Akron 81, Buffalo 70
Ball State 72, Eastern Michigan 62
Miami 69, Kent State 53
Ohio 71, Bowling Green 46
Toledo 61, Central Michigan 46
Western Michigan 60, Northern Illinois 51
Courtesy of home MAC Athletic Communications Departments
Akron 81, Buffalo 70
AKRON, Ohio – The Akron Zips (18-5, 8-4 MAC) used a 9-1 run over the final two minutes to overcome a season-high 24 turnovers en route to dropping the Buffalo Bulls (13-9, 6-5 MAC), 81-70, in Mid-American Conference action on Wednesday night at James A. Rhodes Arena.
Senior Sina King (Waterford, Ohio) and sophomore Hannah Plybon (Orrville, Ohio) combined to score 42 points for the Zips, 21 apiece. King grabbed seven rebounds, to go with two assists and two steals, while Plybon went 4-for-6 from beyond the arc and added a pair of assists. Junior Anita Brown (Warren, Ohio) contributed another 13 points, to go along with nine rebounds, and a steal.
The Akron victory was the Zips third-straight win at home to help the team improve to 11-1 on their home floor. The Bulls loss dropped them to 6-4 on the road.
Kristen Sharkey led the way for the Bulls with a 22-point, four-rebound performance to go along with a steal. Joining her with double-figure performances was Christa Baccas and Stephanie Reid with 14 and 10 points, respectively.
Akron connected on 52.9 percent of its shots from the floor to record its fourth-best shooting effort of the season. The Zips were even more impressive from downtown as Akron drilled 8-of-11 from distance for en eye-popping 72.7 percent shooting mark. Buffalo shot the ball at a 38.4 percent clip and made just one of its 24 attempts from beyond the arc.
The Zips won the battle of the boards outrebounding the Bulls, 40-27, including 25-12 on the defensive glass. Buffalo did its damage offensively in the paint where the Bulls outscored Akron, 50-30.
In the first five minutes of the game the Zips and Bulls went back-and-forth exchanging baskets as Buffalo jumped ahead to an early 9-6 lead.
Akron went on a 9-2 run to extend its early first-half lead to seven, 20-13, when junior Megan Barilla (Fairview Park, Ohio) found King wide open under the basket from half court for the lay-up with 9:49 to play in the half.
Buffalo answered scoring seven-straight to follow the Akron run and tie up the ball game at 20 with 8:07 remaining in the initial stanza. Joanna Smith was fouled and made a pair of free throws to cap off the Bulls' run.
Buffalo took its second lead of the half, and first in 11 minutes, after a made lay-up by Alexus Malone with two minutes to play in the first half.
Akron was hampered by first-half turnovers as the squad committed 16 in the opening 20 minutes. The Zips last turnover of the half came with two seconds remaining and resulted into a lay-up by Buffalo's Baccas to tie the game at 36 at halftime.
The final 20 minutes picked up where the first half left off as Akron pulled ahead by six points with a lay-up by freshman Kerri McMahan (Novi, Michigan) and a three-pointer by junior DiAndra Gibson (Ravenna, Ohio). Buffalo came back strong to tie the contest at 48 when Baccas got fouled on a made basket and completed the three-point play.
The Zips found a little offensive rhythm midway through the second half with an 11-3 run that spanned for just under three minutes to extend their lead to 59-51. King connected from long range to end the Akron run.
Buffalo remained within striking distance the entire second half never allowing the Akron lead to grow above eight until under one minute to play, but the Bulls were not able to take the lead.
The Zips play host to cross-divisional opponent Toledo on Saturday Feb. 14. Tip off is set for 2 p.m. The contest will serve as Akron's Play4Kay game to raise awareness for breast cancer. The Zips will wear pink uniforms for the showdown with the Rockets.
Ball State 72, Eastern Michigan 62
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team fell, 72-62, in a mid-week Mid-American Conference game to the Cardinals of Ball State University Wednesday, Feb. 11, at the Convocation Center.
The Eagles (11-10, 4-6 MAC) knocked down a season-best 11 three-pointers, including a career-high three triples from junior Sera Ozelci (Ankara, Turkey-TED Ankara (Odessa College)). As a team, EMU shot 39.3 percent from the floor, going 24-for-61, while sophomore Janay Morton (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) dropped a team-best 19 points. Ozelci was the only other Eagle to notch double-digit scoring with 11 points and sophomore Cha Sweeney (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers) added nine points for the Green and White.
The Cardinals (12-10, 8-3 MAC) were powered behind 47.4 percent shooting from the floor and four players who nabbed double-digits figures. Nathalie Fontaine recorded the only double-double of the contest with 19 points and 15 rebounds, while Renee Bennett had 15 points for BSU. Shelbie Justice and Jill Morrison rounded out the Ball State scoring with 11 and 10 points, respectively. The Cardinals used an impressive 21 points off of turnovers and outrebounded the Eagles 38-33 to end the conference contest.
The two teams matched basket-for-basket through the first 10 minutes of the contest with neither team gaining more than a three-point advantage over the other. The Cardinals put together a nine-point run, with five points from Moriah Monaco, to take a 22-15 lead with 7:47 remaining in the first half.
Back-to-back threes from the Eagles brought them within one of BSU before a block from Ozelci allowed Phillis Webb (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) to knock down an easy fastbreak jumper from the top of the key and take the 23-22 lead. Eastern added four more fastbreak points to go on a 12-0 run over Ball State and force Head Coach Brady Sallee to call a timeout in hopes of slowing the EMU offense. The timeout was not in vain as the Cardinals used four points from Fontaine and a corner trey from Justice to take a 29-27 advantage over the Green and White.
BSU notched three final points in the remaining three minutes of the opening half to take a slight 32-27 advantage into the locker room. The Eagles shot 46.2 percent, going 12-for-26 from the floor, including 13 points via fastbreak plays. Morton led the EMU charge with eight points, while Sweeney notched six points for the Green and White. On the boards, Brianna Puni (St. Charles, Mo.-Incarnate Word (Illinois State)) and Morton pulled down four rebounds apiece.
EMU outrebounded Ball State 20-12 in the first half, but it was the Cardinals who had seven second chance points, while the Eagles were unable to grab any second chance opportunities. Ball State went 12-for-29 from the floor, which was good for a 41.4 shooting percentage in the first half of action. Renee Bennett scored a team-best nine points, while Fontaine knocked down seven points for BSU.
After exchanging baskets for the first 12 points of the half, Ball State used an 11-point run to take a 46-33 lead over Eastern with just over 15 minutes left to play. The Eagles struggled to find an offensive rhythm in the second half, scoring just 10 points in the opening nine minutes of action.
EMU eventually found its stride, starting with a Sweeney three-pointer, cutting the Ball State lead to 10, 58-48, with a signature Ozelci trey from the corner. The Eagles continued to fight back using back-to-back threes, including a career-tying third from Ozelci, to trail BSU by six with five minutes remaining in the contest.
Ball State answered back with a 6-0 run, but again EMU responded with two-straight threes to trail 68-60 with 1:49 left to play in the second half. Despite their effort, the Eagles were unable to comeback, falling 72-62 in the mid-week game.
EMU remains inside the Convocation Center for a Saturday, Feb. 14, contest against Central Michigan University. In addition to the noon contest, Saturday will serve as the "Cheer Your Heart Out" doubleheader in support of heart disease as the men's basketball team takes on the University of Akron at 2:30 p.m. Fans are encouraged to wear red as part of American Heart Month.
Miami 69, Kent State 53
KENT, Ohio – Kent State (3-19, 1-10) was unable to keep down a hot-shooting Miami (4-18, 1-10) Wednesday night as the RedHawks were able to leave the M.A.C. Center with a 69-53 victory.
The Golden Flashes stayed in front for the first ten minutes of play before the RedHawks were able to sneak ahead and lead by six, 30-24, at halftime. Kent State's three-point shooting by Larissa Lurken, who made four on six attempts, kept the Flashes in competition.
Unfortunately, Miami kept the momentum going to begin the second half as more than five minutes into the second they were a perfect 5-for-5 from the field. They went on to make 15 of 24 baskets (62.5%) in the second to shoot 49% in the game to earn the win.
Lurken led the way with 15 points from five three-pointers. Montia Johnson and Jordan Korinek both had eight points off the bench. CiCi Shannon led with eight rebounds while Melanee Stubbs had seven.
Kent State hosts its annual Play 4 Kay game for breast cancer awareness Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. when Northern Illinois comes to town. Fans that wear pink to the game will receive $3 tickets while the first 250 students will get a free t-shirt. At halftime, all cancer survivors or those currently battling the disease are asked to take a victory photo on the court at halftime. Tickets may be purchased by calling 330-672-2244.
Ohio 71, Bowling Green 46
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - A cold-shooting start was too much for the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team to overcome, as the Falcons fell, 71-46, to Mid-American Conference-leading Ohio University Wednesday night (Feb. 11).
Freshman Rachel Myers led the Falcons (9-14, 2-10 MAC) with 13 points on the night. Myers went 3-of-6 from three-point range vs. the Bobcats.
Senior Deborah Hoekstra added nine points and junior Miriam Justinger eight for the Brown and Orange, while redshirt freshman Kennedy Kirkpatrick and true freshman Haley Puk scored six points apiece. Justinger led the hosts with seven rebounds and three steals, and Hoekstra had five boards and two blocked shots.
Kat Yelle led the Bobcats (19-3, 10-1 MAC) with 13 points, and Yelle was a perfect 3-for-3 from three-point land. Lexie Baldwin had 10 points and a game-high nine rebounds, while four of her teammates -- Kiyanna Black, Mariah Byard, Mariah Harris and Quiera Lampkins -- scored eight points apiece.
The Falcons missed 15-straight shots to begin the game, and BG did not hit a field goal until over nine minutes into the game. When Justinger knocked down that shot, however, the home team trailed by only five points, 10-5. But, the Bobcats made 7-of-12 three-point tries in the opening period, and had an answer for every BG bucket.
Ohio led by a 38-26 score at halftime, and slowly extended the lead in the second half. A Harris three-pointer with 10:57 to go put the visitors up by 21 points, and the final 25-point margin was the largest of the game.
After that 0-for-15 start, the Falcons hit 8-of-15 shots over the remainder of the half. But, the Bobcats shot 55.6 percent from the field in the first period, including that 7-of-12 (58.3%) performance from long distance.
The Falcons committed just two turnovers in the first half and had a season-low eight turnovers for the game. But, BG shot just 22.2% on the night, including a 4-for-24 (16.7%) effort in the second half.
BGSU spotted Ohio the game's first five points. The Falcons got a stop on the opening possession of the game, but Black's three-pointer and a Lampkins lalyup put the visitors ahead for good.
Sophomore Rachel Konieczki, however, was fouled on a three-point attempt with just under two minutes gone, and swished all three of the resulting free-throw tries. The Falcons were 16-of-22 (72.7%) at the line on the night, and Konieczki's three tosses cut Ohio's lead to 5-3.
The score remained the same at the opening media timeout of the night. BGSU was 0-of-7 from the field at that juncture, while Ohio was 2-for-3, but with three turnovers -- more than the Falcons would commit in the entire half.
The 'Cats got a Jasmine Weatherspoon layup four minutes into the game, and a Harris three-pointer with six-and-a-half minutes elapsed, but when Justinger broke BG's field-goal drought with a jumper at the 10:40 mark, BG trailed by just a 10-5 score.
And, when the junior's cross-court pass resulted in a corner three from Myers, the Falcons were down only two, 10-8, midway through the period.
The visitors, however, scored the game's next seven points, and after Myers took a Kirkpatrick pass and drained another triple, Byard came right back with a three for the visitors. Myers hit a pull-up jumper to give her eight points and cut her team's deficit to 20-13, though and after the 'Cats countered with a layup, Konieczki found Hoekstra for a left-wing three-pointer, cutting the visitors' lead to 22-16 with 6:10 left in the half.
But, Baldwin's jumper began a 7-0 run, with Yelle knocking down a triple try and Baldwin grabbing a teammate's airball and laying the ball up and in.
Kirkpatrick ended that run with a three-pointer from Hoekstra's feed, and after Yelle answered with a trey, Puk knocked down a long two-pointer after a nifty shot fake just outside the arc. BG trailed by 11, 32-21.
Moments later, Myers got to the line and hit a pair of free throws, cutting the Ohio lead to 10. Yelle drilled her third three-pointer of the half, but with 45.8 seconds to go, Justinger muscled her way inside and hit a layup, drawing Black's third foul in the process. Justinger's free throw made it a 36-26 game before Yelle's layup gave the Bobcats a 12-point advantage at the intermission.
After a Lampkins layup began the second period, Puk answered with a driving layup to cut the lead to 12 once again. The 'Cats scored just four points over the next four minutes, but held the Falcons scoreless during that time. But, when Myers took a Justinger pass and knocked down a corner three, Ohio's lead was back down to 13 points, 44-31, at the initial media timeout of the period.
The Bobcats answered with a 6-0 run, however, with Baldwin scoring the last four points on layups. Hoekstra drilled a long three-point try with the shot clock winding down, cutting Ohio's lead to 50-34 with exactly 12 minutes left in the game. But, the Falcons would make only one more field goal the rest of the night.
Ohio went on a 9-1 run, with a Weatherspoon layup making the score 59-35 with under nine minutes remaining. BG hit three free throws within a two-second span, and knocked down three more shots from the stripe over the next minute-plus, but Black's three-pointer extended the Bobcats' lead to 64-41 with 6:23 to go.
Kirkpatrick got to the line and made a pair of shots, and Justinger got a layup to drop with just under four minutes on the clock, but it was too little, too late. After a Justinger free throw with 2:38 to go, the 'Cats would score the last six points of the night.
The Falcons will head to Muncie, Ind., for a Saturday (Feb. 14) contest against Ball State University. Tipoff for that game is 2:00 p.m. at Worthen Arena, and the game is the first half of a doubleheader which sees the BGSU and Ball State men's teams meet at 4:30 p.m.
Toledo 61, Central Michigan 46
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - The Chippewas were shorthanded, and it was pretty obvious.
The Central Michigan women's basketball team was without senior Crystal Bradford, the Mid-American Conference's leading scorer, who was ruled out prior to the Wednesday's contest due to a an injured knee, and ultimately fell to Toledo, 61-46.
"Bradford was ruled out for us (Tuesday)," coach Sue Guevara said. "I don't know when she will be back in the lineup. It's a day-to-day thing for her right now.
"She had a little bit of swelling in her knee and it's been giving her some pain. So I think the best course of action is to rest her."
It was CMU's second straight MAC loss and fifth in its last seven games, dropping its record to 11-11, 6-5 in conference play.
The Chippewas played competitively in the first half by utilizing a balanced attack on offense. Six different players scored and the Chippewas were 14-for-31 (40.6 percent) shooting and 5-of-17 (29.4 percent) from three-point range.
By halftime, the Chippewas found themselves down two, 33-31, in a tightly contested game.
It wasn't until the second half that the wheels fell off for CMU.
The Chippewas shot 4-for-29 from the field and 0-of-6 from three-point range in the final 20 minutes and were outscored, 28-15, to close out the game. The 46 points was more than 21 below CMU's season average (67.3), and it was the Chippewas' second-lowest scoring output of the season. Their low, 45, came in a loss to No. 1-ranked South Carolina on Dec. 20.
"We just couldn't put the ball in the hole," Guevara said of CMU's second-half lapse on offense. "I started the five in the second half that were the most productive offensively in the first half.
"We had a couple good looks at the basket, but they just didn't go. I thought that we might have hurried some shots a little bit, from the three-ball especially. But I thought we had some good looks inside and we just didn't convert.
"I don't think it was anything that Toledo did defensively in the second half, because they didn't really change anything. But we got frustrated. I tried drawing up different things to get Kerby (Tamm), Amani (Corley) or (Da'Jourie) Turner going, but the ball didn't fall in the hole for us."
Defensively, the Chippewas had trouble containing Toledo's Jay Bravo-Harriott and Inma Zanoguera, who scored 19 and 17 points, respectively. The two combined to go 13-for-26 from the field and 6-of-11 from deep range.
"We talked at halftime," Guevara said. "Specifically, we talked about (Zanoguera) and making sure we knew where she was the whole time. But they came out to start the second half and there was a misjudgment by one of our freshman and (Zanoguera) was wide open.
"To me, that was a momentum killer for us and (Toledo) kept rolling from there."
Senior Lorreal Jones posted a double-double, her third of the season, finishing with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Senior Kerby Tamm finished the night with eight points on 3-of-11 shooting and five rebounds.
The Chippewas held a 46-37 rebounding edge.
Freshman Karli Herrington played a season-high 21 minutes and recorded seven points and six rebounds.
"I thought Karli did a really nice job for us," Guevara said. "I thought she got some confidence when she knocked down her first two shots and used the backboard with it.
"I thought she got tired in the second half. She was 3-for-6 in the first (half) and then went 0-for-3 in the second. She had six rebounds though, so I thought overall she played a good game. We just need her getting some cardio in at practice so she can play extended minutes."
After Wednesday's setback, the Chippewas are tied for fifth in the MAC standings with Buffalo, Toledo and Northern Illinois (all 6-5 in the MAC). The margin for error is getting smaller for CMU as it attempts to climb the standings with just seven games left on the schedule.
"It was a really quiet locker room after," Guevara said. I think they were frustrated because the shots weren't going down.
"My message to them was that, OK, teams are looking at us now and we've got these players that are down (with injury) and they're wanting to come after us. So how are you going to accept that challenge?
"Somebody is going to have to take the strain off (the hoop). Everyone is going to have to contribute. I told them that it's my job to get them better. That's what I'm going to do.
"So when we come into practice tomorrow, we're going to get after it. They can either come in with their head hanging down or they can come in ready to go. We have another challenge ahead of us."
The Chippewas go to Eastern Michigan (11-10, 4-6) on Saturday for a MAC game. Tipoff is scheduled for noon.
Western Michigan 60, Northern Illinois 51
DeKALB - The NIU women’s basketball (10-11, 6-5 MAC) played tight with Mid-American Conference West Division leader Western Michigan (16-7, 9-3 MAC), leading by three points with six and a half minutes left, but a 10-0 Bronco run vaulted WMU over NIU to defeat the Huskies, 60-51.
Sophomore Ally Lehman (Nineveh, Ind./Indian Creek) recorded her second double-double of the season, scoring 13 points and pulling down 10 rebounds to lead NIU in both categories. Amanda Corral (Hobart, Ind./Hobart) added 12 points while Kelly Smith (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) scored 10.
“I thought we played a really good game and we had some opportunities down the stretch. Last game (versus Akron), we knocked those shots down, this game we didn’t. Western Michigan is a really good team that’s 9-3 in the MAC right now. (They’re) one of the best team’s in the conference. We gave them everything we had tonight,” said Head Coach Kathi Bennett.
The Huskies and Broncos opened the game trading baskets with WMU taking its first lead after the first three-pointer of the game, 11-10, at the 13:22 mark. The two teams then traded runs in the stanza with NIU starting things off with an 7-0 run, taking a 17-11 lead.
A matching 7-0 run later in the half by Western Michigan deadlocked the game at the final media timeout, 20-20. The Huskies added eight more points before the halftime buzzer, taking a 28-23 lead into the locker room.
NIU carried a balanced scoring sheet in the stanza as Corral, Lehman and Jenna Thorp (Hinckley, Ill./Hinckley-Big Rock) each shared the scoring lead in the half with six points. NIU shot .444 in the first period, going 12-for-27, while holding Western Michigan to just 9-of-30 from the field (.300).
The second half opened much the like first half did with both teams trading baskets and then trading runs.
Deadlocked at 39 apiece with 9:05 left, Lehman made her first free throw and missed her second, but Smith grabbed the offensive rebound, one of three in the game for her, and put the shot back to give NIU a three-point lead, 42-39, with 8:21 left.
Thorp made her final basket of the game with 7:40 left in the game, 44-41, which was NIU’s last basket before the 10-0 run by WMU. The Huskies found open looks at the end to make a comeback, which would have been it’s third-straight second half comeback, but the shots didn’t fall as NIU ended its four-game winning streak, 60-51.
NIU only committed three turnovers in the game, a season-low that surpassed its six turnover night versus Kent State on Jan. 17.
The Huskies finished the night 21-for-59 from the field (.356), three more field goals than the Broncos, who finished the night 20-of-22 (.910) from the free throw line to gain the final edge in the contest. The Broncos finished with an 18-for-20 (.900) clip at the charity stripe in the second half.
“We took them the distance and we were right there with them. If we knock down some of those shots, we’re talking about a win tonight,” Bennett added, “I’m just proud of this team right now because we gave ourselves a chance to win against the best team in our division.”
NIU will return to action Saturday afternoon when it heads to Kent State in the Golden Flashes Play 4 Kay Day, supporting breast cancer for legendary North Carolina State Head Coach Kay Yow who lost her battle with breast cancer in 2009. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. Central.
