23 shots in the final 20 minutes. The Rockets were 5-of-8 from three-point range after halftime, hitting 6-of-17 long-distance shots on the day.
BGSU went 22-for-30 from the free-throw line, but the Brown and Orange hit just 11 total field goals in the game. BG shot 30.6% from the floor for the game, compared to UT's 43.1%.
The Rockets scored the game's first points, before Hoekstra took a pass from sophomore Rachel Konieczki and knocked down a triple try from the right wing. But, the visitors scored the next two buckets to take a 6-3 lead into the game's initial media timeout.
Hoekstra hit a pair of free throws out of that timeout, cutting her team's deficit to a single point, but Bravo-Harriott scored five-straight points, including a three-point play that gave the visitors an 11-5 lead with just over seven minutes gone. But, the Falcons would respond.
BGSU proceeded to score the next six points, and after UT hit a three-pointer, the Falcons reeled off nine more points. When the smoke had cleared, the run was 15-3 and the home team's lead was 20-14.
That stretch started innocently enough, with a pair of free throws from freshman Rachel Myers. Then, after a Konieczki steal, senior Erica Fullenkamp drove into the lane, executed a nifty spin move and hit a jumper over a defender. The crowd-pleasing bucket by the former Falcon volleyball standout cut the women's basketball team's deficit to two points, 11-9.
BG forced another turnover, and Justinger hit a foul-line jumper to tie the score. Zanoguera hit a long three-pointer with the shot clock winding down, but redshirt freshman Kennedy Kirkpatrick found Hoekstra in the right corner, and the senior drained a three-point try of her own, tying the score once again.
Moments later, Konieczki split a pair of free throws, and Kirkpatrick fed Justinger for a left-corner three and an 18-14 lead. When Hoekstra was fouled out top and made two charity tosses, BG's advantage was six points with seven minutes left until halftime.
Harris hit a jumper, but Konieczki got to the line and hit both ends of a one-and-one opportunity. Zanoguera's three-point play cut BG's six-point lead in half with 2:16 on the clock, but Justinger's jumper in the lane was good, and BG led by a 24-19 count. Harris hit two charity tosses before Justinger got to the line and made one-of-two free-throw attempts with 6.4 seconds left in the period, giving BG a 25-21 halftime edge.
The second half began with Konieczki canning a pull-up jumper on the opening possession, giving the Brown and Orange a 27-21 lead. But, the Rockets then went on an 11-0 run to take the lead for good. After missing a shot on the possession after Konieczki's jumper, UT would hit seven-straight shots, including four from beyond the arc.
The 11-0 run included three-straight three-pointers, including a pair by Harris. Hoekstra took a Konieczki pass and hit a three-pointer of her own out of the under-16-minute media timeout, cutting UT's lead to two points, but Bravo-Harriott scored five consecutive points, including the Rockets' fourth trey of the half, and the lead was 37-30.
Those five points began a 10-0 UT run, capped by a Jada Woody layup after she rebounded her own miss, and the score was 42-30 with under 13 minutes to go. Kirkpatrick drove inside for a layup, but a Zanoguera triple made it a 45-32 contest.
"Any time you shoot nearly 61 percent (in the second half), you have to give them a lot of credit for making big shots," said Roos. "With that said, I think we can execute better. There were a handful of plays that we did not execute or run well enough, and even though we got to the line 30 times, I thought we needed to get there a few more times if we were going to be successful tonight."
Hoekstra made a pair of shots from the stripe, and a Myers free throw cut UT's lead to 10 points midway through the period, but the visitors scored the next nine points, including five from the free-throw line, to seize control.
Konieczki scored seven points and led the Falcons with three assists on Saturday, while Kirkpatrick scored five points. Hoekstra and Justinger each had seven rebounds to tie for team honors.
For the Rockets, Ana Capotosto pulled down eight rebounds as UT had a 36-27 advantage on the boards.
The Falcons remain at home, concluding a two-game homestand with a Wednesday (Feb. 4) contest vs. Central Michigan University. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. at the Stroh.
Western Michigan 61, Miami 53
OXFORD, Ohio – The Miami University women’s basketball team competed in a back-and-forth game with Western Michigan on Saturday, but the Broncos pulled away in the final three minutes to take a 61-53 victory. The game featured seven ties and 13 lead changes. The RedHawks are now 3-17 overall and 0-9 in the Mid-American Conference. WMU improves to 14-6 overall and 7-2 in the MAC.
Senior point guard Courtney Larson was hot from behind the arc right from the start, draining three triples. She finished with a game-high 16 points and was 6-for-9 from the field. Freshman guard Baleigh Reid also had a strong game offensively, finishing with 13 points.
Spurred by five points from Larson and four from Reid, Miami jumped out to an early 11-6 lead. The Broncos went on an 8-0 surge to capture a 14-11 lead with 13:52 to go. Larson sunk a pair of triples and Freshman guard Ana Richter drained one as Miami manufactured an 11-0 run to seize an eight-point lead by the 8:14 mark at 22-14.
WMU retaliated with a 12-2 flurry to take the advantage back at 26-24 with 1:29 to play in the opening half. Freshman forward Molly McDonagh sunk a jumper at 1:05 to knot the game, but WMU’s Miracle Woods tossed in a layup with 54 seconds left to send the Broncos into the locker room with a 28-26 lead.
The RedHawks shot 40.7 percent (11-for-27) for the half, while holding Western Michigan to a 37.9 percent (11-for-29) shooting percentage. Larson led Miami with 11 points in the period.
After the Broncos scored the opening bucket of the second half, McDonagh, Larson and Reid each hit shots to give Miami the lead back at 32-30. The lead switched four more times until a jumper from Reid made it 38-37 with 15:05 to go. Western Michigan followed with a 9-2 run that put it up, 46-40, at the 10:38 mark.
Miami did not give up as a 6-0 run featuring a three-pointer from freshman guard Kayla Brown tied the score at 46 at the 8:04 mark. The defenses clamped down as each team was able to manage only three points over the next five minutes, leaving the score tied at 49 with 3:30 to go.
WMU came out of the final media timeout scoring the next six points. Larson and Reid were able to answer with jumpers, but the Broncos hit their free throws down the stretch to pull away for a 61-53 win.
Miami finished the game shooting 40.4 percent (21-for-52). Junior forward Hannah McCue led the ‘Hawks with 11 rebounds, her seventh double-digit rebounding effort of the season. The Broncos held a slight, 33-32, advantage in total rebounding.
The RedHawks return to the road on Wednesday when they travel to Northern Illinois for an 8 p.m. (EST) tip.
