Middle Tennessee 69, Ball State 58
Kansas State 86, Akron 68
West Virginia 84, Buffalo 61
Courtesy of MAC Athletic Communications Departments
Middle Tennessee 69, Ball State 58
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - The Ball State women's basketball team (17-13) Women's National Invitation Tournament run was cut short after suffering a 69-58 loss at Middle Tennessee (22-9) Thursday night in the Murphy Center.
The Cardinals WNIT appearance marked their third straight and sixth overall. Ball State head women's basketball coach Brady Sallee, who is in his third season at Ball State, became the only head coach in program history to take the Cardinals to three straight WNITs. He has led the Cardinals to a 17-13 overall record in 2014-15 and the program’s sixth MAC West Division title. Sallee becomes only the second head coach in program history to have three consecutive winning seasons -- 17-16 (2012-13), 18-17 (2013-14) and 17-13 (2014-15). The last time it happened was from 2004-07 under former head coach Tracy Roller.
The Cardinals trailed by 20 (56-36) with 11:59 remaining in the second half but free throws from Shelbie Justice and Shelby Merder along with a three-point basket from Moriah Monaco sparked a 19-6 run for the Cardinals to bring Ball State within seven points (62-55) at the 5:24 mark. During that run the Cardinals had help from Jill Morrison who scored eight points and basket also from Renee Bennett.
Middle Tennessee would then close the second half with a 7-2 run which sealed the victory for the Blue Raiders.
Bennett knocked down the first basket to give Ball State an early 2-0 lead over Middle Tennessee in the opening minutes of the ball game. After that, both teams traded baskets and the game would be tied 14-14 for the fourth time at the 10:59 mark. The Blue Raiders put together a 13-2 run to take a commanding 11-point (27-16) advantage over the Cardinals in a span of two minutes. Middle Tennessee continued to attack the basket heading into intermission with a 38-25 lead over Ball State.
Junior Nathalie Fontaine earned her ninth double-double of the season after scoring 15 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. Fontaine now has 18 double-doubles in her career. Bennett registered a 12 point performance while Morrison ended the night with 11. Senior Shelbie Justice ended her career scoring seven points and brought down seven rebounds for the night.
For the game, the Cardinals out-rebounded the Blue Raiders 46-to-32 but Middle Tennessee capitalized on Ball State's miscues, scoring 18 points off of the Cardinals 20 turnovers.
The Ball State women's basketball team earned the automatic berth to compete in the 2015 Postseason WNIT after clinching the Mid-American Conference West Division title outright for the first time since 2008-09, the Cardinals earned a bye as the second seed in last week’s MAC Tournament and advanced straight to the semifinals, where they lost to No. 6 seed Eastern Michigan 75-65.
Kansas State 86, Akron 68
MANHATTAN, Kan. - The Akron women's basketball team was forced to play from behind throughout and the Zips (22-9) were unable to overcome a hot-shooting Kansas State (19-13) squad in the opening round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament on Thursday, March 19, as the Wildcats registered an 86-68 triumph.
Junior Anita Brown (Warren, Ohio) led Akron with a team-high 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting, while sophomore Hannah Plybon (Orrville, Ohio) added 15 points, all on three-pointers.
In the final game of her distinguished Zips' career, senior Sina King (Waterford, Ohio) registered her team-leading 16th double-double of the season with a 20-point, 10-rebound performance. King finished her career having recorded 1,634 points and 888 rebounds, representing the fourth-highest scoring and third-best rebounding totals in program history.
The Wildcats were paced with a 30-point contest from Haley Texada, while Breanna Lewis, Ashia Woods and Brianna Craig contributed 11, 10 and 10 points, respectively.
The Zips connected on 39 percent of their shots from the field, including making nine three-pointers. Kansas State posted a 57.1 percent shooting mark for the game.
Thanks to Kings' 10 rebounds, Akron outrebounded the Wildcats, 32-31, including 12-5 on the offensive glass.
The Wildcats scored the game's first 10 points before a jumper by Brown got the Zips on the scoreboard 2:16 into the affair.
Akron cut into Kansas State's advantage on back-to-back three pointers from Brown and King to trail, 14-8, at the 15:27 mark.
The Wildcats stretched their lead to 23-12 before Plybon nailed a triple with 11:50 remaining in the initial stanza to cut the deficit to eight, 23-15.
The Zips then struggled with their shots from the field missing eight of their next 10 attempts from the field. Kansas State slowly began to stretch their margin during this span leading by as many as 21 points in the first 20 minutes.
The Wildcats entered the intermission maintaining a 50-32 advantage over Akron.
The Zips connected on 37.9 percent of their first-half shots, while Kansas State attacked the basket at a 60 percent clip.
Brown paced the Zips in the first half with a team-high 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting, while King and Plybon added seven and six points, respectively. Texada paced the Wildcats' attack with 19 first-half points.
The two sides exchanged the first nine baskets of the second half before back-to-back baskets from King brought the Zips to within 13, 58-45, with 14:26 remaining.
Kansas State answered with a 16-5 run to assume its largest lead of the game, 74-50, lead at the 9:39 mark and the Wildcats didn't look back en route to notching the 86-68 triumph.
The loss concludes another successful campaign for the Zips, one in which Akron registered 22 wins for third consecutive season. The Zips return four starters for the 2015-16 campaign, including 2014-15 starters Brown, Plybon, junior DiAndra Gibson (Ravenna, Ohio) and freshman Kerri McMahan (Novi, Mich.).
West Virginia 84, Buffalo 61
MORGANTOWN, WV – The University at Buffalo, State University of New York women's basketball team battled host West Virginia Thursday at the WVU Coliseum in the first round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament. The Mountaineers (19-14) capitalized on a hot-shooting first half to defeat the Bulls (19-13), 81-64.
WVU, who never trailed, jumped out to a 10-0 gap and powered to a 50-28 advantage at the half. But the Bulls answered in the second. The Mountaineers held just a one-point margin, 34-33, in the latter 20. The loss ends the Bulls' finest season in over a decade.
"I am incredibly proud of our women's basketball team and all that they've achieved throughout an outstanding season," said UB President Satish K. Tripathi. "Tonight's game caps off an outstanding season for our women's basketball team, as only the second trip to a postseason tournament in program history, and its first-ever trip to the Women's National Invitation Tournament.
"I was thrilled to be here tonight cheering on the team as they took on a Big 12 rival and held their own every step of the way. It was a game I'll remember for a long time to come. Congratulations to Coach Legette-Jack and the entire team on all their success over a truly great season."
Sophomore Joanna Smith had a career night to pace the Bulls. She grabbed 11 rebounds, the most single-game boards of her two-year career, to go with a team-high 18 points to earn her first career double-double. Freshman Stephanie Reid added 11 points. Sophomore Alexus Malone made a trio of steals, while classmate Camera Miley dished out three assists. Miley added six points and Malone chipped in five points and five rebounds.
UB's seniors each contributed in their final career outings. Kristen Sharkey posted nine points and five rebounds, finishing eighth all-time with 1,264 points and 10th with 759 rebounds. Christa Baccas made a game-high two blocks surpassing the 250 threshold. She concludes her career with 251 to sit second in program history. Ayana Bradley had a four-point, five-rebound showing for the Bulls
"I thought our young ladies did a tremendous job of continuing to fight. They were outmatched when it came to physical skillsets, but their mental toughness and their ability to carry on was evident," said third-year head coach Felisha Legette-Jack. "I'm really humbled to see how this team grew from nothing to something. Now they believe that they're supposed to be in fights like this. I'm excited about what the future holds."
WVU put four in double figures. Teana Muldrow and Bria Holmes each put up 20, while Averee Fields added 12 and Jessica Morton 11. All 20 of Muldrow's points came in the first half, highlighted by a 5-for-5 showing beyond the arc. The Mountaineers shot 52.6 percent from deep for the game.
The Bulls committed just 10 turnovers to WVU's 12, but were outrebounded 50-40. WVU shot 41.2 percent from the floor. UB hit 30.3 percent of its shots. The squads tallied 18 each at the charity stripe.
The Mountaineers, who were appearing in the Postseason WNIT for the fourth time and the first since the 2009 season, improved to 86-6 at home against non-conference opponents dating back to 2002. It was the first meeting between the two teams.
The Bulls secured their first 19-win season since going 19-9 in 2000-01. UB, who went 17-13 a season ago, posted its first back-to-back winning seasons since amassing an 18-11 record in 1999-00 and a 19-9 record in 2000-01.
