Akron 82, Toledo 56
Ball State 77, Bowling Green 52
Buffalo 54. Western Michigan 44
Eastern Michigan 85, Central Michigan 64
Kent State 54, Northern Illinois 52
Ohio 67, Miami 45
Courtesy of home MAC Athletic Communications Departments
Akron 82, Toledo 56
AKRON, Ohio – Four Zips scored in double figures Saturday afternoon as the Akron women's basketball team shot 52.5 percent from the field en route to defeating Toledo, 82-56 at James A. Rhodes Arena.
The contest served as the Zips' Play4Kay game to help raise awareness for breast cancer and the Kay Yow Cancer Fund, which supports research, provides grants, and drives inspiration in the fight against women's cancers. Akron wore pink uniforms, head bands and wrist bands as part of its efforts.
The Zips (19-5, 9-4 MAC) dominated the defensive glass in the victory, out-rebounding the Rockets (13-10, 6-6 MAC) 34-15, and 49-26 overall.
Senior Sina King (Waterford, Ohio) led the Zips at both ends of the court, recording her team-leading 11th double-double of the season with a 19-point and 14-rebound effort. She issued a 7-of-12 performance from the field, including going 3-for-5 from beyond the arc. King had eight rebounds and 12 points at the end of the first half.
Sophomore Hannah Plybon (Orrville, Ohio) followed with 17 points after going 4-of-5 from three-point range, while grabbing six boards.
Freshman Kerri McMahan (Novi, Mich.) ended the game with 16 points to eclipse her previous career-high mark for scoring of 15 dating back to the Zips' Dec. 17 contest against Central Florida. McMahan also dished out a game-high six assists.
Junior Anita Brown (Warren, Ohio) rounded out the Zips double-figure scoring efforts contributing 13 points to the Zips' explosive offense. She neared a double-double, coming away with seven boards.
Despite the victory, Akron struggled with ball control, giving up 20 turnovers, while forcing 15 on the Rockets. Points off turnovers were tied at 13 apiece.
Jay Harriott-Bravo led three Rockets in double figures with 16 points, while Janice Monakana and Inma Zanoguera added 11 and 10 points, respectively. Toledo finished the affair connecting on 35.5 percent of its attempts from the field.
The Zips got down to business early, getting out to an early 9-2 advantage after a pair of free throws by Brown at the 14:43 mark of the first half.
Beginning at the 12:45 mark, Akron went on to ride a 23-7 run over six and a half minutes with seven different Zips contributing to the commanding run.
Akron led 34-12 following the scoring outburst, as McMahan topped it off with a layup at the 6:24 mark.
The Zips' run was fueled by 56.7 percent shooting from the field (17-of-30) in the first half, including 6-of-11 from long range.
Though the Rockets began connecting from the floor to halt the run, the Zips improved to a 23-point lead, 39-16, by the 4:36 mark. Akron led 45-28 at the intermission.
Plybon led Akron's first-half offensive effort on the perimeter, going 3-for-3 in the opening half, as well as 4-of-7 from the field. Plybon and King each ended the half with 12 points apiece.
After starting the second half and coming within 14 points of the Zips, Toledo was not able to cut the deficit below 20 throughout the second portion of the half.
The Zips increased their lead to a game-high 32 points with 3:55 to play.
Akron returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 21 when it plays host to Ohio at Rhodes Arena in the Zips' second-to-last home game. Tip off is set for 5 p.m.
Ball State 77, Bowling Green 52
MUNCIE, Ind. - When Brady Sallee became the women’s basketball coach at Ball State three years ago, nearly everything he learned about Shelbie Justice came from what he saw because he rarely heard a peep out of the then-sophomore.
Now a senior, nobody would describe Justice as a chatterbox, but she has opened up verbally a little more. Yet her loudest statements come from her play on the court.
Like on Saturday in Worthen Arena. Justice became the 24th player in school history to score 1,000 career points while helping the Cardinals dump Bowling Green 77-52.
Justice scored a game-high 21 points, needing only 10 field-goal attempts to get there, while doing the little things in other areas that mark her consistency.
“She showed she was willing to be the blue-collar warrior, tough, share the ball, make the extra pass, and she caught on to our offense faster than anybody,” Sallee said of what he saw during the summer before Justice’s sophomore season. “Then it was ‘Holy Cow, I can’t take her out.’ ”
She’s been a staple of the Cardinals program ever since. Justice, a Rushville High School product, has started 113 of 120 career games at Ball State.
Her career at Ball State has been a steady followup to high school, where she scored more than 1,200 points and had 577 rebounds for the Lions while being picked to the Indiana All-Star team after her senior season.
“When (Sallee) first got here, it was a huge culture shock for me because he was so intense and demanding,” Justice said. “Coach P (Kelly Packard) was demanding and everything, but not in the sense that Brady is.
“So just getting used to what he wanted and how he wanted it done took a little bit in the summer when he got here. But it clicked, and it’s been easy for me since then.”
Justice is capable of shooting from the perimeter and taking the ball to the basket for the Cardinals (13-10, 9-3 Mid-American Conference West). She scored her 1,000th point after receiving a pass on the perimeter, then driving into the lane to score at the rim.
While Sallee appreciates Justice’s offense, he’s equally thrilled with her defensive concepts and leadership ability. She’s willing to do whatever is necessary for the Cardinals to win games.
“There was a point in the second half where I let her hear it, and it wasn’t because she was playing bad,” Sallee said. “I needed her to take over. I needed her to get the ball to the rim and take us to the free-throw line. She’s just that kid. Whatever I need, she delivers.”
After a quiet first half when she scored five points in 19 minutes, Justice put up 16 points in the second half. She also finished the game with four rebounds, two assists and just one turnover.
Justice also is trying to become more vocal, even if it isn’t her forte.
“We have a ways to go, but she’s been really good with the players one-on-one, kind of ‘I’ll put my arm around you and let you know,’ but there have been times this year where she’s lit into them,” Sallee said. “I think it took them all back, and it was effective.”
Justice didn’t look like big scorer when she started her career with the Cardinals. She missed every shot she took (0-for-21) in her first five games. She shot only 31 percent for the season and managed only 153 points.
But she got better every year, and last season was named to the All-MAC Tournament team after breaking the tourney record with 15 3-point baskets.
“I asked her the other day if (approaching 1,000 points) was making her nervous and she goes, ‘Honestly, coach, I don’t even know where I am,’ and I believed her,” Sallee said. “She isn’t wired that way.”
The Cardinals didn’t encounter any problems against Bowling Green (9-15, 2-11 MAC East) as three other players joined Justice by scoring in double figures. Nathalie Fontaine had 13, Jill Morrison 11 and Renee Bennett 10. Fontaine also had eight rebounds, and Calyn Hosea led with four assists.
Ball State, which moved past Western Michigan into first place in the MAC West, will be at home again on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. game against Central Michigan.
Buffalo 54. Western Michigan 44
KALAMAZOO, Mich.- Western Michigan slipped to second place in the Mid-American Conference West Division following a 54-44 loss to Buffalo in a physical game at University Arena. The Broncos (16-8, 9-4 MAC) fall a half game behind Ball State (13-10, 9-3 MAC) who defeated Bowling Green Saturday.
Western Michigan seemed off kilter from the start, as senior guard A.J. Johnson grabbed the opening tip but was unable to convert a layup one-on-one. The game seemed to continue to go that way for the Broncos, as Buffalo contested and altered WMU’s shots throughout the game.
The Broncos had 21 turnovers and shot less than 30 percent from the floor, hitting only 26.7 percent of their chances in the first half. Western Michigan trailed 27-21 at halftime.
Western Michigan pulled even at 36-36 with 11:07 left in the game, but both sides went on a five minute scoring drought as neither team could capitalize. Junior Alex Morton hit a jumper with 3:55 remaining to give WMU a three-point lead, 44-41, but that would be WMU’s last points of the game.
UB surged ahead after Mackenzie Loesing came off a screen and hit a three-pointer, followed by a turnover by Johnson and another three by Buffalo. Jessica Jessing missed a shot under the basket and UB’s Alexus Malone scored a fast break layup to put the Bulls up by five with 2:11 left. Buffalo’s final five points came from the free throw mine.
“It was one of those games that you hope doesn’t happen and you particularly don’t hope happens at home,” said WMU head coach Shane Clipfell. “It was like the Toledo game, where we couldn’t quite do anything right. Buffalo came out and punched us in our nose and got us on our heels and we never really got back up on our toes. Some of it was what they were doing to us and some of it was what we were doing to ourselves.”
It was just the second home loss for Western Michigan (9-2 at home) this season. Both of those losses were to conference opponents - Toledo and Buffalo.
“Now we are going to be chasing instead of being chased,” Clipfell said in regards to the conference standings. “We have to wait, with a bye on Wednesday, before we play again in a week. I hope the team remembers how we felt in that lockerroom today and comes out with a response I know they are capable of in our next game, which is one the road.”
Western Michigan has a mid-week bye this week and travels to rival Central Michigan (11-12, 6-6 MAC) Saturday, Feb. 21 for a 1 p.m. tip-off. WMU had 1,502 fans at Saturday’s annual Pink/Play for Kay game, coming short of the 2,000 attendance number set in for the Pack the House Challenge. If WMU reached 2,000 fans, Clipfell was prepared to dye his hair pink.
Junior Miracle Woods finished with 12 points and eight rebounds for the Broncos while Johnson had 11 points and seven boards.
Kristen Sharkey led Buffalo (14-9, 7-5 MAC) with a double-double, scoring 13 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Loesing tallied 12 points and Malone had 10.
Eastern Michigan 85, Central Michigan 64
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team picked up its fifth Mid-American Conference victory of the season with a decisive 85-64 win over the Chippewas of Central Michigan University Saturday, Feb. 14, at the Convocation Center. The 21-point victory over the rival Chippwas was the largest since the 2003-04 campaign when the Eagles cruised to an 89-68 decision in Mount Pleasant, March 2, 2004.
The Eagles (12-10. 5-6 MAC) topped their season-best from three nights ago, knocking down 13 three-pointers for a 52.0 shooting percentage. Junior Sera Ozelci (Ankara, Turkey-TED Ankara (Odessa College)) and sophomore Janay Morton (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) had four apiece for the Green and White, which marked a career-best for Ozelci and was one short of a career-best for Morton. Senior Jamaica Bucknor (Brooklyn, N.Y.-Weaver (ASA College)) led the Eagle offense with 24 points, which was just one point off her career-high 25 points against Madonna, Dec. 9, 2014, while three other EMU players notched double digit-scoring. Sophomore Cha Sweeney (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers) had 17 points for the Green and White and a career-high 10 assists for the second double-double of her career, while Morton added 14 points and Ozelci posted 12.
The 13 three-pointers, combined with the 11 treys from the Eagles' setback to Ball State mark the first time since the 2010-11 season that the Green and White has made 10-or-more three-pointers in consecutive games. The last time the feat was accomplished, EMU sank 10 triples in an 89-34 win over Niagara, Dec. 28, before ringing in 2012 with a 79-63 victory over Ball State that featured 12 three-pointers, Jan. 5.
As a team, the Eagles shot 45.3 percent from the floor, going 29-for-64, while out-scoring CMU 28-18 in the paint. The Green and White forced Central into 17 turnovers, scoring 13 points, while the EMU bench nabbed 34 points compared to the Chippewas 27 bench points.
Central Michigan shot just 33.8 percent from the floor, making 22 shots on 65 attempts, while three CMU players had double-digit scoring efforts. Kerby Tamm led all scorers with 21 points fueled by seven three-pointers and Lorreal Jones was the lone player to nab a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds. The Chippewas saw one final double-digit scoring effort from Cassandra Breen, while Jas'Mine Bracey pulled down seven rebounds for Central Michigan. CMU was playing without MAC Player of the Year candidate Crystal Bradford who missed the her second consectuive game due to an injury.
Eastern opened up action with back-to-back threes from Morton and Ozelci to take the early lead. Bucknor lit a spark on the boards for the Green and White defense, grabbing three-straight defensive rebounds, which turned into four EMU points, allowing the Eagles to take a 15-7 lead over CMU with 12:31 left in the first half. Eastern continued to force the Chippewas into unwanted shots as Central fans witnessed a five-minute scoring drought, increasing the EMU lead to 19-7.
Central Michigan attempted to close the gap on the EMU lead, but matching three-point plays allowed the Eagles to sustain an 11-point, 25-14, with 7:50 left in the first half of action. CMU used back-to-back treys from Breen and two free throws to come within eight of the Green and White, but two jumpers from Sweeny and a Bucknor layup brought the EMU lead to 11, 39-28.
A Chippewa turnover with 15 seconds left on the clock proved to be detrimental as Bucknor knocked down a triple from the top of the arc, allowing the Green and White to take a 45-28 lead into the locker room at the half.
EMU shot at a 44.1 percent clip in the first half, going 15-for-34 from the floor, while draining eight three-pointers for a 53.3 shooting percentage in the first 20 minutes of action. Two Eagles notched double-digit scoring efforts in the first half as Morton and Bucknor had 12 points apiece for the Green and White, while Sweeney added seven. All of Morton's 12 points came by way of the trey, while Bucknor led the Eagles on the boards with four rebounds.
Central Michigan was led by Tamm, who notched nine points in the first half, while Jones added seven for the Chips. CMU shots 33.3 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, making 10-of-30 shot attempts. Central Michigan just barely edged out the Eagles on the board, pulling down 22 rebounds compared to EMU's 20, but it was the Green and White who forced the Chippewas into 10 turnovers, which turned into eight points for Eastern.
To open the second half, Ozelci dropped two-straight threes to extend the Eagles' lead to 51-32. Eastern continued to dominate Central Michigan when a triple by Sweeney put the Eagles up 62-39 and forced Head Coach Sue Guevara to call a timeout with 12:05 left to play.
The two teams began to exchange baskets with Eastern holding a comfortable 25-point lead, 73-48, after a Bucknor corner three heading into the final five minutes of action. Despite a slight run by the Chippewas, 18-12, Eastern Michigan closed out the game with a 85-64 victory against the in-state rivals.
EMU will hit the road for its next two contests, first traveling to Oxford, Ohio for a match up with the RedHawks of Miami University Tuesday, Feb. 17, at 6 p.m. Following the game against MU the Eagles will trek to Athens, Ohio to take on the Bobcats of Ohio University Wednesday, Feb. 18, at 7 p.m. Both games will be broadcast on Eagle All-Access at emueagles.com/watch.
Kent State 54, Northern Illinois 52
KENT, Ohio – Kent State (4-19, 2-10) showered its fans with love on Saturday as the team did not give in and won an exciting game on a last-second shot by Melanee Stubbs to beat Northern Illinois 54-52.
Despite leading for nearly 28 minutes of the contest, Kent State could not get ahead by more than seven and Northern Illinois kept things interesting by forcing six lead changes and fighting until the end to set up late-game heroics.
The Golden Flashes jumped out to a 5-0 lead at the start and stayed ahead until the Huskies tied things at twelve. Montia Johnson then made a layup to spark an 8-2 run to put the Flashes back in front en route to a 22-17 lead at halftime.
Northern Illinois scored first out of the break but Kent State was able to answer and keep the lead. That lead lasted until the 8:56 mark when the Huskies snuck ahead by a point, 36-35, to force a timeout.
The two teams traded buckets and Northern Illinois was able to stay slightly in front but Kent State was not done yet, as they grabbed the lead back 50-48 with 55 seconds left to play on free throws by Mikell Chinn.
It was then the Huskies' turn to make a free throw and bring the game within a point as the time waned down to 32 seconds. A layup by NIU then gave them a one-point advantage as time was cut in half, with now just 16 seconds left in the game.
Chinn would again go to the line and put the Flashes back on top with two successful free throws. The game looked to be decided at the charity stripe, as the Huskies were given the shot at the lead as they went to the line with seven seconds remaining.
Northern Illinois only could connect on one of its chances, which tied the game at 52 and put the ball in Kent State's hands.
Melanee Stubbs was able to play the role of hero for the second time this season as the senior sunk the game-winner to give the Flashes the 54-52 victory.
The Golden Flashes outshot the Huskies 43.5% to 37.2% in the game and outrebounded them by a large majority, 38-19. Kent State made 12 of its 15 free-throw attempts, with many coming late in the game, to capitalize on the clutch performances.
CiCi Shannon led with a double-double, collecting an even 11 points and 11 rebounds. Jordan Korinek also reached double-digits with ten points. Chinn had a nice game with six points, six rebounds and five assists. All six points came at the charity stripe as she was perfect in six attempts.
The Golden Flashes will be on the road for their next two games. They play Wednesday at Buffalo and Saturday at Bowling Green before returning home to face Akron on Feb. 25.
Ohio 67, Miami 45
OXFORD, Ohio – A gritty defensive game kept the Miami women’s basketball team within six points of Mid-American Conference leader Ohio early in the second half, but a tough-shooting night was too much to overcome in a 67-45 loss on Saturday.
The RedHawks shot just 32 percent from the field to drop to 4-19 (1-11 Mid-American).
Mariah Byard put up the game’s first five points on a three-pointer and a jumper in the lane before Courtney Larson put the RedHawks on the board with a long jumper to make the score 5-2 in favor of the Bobcats early on. OU (20-3, 11-1 MAC) struck for the next 10 points on a pair of threes and two layups to open up a 15-2 lead nearly seven minutes in.
Trailing 19-4, Miami pulled within 11 on the strength of a 6-2 spurt. Baleigh Reid started the run with a jumper and the RedHawks got consecutive layups from Jessica Rupright and Reid to cut the gap to 21-10 with 7:50 to go in the opening stanza.
Hannah McCue’s layup with 3:40 to go in the half allowed MU to claw within nine points at 23-14, the closest margin since there was 14:37 left in the opening frame. The Red and White defense was the catalyst as they held the Bobcats without a field goal for nearly seven minutes. OU missed a one-and-one while Larson followed by knocking down a pair of free throws to draw MU within seven at 23-16 with just under three minutes remaining in the half. Ana Richter capped what ended up a 14-4 run by scoring through contact with 2:03 left in the opening stanza. She missed the ensuing free throw, however, and the Bobcats responded by scoring seven-straight points to take a 30-18 lead. Reid hit a pair of free throws to cut the RedHawks’ deficit to 30-20 at the half.
The RedHawks opened the second half with the ball and Molly McDonagh hit a layup to make it an eight-point game at 30-22. After Kat Yelle’s three-pointer upped the Bobcats’ lead to 11, McCue drained a three and Rupright scored on a put back to bring the score to 33-27 with 17:02 to go. That surge was quelled when Kiyanna Black hit three-pointers on consecutive possessions to double the OU lead back to 12 at 39-27.
Miami’s defense held Ohio without a field goal for another five minutes, though it only clawed as close as 10 points over that stretch. The Bobcats eventually bumped their lead to 15 on a Black three and Jasmine Weatherspoon layup, giving them a 46-31 lead with 10:36 to go. The RedHawks would get no closer than 12 the rest of the way.
The Bobcats shot 40.4 percent from the floor and hit 8-of-22 (36.4 percent) of their three-pointers while holding the RedHawks to 32 percent shooting and just 1-of-14 from beyond the arc. OU ended with a 45-34 edge in rebounding and forced 20 MU turnovers while committing 15 miscues. Reid tallied 16 points to lead all scorers while OU’s Quiera Lampkins (15 points) and Black (10) finished in double figures.
Miami is back on the court on Tuesday when it hosts Eastern Michigan at 6 p.m.
