Akron 79, Bowling Green 71
Ball State 71, Toledo 55
Buffalo 68, Kent State 58
Eastern Michigan 93, Central Michigan 86
Ohio 75, Miami 60
Western Michigan 50, Northern Illinois 45
Courtesy of home MAC Athletic Communications Departments
Akron 79, Bowling Green 71
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - For the second-straight game, the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team fought valiantly against one of the top teams in the Mid-American Conference. But, for the second consecutive game, the Falcons came up just short, as the University of Akron escaped the Stroh Center with a 79-71 victory Saturday afternoon (March 7). The game was the final regular-season contest for both teams.
The Falcons (9-20, 2-16 MAC) will be the 12th seed for the MAC Tournament, which begins Monday night (March 9), and BGSU will head to Kalamazoo to face fifth-seeded Western Michigan University. Monday's game will begin at 5:30 p.m.
Sina King led the Zips (22-7, 12-6 MAC) with 29 points and 18 rebounds. She was a perfect 10-of-10 from the free-throw line, making six of those shots in the final minute of play to seal Akron's first-ever win in Bowling Green.
Hannah Plybon scored 20 points for the Zips, hitting six three-point field goals on the afternoon, while Anita Brown scored 14 points and dished out five assists. Brown had 13 rebounds as well.
The Falcons got 18 points from junior Miriam Justinger, who was 4-of-6 from three-point range, while senior Deborah Hoekstra had a double-double for the third consecutive game. On Senior Day at the Stroh, Hoekstra scored 17 points and pulled down a career-high 15 rebounds. The double-double was her seventh of the season.
Freshman Rachel Myers rounded out the double-figure scorers with 10 points, while classmates Sarah Baer and Haley Puk had nine and eight points, respectively. Baer's point total was a career high.
On Senior Day at the Stroh, Falcon seniors Hoekstra, Jasmine Matthews and Erica Fullenkamp, along with student manager Nick Fine, were recognized in pregame ceremonies. It was also Perrysburg Community Day, and Baer, a Perrysburg native, sang the National Anthem prior to tipoff.
Once the game began, the teams combined for 20 three-point field goals, including 11 by the Falcons. BGSU went 11-of-31 from long distance, while the Zips were 9-for-27.
UA took the lead on a Kerri McMahon layup on the game's first possession, but the Falcons tied the score as sophomore Rachel Konieczki got to the line and hit a pair of free throws with just under two minutes gone. BGSU was 14-of-18 from the stripe (77.8%) on the afternoon.
Plybon answered with the first of her six triples, but redshirt freshman Kennedy Kirkpatrick got herself to the line and hit a pair of shots. After a layup by King, the Falcons scored six-straight points, with a nifty offensive rebound by Hoekstra leading to the last three points in that stretch.
First, Myers tied the game with a long-distance make. Then, after a teammate's missed shot, Hoekstra alertly tapped the ball out to a teammate to keep the possession alive. Konieczki, who had assisted Myers on her triple, found an open Justinger for a trey from the right wing, giving the Brown and Orange a 10-7.
Plybon hit a long jumper, and the Falcons had a one-point lead at the game's first media timeout. Plybon's shot was originally ruled a three-pointer before the officials reviewed the video and changed it to a two-point bucket at that timeout.
Hoekstra had six rebounds prior to that timeout, which came at the 14:29 mark.
Out of the timeout, the Zips got back-to-back layups, and Brown's jumper gave the visitors a 15-10 lead. But, Hoekstra scored in the paint, and Justinger's entry pass found Baer for a layup. Baer was 3-for-4 from the field en route to her career-high scoring effort.
After that Baer layup, however, Plybon came right back and hit a three at the other end. But, Justinger took a Myers pass and hit a three-ball of her own, and on the next possession, the junior scored again, this time after Hoekstra drove and kicked the ball to her at the left elbow. Justinger's seocnd triple in a 40-second span gave BG a 20-18 lead.
Back came Plybon and the Zips, as the sophomore hit another long-range shot. But, with the shot clock precariously close to zero, Myers flipped a pass to Hoekstra, who hit a shot from well beyond the three-point line, and the home team had a 23-21 lead with just under eight minutes left in the period.
As mentioned, the Falcons will face Western Michigan on Monday at 5:30 p.m. The game will be the first half of a doubleheader at University Arena, as the Bronco men take on Ohio University in the second game.
Ball State 71, Toledo 55
MUNCIE, Ind. - Ball State women’s basketball coach Brady Sallee plans to impress upon his players that next week is business as usual despite a point in the season that clearly is filled with high stakes.
The Cardinals wrapped up their regular season Saturday with a 71-55 victory against Toledo in Worthen Arena. Now they can turn their full attention to the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
The event begins Monday with first-round games, but as the team with the second-best record (13-5) in the MAC the Cardinals earned the No. 2 seed and a berth in the semifinals Friday afternoon at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
“There’s going to be a lot of hype as we go to Cleveland,” said Shelbie Justice, who was honored on Senior Day. “We have to worry day-by-day how we prepare when we get to Cleveland.
“It’s a good spot, but we can’t overlook it.”
Justice said that might have happened in 2013 when the Cardinals gained the No. 2 seed and started the MAC Tournament needing just two wins to advance to the NCAA Tournament. Instead, Ball State fell 70-61 to Akron in the semifinals and settled for a trip to the WNIT.
Sallee plans to make this week as normal as possible, starting Monday with a regular weightlifting session and the return to classes for students after spring break.
“(Being the 2 seed) is different in that we don’t know yet who we’re playing,” he said. “The whole idea is to just be at our best. We’ll probably leave late Wednesday, practice there Thursday and watch some of those games. … I’m looking forward to seeing how we go through this week.”
The Cardinals (17-12, 13-5 MAC) got an early start on focusing on a goal against the Rockets (17-12, 10-8 MAC) as they were intent on sending Justice out a winner in her final home game.
Ball State held Toledo scoreless for nearly 7 minutes at the start of the game and never trailed. The Cardinals led 32-21 at halftime and enjoyed their largest lead (22 points) at 61-39 with 6:21 remaining.
Sophomore guard Jill Morrison was the offensive catalyst, pouring in a game-high 20 points. The Winchester, Ind., native hit a career-best six 3-point field goals on eight attempts and also added seven rebounds and four assists.
She attributed good execution and swift ball movement by her teammates for the good shooting positions she had.
“And I was able to knock them down,” Morrison said. “You hit your first one and you feel good … and as it keeps rolling on, it feels better.”
Sophomore center Renee Bennett scored a career-high 18 points, including an 8-for-8 effort at the free-throw line that led to the Cardinals making 16-of-17 at the stripe.
Nathalie Fontaine added 12 points, and Calyn Hosea led with five assists.
The MAC Tournament starts Monday with five campus-site games. The scene shifts to Cleveland starting Wednesday. Ball State’s game Friday will start at 2:30 p.m. with the other semifinal at noon between No. 1 Ohio and an opponent to be determined.
The semifinal winners will play for the championship and a berth in the NCAA Tournament at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Buffalo 68, Kent State 58
KENT, Ohio – Kent State (5-24, 3-15) wrapped up the regular season with a 68-58 loss at home to Buffalo (18-11, 11-7) on Senior Day Saturday afternoon.
The Golden Flashes will be the No. 11 seed in next week's Mid-American Conference Tournament. They will travel to No. 6 Eastern Michigan for a 5 p.m. game Monday night in the first round of action.
In Saturday's game, the Bulls jumped out to an early lead but the Golden Flashes tied it not too much later when McKenna Stephens banked in a jumper to make it 15-15.
Buffalo got the lead back but Kent State again tied the game at 21. The Bulls were able to take a 31-29 advantage into the locker room at the half.
Out of the break, Buffalo hit a three and then made three-straight free throws en route to a lead as much as 13 points in the contest. Kent State kept working in what was a physical, tough matchup to bring the deficit down to ten and a final score of 68-58.
The Golden Flashes made nearly 80% of their shots at the charity stripe, but only made nine trips there; on the other hand, the Bulls attempted 32 free throws and made 22 of those.
CiCi Shannon had a double-double with 16 points and ten rebounds on her final game at the M.A.C. Center. Larissa Lurken netted 11 points on 3-for-5 shooting from beyond the arc. Mikell Chinn had six assists and three steals on her senior day.
Full MAC Tournament coverage will be available at kentstatesports.com for the duration of the season.
Eastern Michigan 93, Central Michigan 86
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- Offensively, the Chippewas were on.
Despite five Chippewas scoring in double figures, Central Michigan (12-17, 7-17 MAC) fell to Eastern Michigan (18-10, 11-7 MAC) in the last regular-season game of the year, 93-86.
It was the final home game for five CMU seniors: Jas'Mine Bracey, Lorreal Jones and Kerby Tamm, along with Crystal Bradford and Jessica Green who both ended their Chippewa careers due to injuries.
Jones led the Chippewas' scoring with a career-high 23 points on a 92-percent shooting day (11-of-12) and she pulled down seven rebounds.
Bracey recorded her sixth double-double of the season scoring 17 points and grabbing 18 rebounds.
"Our post players played really well together," CMU coach Sue Guevara said. "They passed the ball to each other well. We did a nice job of going inside-out. Jas'Mine finished with six assists. She was looking at open shooters when she was double teamed."
Freshman Aleah Swary scored in double digits for the third time in six games, tallying 15 points for CMU, all coming from behind the arc.
Cassandra Breen had the hot hand to start the game, scoring 12 points in the first 10 minutes. The freshman shot 57 percent from downtown (4-of-7). Breen left the game midway through the first half with an injury and did not return.
In her final home game as a Chippewa, Tamm became just the third player in program history to make 200 triples. She went 4-of-8 from 3-point range, finishing with 12 points. She is third in program history with 203 three-point field goals.
"Eastern did a good job of denying me in the first half," Tamm said. "Our freshmen did a good job of hitting shots to keep us in the game. My teammates were finding me in the second half and I was able to hit a few shots."
Breen, Swary and Tamm made a combined 13 triples. Amani Corley added one to give CMU 14 on the day, a season-high.
Eastern Michigan scored 20 points off Central Michigan's miscues as the Chippewas committed 23 turnovers, tying a season-high. CMU turned the ball over 23 times against then-No. 1 South Carolina earlier this season.
"They get into the passing lanes well," said senior Kerby Tamm. "They are a scrappy team. We had a strong day offensively, but when you have 23 turnovers, that's going to hurt you."
At the half, the game was deadlocked at 44-all. Central Michigan shot 58 percent in the first half (14-of-24) and 8-of-15 from 3-point range in the first 20 minutes.
"We had to weather the storm," Guevara said. "They punched us, so we punched back. It was a game of runs, but when it came down the stretch, they made plays we couldn't make."
The Chippewas had their largest lead of the game, six points, 82-76 with 4:10 left to play. The Eagles swung the momentum back in their direction, closing out the game on a 17-4 run.
Janay Morton led the Eagles with 34 points, while Cha Sweeney added 20 for Eastern Michigan.
"Even though we lost, we saw what we can do when we are all contributing," Bracey said. "We still have a high energy that we are going to bring Monday."
The Chippewas head to DeKalb, Ill. to take on Northern Illinois in the first round of the MAC Tournament on Monday.
Central Michigan and Northern Illinois split their two regular-seaso
n meetings. Most recently, the Chippewas fell to the Huskies in DeKalb, 69-62.
Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 (ET), the game will be broadcast on ESPN3.
Ohio 75, Miami 60
ATHENS, Ohio - The Short Story: The Ohio women's basketball team (25-4, 16-2 MAC) closed out the regular season against Miami (7-22, 4-14 MAC) with a 75-60 victory, sending out senior Mariah Byard with a victory in her final game at the Convocation Center.
OHIO STARTERS: #2 Mariah Byard, #4 Kiyanna Black, #5 Quiera Lampkins, #14 Kat Yelle, #15 Jasmine Weatherspoon
MIAMI STARTERS: #14 Courtney Larson, #15 Kayla Brown, #24 Baleigh Reid, #12 Hannah McCue, #25 Molly McDonagh
How It Happened:
- After jumping out to an 8-4 lead, the Bobcats held the RedHawks without a field goal for 9:41, going on a 13-0 run to take a 21-4 lead at the 8:51 mark of the first half.
- Ohio put on a defensive clinic in the first half, limiting Miami to making just 6-of-26 (23.1 percent) of its field goals and forcing 10 turnovers.
- The Bobcats' offense was clicking as they shot 14-of-26 (53.8 percent) from the field and 6-of-14 (42.9 percent) from behind the arc to provide them with a 40-19 halftime lead.
- Quiera Lampkins and Kiyanna Black led the Bobcats with eight points each while Mariah Byard, Mariah Harris and Hannah Boesinger each notched six points.
- Kayla Brown was Miami's leading scorer in the opening stanza, scoring eight points.
- A 12-3 run by the RedHawks cut Ohio's lead to 51-35 with 15:05 remaining in the game.
- Miami saw an uptick in offense in the second half, shooting 10-of-34 (29.4 percent) from the field in the second stanza.
- Ohio shot 25-of-51 (49 percent) from the field for the game and 11-of-26 (42.3 percent) from three-point range.
- Black led the Bobcats with 18 points and eight rebounds.
- Lampkins added 13 points for Ohio.
- Byard and Boesinger each scored 12 points.
- The RedHawks went 16-of-59 (27.1 percent) and hit 3-of-18 (16.7 percent) attempts from behind the arc.
- Miami went 25-of-29 (86.2 percent) from the free throw line.
- Brown was Miami's leading scorer with 19 points.
- Molly McDonagh also scored 10 for the RedHawks.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- The game marked the fifth time this season the Bobcats held an opponent below 20 points in the first half.
- Black reached double digits in scoring for the 26th time this season the 53rd time in her Ohio career.
- Ohio has won 16 games in the MAC for the first time since 1985-86.
- The last time the Bobcats won 25 games was in the 1985-86 campaign.
- Ohio has won back-to-back games against Miami for the first time since 2011.
QUOTABLE
Head Coach Bob Boldon:
"At this point, my pregame talk for this game was about a minute long. It's the 29th game of the year. I can't give you anything at this point. You're stuck with your habits. We can maybe tinker with some small adjustments, maybe encourage and remind and things of that nature. We're certainly not teaching anything brand new this week. We're pretty much who we are and we'll find out if that's good enough to win the (MAC) Tournament."
Senior guard Mariah Byard:
"Playing without two players (Lexie Baldwin and Tmisht Stinson), the rotations, being in foul trouble; it was different. But you never know what's going to happen, so we won and that's good."
COMING UP
The Bobcats head to Cleveland for the MAC Tournament with a double-bye, playing their first game as the top seed on Friday, March 13 at 12 p.m. against an opponent to be determined.
Western Michigan 50, Northern Illinois 45
KALAMAZOO, Mich.- The Western Michigan women’s basketball team rallied from an early 15-point deficit to defeat Northern Illinois Saturday at University Arena, 50-45.
With the outcomes of the rest of the games across the conference, WMU will be the No. 5 seed in the Mid-American Conference Tournament and hosts No. 12 Bowling Green Monday, March 9 in a first round game at 5:30 p.m. A WMU men's first round tournament game will follow.
Western Michigan concludes the regular season tied for second in the MAC West Division, its highest since finish since 2006, and in a three-way tie for fourth place overall in the conference with Buffalo and Eastern Michigan. All three teams ended league play with an 18-11 overall and 11-7 MAC record. UB took the No. 4 tournament seed over WMU with tiebreaker procedures and the Broncos bumped the Eagles down to the No. 6 seed.
After Western Michigan fell behind Northern Illinois 17-2 over the first seven minutes of the first half Saturday the Broncos pinned their ears back and outscored the Huskies 32-6 over the next 17 minutes of the game. By halftime, Western Michigan had clawed its way back to tie the score at 23-23. The Broncos kept their foot on the gas in the second half, rattling off an 11-0 run to take a 34-23 lead with 16:16 remaining.
The Huskies inched within five a handful of times throughout the final 15 minutes and got within three points with 1:02 left to play. Bronco sophomore Meredith Shipman hit a pair of free throws to close out the five-point victory.
Western Michigan’s offense was spread amongst the team, as nine of the 10 players that saw the floor scored in the game. Junior Miracle Woods was the only player to reach double digits, totaling 12 points, six rebounds, two assists and two blocks. The two blocks gave her 100 for her career as she became just the fifth Bronco ever to reach the century milestone for career blocks.
Shipman was WMU’s next highest scorer, recording nine off the bench. In addition to her clutch free throws late, she hit a big three-pointer in the first half as WMU built momentum in the comeback.
Senior A.J. Johnson had eight points, four assists, a steal and tied with senior Jazmine Windham for a team-high seven rebounds. Windham scored three points in the game, knocking down a three-pointer that gave her 100 triples for her career.
Western Michigan had just nine turnovers in the game and only two in the second half. The team stepped up its shooting percentage from 32.1 in the first half to 45.0 percent in the second.
Northern Illinois was led by Kelly Smith, Amanda Corral and Ally Lehman with 12, 11 and 10 points respectively. Smith also had a game-high eight rebounds.
WMU honored its seniors after the game for Senior Day, recognizing Courtney Haley (student coach), Marquisha Harris, Johnson, Michelle O’Brien and Windham, as well as student managers Bryan Aplin and Connor Kirkpatrick.
If Western Michigan and Northern Illinois both win their first round games on Monday (No. 8 NIU hosts No. 9 Central Michigan), the two could meet again in the second round of the MAC Tournament in Cleveland on March 11 at noon.
