Mid-American Conference

Akron 67, Miami 55
Ball State 85, Central Michigan 69
Buffalo 55, Bowling Green 47
Eastern Michigan 74, Western Michigan 65
Northern Illinois 68, Toledo 64
Ohio 69, Kent State 56

Courtesy of home MAC Athletic Communications Departments

Akron 67, Miami 55
AKRON, Ohio - The Akron women's basketball team came out of the halftime locker room and connected at a 55-percent clip over the final 20 minutes to defeat Miami University, 67-55, in its final regular-season home game of the season at James A. Rhodes Arena Wednesday night.

The victory enabled the Zips (21-7, 11-6 MAC) to equal a school record for regular season wins (21) set by the 2012-13 Akron squad. The triumph also established a new program high for home victories (13) in a campaign.

Akron honored their lone on-court senior Sina King (Waterford, Ohio) along with manager Matt Shopbell during pregame festivities. King played in her 121st game as a Zip versus the RedHawks and has scored 1,564 points in an Akron uniform, the fifth-highest total in program history.

A game-high 19 points from sophomore Hannah Plybon (Orrville, Ohio) led the Zips. King turned in an 18-point, seven-rebound effort, while junior Anita Brown (Warren, Ohio) added 16 points and dished out a game-high six assists.

From the field, Akron shot 40.7 percent (22-for-54), while connecting for 45 percent (9-for-20) from beyond the arc. Miami (7-21, 4-13 MAC) registered a 34.7 percent (17-for-49) shooting mark from the floor and at 28.6 percent (4-for-14) from long range.

The Zips won the rebounding battle, 38-26, including outrebounding the RedHawks on the offensive glass, 12-6.

Kayla Brown paced Miami in scoring with 19 points, two assists and one steal.

Juniors Megan Barilla (Fairview Park, Ohio) and DiAndra Gibson (Ravenna, Ohio) contributed four and three assists, respectively, to Akron's efforts.

King opened the game for the Zips shooting 3-for-3 from the floor en route to recording Akron's first seven points. Miami struggled to get anything going early and went 0-of-5 to start the game and split a pair of free throws to trail 7-1 at the 16:03 mark.

After the slow start, the Redhawks did not let the Zips stretch their advantage in the game. Miami and Akron went back-and-forth scoring, as the Zips led by seven before Miami cut the lead down to four, twice.

Miami used a 6-0 run to decrease its deficit to one, 16-15, when Brown made a pair of free throws at the 7:53 mark. During the Redhawks' short run, Akron went 0-for-4 from the floor over a 4:54 stretch before Plybon ended the Miami run with a three-pointer with 7:03 left in the half.

Miami trailed by just one point, 29-28, with 48 second to play in the half. Akron scored seven-straight points, including a five-point play, with Plybon drilling a triple, while King converted a pair of free throws after she was simultaneously fouled on the play. The Redhawks hit two last-second free throws and the Zips led at halftime, 36-30.

Akron made its first three shots of the second half to extend its lead to 43-32. Brown made a pair of lay-ups, while Plybon made a wide-open three-pointer.

King scored her 16th point of the game and extended the Akron lead to 16, 51-35, at the 13:17 mark in the second half with an assist from freshman Alli Ball (St. Louis, Mo.).

Akron went scoreless for four minutes, but Miami did not take advantage only cutting the Zips' lead to 10. Brown ended Akron's cold spell with a jumper from the baseline with 8:51 to play to give the Zips a 53-41 advantage.

After leading by 10, the Zips extended their margin to as many as 17. Miami could not cut the Akron lead below 14 from the 6:54 mark on.

Akron closes out the regular season with a 1 p.m. tilt at Bowling Green on Saturday, March 7. A victory by the Zips will give Akron a top-four seed at next week's Mid-American Conference Championship and a bye into the tournament quarterfinals on March 12.


Ball State 85, Central Michigan 69
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Sue Guevara is optimistic, but realistic.

After watching her Central Michigan women's basketball team fall to Ball State, 85-69, at McGuirk Arena on Wednesday, she summed up where her Chippewas stand.

"They came here to win a championship, and we were all set to do that," Guevara said of her players. "We go from a goal of winning the MAC Tournament to just getting to Cleveland. It's been a long time since I've had to say that out loud."

The loss, CMU's 10th in its last 13 starts, leaves it 12-16 overall, 7-10 in the Mid-American Conference. The loss also ended any hope the Chippewas had of hosting a first-round MAC Tournament game. They will play on the road Monday night, most likely at Northern Illinois. If they win that, they will head to Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland for a tourney quarterfinal.

The Chippewas close the regular season on Saturday at home (1 p.m.) against Eastern Michigan. CMU will honor retiring Executive Associate Director of Athletics/Sport Administration Marcy Weston during a halftime ceremony.

The five Chippewa seniors - Crystal Bradford, Jas'Mine Bracey, Jessica Green, Lorreal Jones and Kerby Tamm - will be honored in a pregame ceremony. Bradford and Green are injured and will not play.

"When we play on Saturday, it's the last game in McGuirk," Guevara said. "It's the last (home) game we're going to play. Our fans have been so loyal, they've been so supportive through all of this.

"We just want to make sure that we are going to give every effort we can. I know (the seniors) are going to try and do everything they possibly can so that we beat Eastern Michigan. Because it's Senior Day."

Nathalie Fontaine scored 25 points and grabbed nine rebounds Wednesday to lead Ball State (16-12, 12-5), which clinched the MAC West title and wrapped up the No. 2 seed for the MAC Tournament.

Da'Jourie Turner scored 19 points to lead the Chippewas, who also got 17 points from Tamm, 12 from freshman Cassie Breen, and 10 from Bracey.

Bracey grabbed 12 rebounds and Turner dished out seven assists. The Chippewas played without Jones, one of their leading rebounders, who sat out because of illness.

Ball State held a 35-30 rebounding edge, and made 27 of its 51 field goal attempts (52.9 percent), including a 10-for-24 clip (41.7 percent) from three-point range.

The Chippewas made just 38.7 percent of their field goal attempts (24-of-62), but were in the thick of it, trailing 37-32 at halftime.

Ball State started the second half with an 11-0 spurt during which Jill Morrison (19 points) hit three three-pointers. When the dust settled, the Cardinals were up 16, 48-32.

"We didn't recover," Guevara said. "It was that simple. They hit shots and we did not."

The Chippewas managed to trim their deficit to nine, 53-44, on an Aleah Swary three-pointer with 13 minutes to play, but Fontaine scored 22 seconds later to restore the lead to double digits, and CMU never got its deficit under 10 the rest of the way.


Buffalo 55, Bowling Green 47
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team battled the University at Buffalo possession for possession on Wednesday night (March 4), but a gritty, spirited effort fell just short. The Bulls escaped the Stroh Center with a narrow 55-47 win in Mid-American Conference action.

Junior Miriam Justinger led the Falcons (9-19, 2-15 MAC) with 13 points vs. the Bulls, while senior Deborah Hoekstra had her second double-double in as many games, with 12 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. The double-double was Hoekstra's sixth of the season, with all six coming in conference play.

For the Bulls (17-11, 10-7 MAC), Joanna Smith scored 17 points, while Christa Baccas added 10.

The Falcons outrebounded the taller Bulls by a 40-38 count on Wednesday night, and the teams each scored 18 points in the paint. In the teams' first meeting, UB had a 37-25 advantage on the boards and a whopping 40-4 advantage in points in the paint.

Kristen Sharkey had nine points for the visitors, while Mackenzie Loesing and Alexus Malone each scored eight. Malone led the Bulls with 12 rebounds.

The BG defense held Sharkey, Loesing and Malone to a combined 8-of-31 effort from the field.

The game featured six ties and six lead changes, and neither team ever led by more than eight points all night. UB took an early 6-0 lead, before the Falcons finally got on the board with nearly five minutes gone. Justinger took a Hoekstra pass and knocked down a three-point try from the right elbow, and the junior then hit a pull-up jumper after an offensive rebound by freshman Rachel Myers.

Baccas scored inside to give the Bulls an 8-5 lead at the game's first media timeout, but sophomore Rachel Konieczki threw the ball inside to freshman Sarah Baer, who countered with a nifty layup of her own. UB's Stephanie Reid hit a rainbow three-pointer, but Justinger answered with four-straight points to tie the game.

First, Justinger hit a jumper in the paint. Then, she drew a foul on Baccas and hit a pair of free throws at the 10:47 mark, knotting the game at 11-11. The Bulls retook the lead, but Loesing was called for two fouls in a 17-second span. Those fouls came during a possession in which BG came up with three offensive rebounds, and after yet another Buffalo foul, Hoekstra hit two shots from the charity stripe to make it a 13-13 game with 7:30 left in the half.

Justinger than came up with a steal, but her transition layup try would not drop. Reid threw the ball downcourt to Sharkey, who had stayed at the far end of the court, and her uncontested layup gave the visitors the lead.

Undaunted, Justinger took a pass from Konieczki and hit a silky-smooth jumper from just inside the arc, and a nice take off the dribble by redshirt freshman Kennedy Kirkpatrick resulted in a layup and a 17-15 BG lead. When freshman Haley Puk drilled a pull-up jumper in the lane, the Falcons had a 6-0 run and a four-point lead with 4:01 left in the half.

Smith hit a pair of free throws, but Kirkpatrick hit a shot with her toe on the three-point line, and the long two-pointer gave the Brown and Orange a 21-17 advantage. A putback by Sharkey cut that lead in half, but Myers came up with an offensive rebound of her own at the other end of the court, was fouled and hit one of her two free-throw tries with 56.5 seconds left in the half. A possession which saw Buffalo nearly throw the ball away, however, was salvaged by Smith, who hit a corner three, and the teams went to the half tied at 22-all.

Justinger had 11 points for the Falcons in that opening period, while Smith scored nine and Baccas six for the Bulls. No other player in the game had more than four first-half points.

BGSU pulled down 22 rebounds to UB's 13 in the first half, and the Falcons attempted only three three-pointers in that 20-minute span, making one.

Smith scored on a layup just 19 seconds into the second half, and nearly three minutes went by before either team would score again. Sharkey hit a pair of free throws at the 16:57 mark, but Justinger found Hoekstra for a three-pointer with the shot clock winding down, and UB's lead was one point.

BG's next possession saw Hoekstra fake a three-point try before driving down the lane for a layup and a 27-26 Falcon lead. That lead traded hands several times in the next few minutes, as Baccas canned a short jumper and Myers answered with a three-pointer for a 30-28 BG lead.

Baccas scored again, and Hoekstra came up with an offensive rebound in traffic and laid the ball back up and in. Sharkey, though, made a triple to give her team a 33-32 lead with 13:46 left. Out of a timeout, Smith poked the ball away from a Falcon from behind, got the ball back and was fouled on a layup attempt. She split her free-throw tries to give the Bulls a two-point lead, but Myers was fouled by Baccas at the other end, and the Falcon freshman made two tosses to tie the score with 13:05 to go.

And, the score remained 34-34 for nearly four full minutes. Finally, Smith broke the tie with a pair of free throws at the 9:12 mark, and she hit a short jumper for a four-point UB lead soon after.

Justinger's layup cut that UB lead in half, and Sharkey threw the ball inside to Malone for a layup and a 40-36 lead at the seven-minute mark.  Two Hoekstra tosses made it a two-point game once again, but Loesing's pull-up jumper on the baseline gave the Bulls a 42-38 advantage with 5:26 to go.

That UB lead reached seven points after hitting three shots from the stripe, with Malone's two tosses giving the visitors a 45-38 lead at the 4:03 mark. Konieczki, however, took a pass from Hoekstra, drove the left baseline and fired a pass to Puk in the right corner. Puk, from just in front of the BGSU support staff on the bench, drilled a three-pointer to cut the Falcons' deficit to four points with 3:53 left.

BG forced Baccas to miss a jumper, and after a pair of offensive rebounds, including one by Justinger in traffic, a Myers layup cut the Bulls' lead to 45-43 with 3:05 remaining. Malone, however, scored on a putback, and after a BG miss, Loesing's banker gave UB a six-point advantage with 1:50 to go.

Konieczki was fouled and split a pair of shots, but Loesing's catch-and-shoot jumper gave UB a seven-point lead with 1:23 on the clock. Konieczki's layup with just over a minute left cut that lead to 51-46, and after Sharkey misfired on a three-point try, Hoekstra got to the line and made the second of two tosses with 32.1 seconds left.

BG quickly fouled on the inbounds pass, and Smith made one free throw, but a Falcon jumper at the other end was off the mark, and Malone rebounded the ball, was fouled and hit two shots from the line with 15.2 seconds remaining. One more UB free throw closed the scoring.

The Falcons went 4-of-16 from long range, tying a season low for three-pointers made, but BG held UB to just a 3-for-19 effort from the arc. No player in the game made more than one triple on the night.

Overall, the Falcons shot 31.4 percent from the floor, while UB shot 33.3% from the field.

The game was Kate Achter Bobblehead Night. The former Falcon standout, now an associate head coach on the women's basketball staff at St. Bonaventure, was unable to be at the Stroh Center because the Bonnies had a conference tournament first-round game on Wednesday. But, a recorded message from Achter was played during the game's initial media timeout, and members of her immediate family were in attendance at the Stroh.

The Falcons will close the regular season on Saturday (March 7), hosting Akron in a 2:00 p.m. start. It will be 'Senior Day' for the Brown and Orange, with four members of the program -- Hoekstra, Erica Fullenkamp, Jasmine Matthews and student manager Nick Fine -- recognized in ceremonies prior to the game.

Then, BGSU will hit the road for the first round of the MAC Tournament on Monday (March 9). BGSU's opponent will not be known until the conclusion of Saturday's games.


Eastern Michigan 74, Western Michigan 65
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – Behind a season-best 30 points from sophomore Cha Sweeney (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers), the Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team capped off its 2014-15 home season with a 74-65 Mid-American Conference victory over the Broncos of Western Michigan University Wednesday, March 4, inside the Convocation Center.

The win not only marked the 10th EMU victory in the last 14 contests, but also clinched at least a first round home game for the Green and White for the first round of the 2015 Mid-American Conference Tournament.

Prior to the game, Eastern honored seniors Jamaica Bucknor (Brooklyn, N.Y.-Weaver (ASA College)) and Brianna Puni (St. Charles, Mo.-Incarnate Word (Illinois State)) for their time and dedication to the program over the past two seasons.

The Eagles (17-11, 10-7 MAC) shot just 33.9 percent from the field, but knocked down an impressive 29 free throws in 32 trips to the line for a 90.6 shooting percentage. The 29 free throws made ties for sixth all-time in Convocation Center history, while the 90.6 free throw percentage ranks seventh all-time in Convo laurels. Sweeney led all scorers with her 30 points, going 10-for-11 from the charity stripe, eight of which came in the final two minutes of the contest. Along with Sweeney, Puni and Janay Morton (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) scored 13 points apiece for the Green and White, 11 of which came from the line for Puni. Bucknor and sophomore Phillis Webb (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) grabbed a team-best eight rebounds, while Webb also added eight points for the Green and White offense.

EMU committed just 10 turnovers, compared to Western's 20 miscues, while the Eagles also notched 12 points off of WMU turnovers. The Broncos were led by Miracle Woods who poured in a team-best 15 points, while LaTondra Brooks and Marquisha Harris each added double-digit points with 12 and 11 points, respectively.  Western Michigan held the slight edge over EMU with 43 rebounds compared to the Eagles 38, while the bench added 34 points to the WMU offensive effort.

After Western opened the contest with an easy jumper inside the arc 30 seconds into the contest, the Eagles went on an 11-0 run, including two three-pointers to take an 11-2 advantage over the Broncos and holding WMU scoreless for almost eight minutes. Western found its first shot in almost eight minutes from a three at the top of the arc, but the Green and White responded with a jumper from Morton on its next trip down the court to carry a 13-5 lead with 11:32 left in the opening half.

The Broncos surged a comeback with an 11-5 run coming out of the second media timeout of the half to trail by just two points before Sweeney converted on an and-one play to keep the EMU lead at five, 18-13. Western Michigan continued its comeback with a second double-digit run over the Green and White to come within one, 24-23, following a LaTondra Brooks free throw.

Despite WMU's best effort, the Eagle defense shut down the Broncos' offensive production in the closing minutes of the first half to take a five-point lead, 32-27, into the locker room at half time.

Eastern was led by Sweeney who went 5-for-12 from the field for a team-best 12 points, while Morton added seven points for the Green and White. As a team, the Eagles shot a mere 35.2 percent from the floor, making 12 of the 34 shots they took in the first 20 minutes, including scoring 12 points in the paint and 10 points off of fastbreaks.

Western held the rebounding advantage in the first half, 22-16, and shot 39.3 percent from the floor, going 11-for-28. Brooks notched a team-best 10 points in the first half, while Woods poured in seven points for WMU.

WMU started the half with a 17-14 run over Eastern Michigan to take its first lead since the opening play on a Jessica Jessing trey from the corner. However, the lead was short-lived as Puni knocked down two free throws to put the contest back into EMU's favor, 48-47. Neither team could gain more than a one-point advantage over the other, exchanging free throws as both teams were plagued with fouls early on, with the Green and White leading 50-49 with 6:53 left to play in second half.

The Eagles started to find some offense with 5:26 left to play when Morton made two free throws and Bucknor followed it up with a jumper from the top of the key to allowed EMU to take a 58-51 advantage. A trey from Sweeney and two free throws from Puni gave EMU its largest lead of the half, 63-55, before a fade away jumper from Bucknor put the Green and White up by nine with 1:44 left in the contest.

With EMU in double bonus, Sweeney dropped in five-straight free throws for the Eagles to break the 70-point barrier and take a 71-63 lead over Western Michigan with 52 seconds left on the clock. With time dwindling, the Broncos were forced to throw up quick triples that led to missed shots and forced fouls. Sweeney closed out the contest with eight free throws to propel EMU to a 74-65 Senior Night victory over the Western Michigan Broncos.

EMU hits the road for the final time in the regular season with a trip to Central Michigan University Saturday, March 7. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. inside McGuirk Arena.


Northern Illinois 68, Toledo 64
DeKALB - Consistent shooting and constant defensive pressure pushed the NIU women's basketball team (12-15, 8-9 MAC) past Toledo (17-11, 10-7 MAC) on Wednesday afternoon as the Huskies defeated the Rockets, 68-64. NIU caused 19 takeways to outscore Toledo, 23-10, on turnover opportunities while Amanda Corral (Hobart, Ind./Hobart) scored 19 of her 25 points in the second half.

Ally Lehman (Nineveh, Ind./Indian Creek) scored 13 points with seven assists while Jenna Thorp (Hinckley, Ill./Hinckley-Big Rock) added 10 points. In their final regular season game at the NIU Convocation Center, the senior class combined for 44 points to improve the Huskies to 9-3 at home this season.

"I'm so proud of this basketball team. How we've stayed together and how we fought with the numbers we have, I'm just so proud of them. We had two kids play 40 minutes. I think Toledo was one heck of a hot team to play today and to play as hard as we did and get this win, means a lot to us. I'm excited about what the future holds," said Head Coach Kathi Bennett.

The Huskies opened the first half with precision offensively as they made 10 of their first 20 shots in the opening 12 minutes of the game. NIU built an 11-point lead with 7:29 left in the first period and maintained a double-digit lead for most of the half until the Rockets ended the stanza on a 10-2 run.

NIU survived Toledo's late push and would enter the halftime locker room with a 30-28 lead. Lehman led the Huskies in scoring in the half with nine points. Playing in their final regular season game at the NIU Convocation Center, the Huskie seniors combined for 19 points in period. Both Corral and Thorp scored six points.

The Rockets started the second half with the same energy it ended with in the first half as they traded leads with NIU to start the period. However, the Huskie defense quelled Toledo's advance in the period as it again took an 11-point lead with 6:33 remaining, 60-49.

The Huskies and the Rockets traded a few more baskets before Toledo made one last push at a comeback, making it a one-possession game with 59 seconds left as Sophie Reecher hit two free throws, 64-61. Lehman responded with two shots at the charity stripe to put the Huskies back up by five with 51 seconds left.

A confident Inma Zanoguera sank a three-pointer seven seconds later to bring it back to a one possession game as the Huskies then led, 66-64, with 44 seconds left. Winding the clock down, Lehman missed a three-pointer with 16 seconds left to give the Rockets the go-ahead shot with little time remaining.

The NIU defense locked up Zanoguera, forcing the Rockets to move to Ana Capotosto, who took the shot with eight seconds left and pushed the ball wide right of the basket and rim to give the Huskies the ball back with four seconds left. Corral finished with two more points at the free throw line to seal the Huskies ninth win of the home regular season, 68-64.

Corral was 7-of-8 from the field in the second half, scoring 19 points to lead NIU. She finished with 25 points, seven rebounds and four assists. It was the fourth-straight game against the Rockets she scored at leats 20 points. As a team, NIU dished 19 assists in the game. The NIU defense limited Toledo to seven helpers in the game. Offensively, the Huskies shot over 46 percent both halves to finish with a .474 average (27-for-57).

Zanoguera led Toledo with 18 points while Reecher had 13 points and seven rebounds.

Northern Illinois University will await the result of tonight's Central Michigan-Ball State to see if the Huskies will host the Chippewas in the First Round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament.

NIU will close the regular season Saturday at Western Michigan. Tipoff is scheduled 1 p.m. Central at University Arena.


Ohio 69, Kent State 56
KENT, Ohio – Kent State (5-23, 3-14) had a hot start but fell to Mid-American Conference regular season champion Ohio (24-4, 15-2) by a score of 69-56 Wednesday night.

Larissa Lurken banked in a three within seconds of the opening tip to get the scoring started in the game.   The first half went on to consist of six ties and five lead changes but the Bobcats pulled ahead to lead 31-24 at the half as they closed it out on a 7-2 run.

The Golden Flashes were shooting an even 50% from the field in the first ten minutes of the game before cooling down to 30%.

To start the second, Ohio drove ahead on a 6-0 run to be up 37-24, forcing a Kent State timeout.  The lead became as large as 16 points before the Golden Flashes closed it down to a 69-56 final.

Kent State outrebounded Ohio 44-37 and shot 76% at the free throw line, making 16 of its 21 attempts.  The Golden Flashes turned the ball over 26 times that resulted in 21 Bobcat points.  Ohio had 21 turnovers of its own.

Montia Johnson had a nice game off the bench, scoring 13 points in 11 minutes on the floor.  CiCi Shannon had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.  Lurken finished with ten.  Mikell Chinn led the team with six rebounds.

The regular season will conclude at home on Saturday when Buffalo comes to the M.A.C. Center for a 2 p.m. tip.  The team's four seniors will be honored after the game in a short ceremony.  Tickets are available on kentstatesports.com or by calling 330-672-2244.