Tuesday’s Women’s Basketball Results
Ball State 84, Milwaukee 75
Akron 97, Slippery Rock 54
Youngstown State 70, Eastern Michigan 67
Georgia Tech 74, Central Michigan 40
Buffalo 102, Canisius 42
Toledo 84, Oakland 72
Notre Dame 105, Ohio 69
Western Michigan 95, Kentucky State 58
Northern Illinois 77, Illinois State 60
Stories courtesy of MAC Sports Information Departments
Ball State 84, Milwaukee 75
Boxscore
MUNCIE, Ind. - In its annual Field Trip Day, the Ball State women's basketball team put on quite the show for the fans in its season-opener, defeating Milwaukee by a score of 84-75 in an overtime thriller Tuesday afternoon in Worthen Arena. With the win, Cardinals (1-0) 10th-year head coach Brady Sallee notched his 300th career victory, with 164 coming at BSU.
It was an up-and-down game throughout the entire 40 minutes of regulation which included 10 ties and nine lead changes. The Panthers (0-1) would have a three-point advantage (71-68) with 15 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Sallee and his squad then outplayed the Panthers calling some strategic timeouts along with some forced fouls which would eventually put the ball in the hands of redshirt junior Anna Clephane as time was winding down.
Clephane's driving layup as time expired tied the game at 72-72 to send the contest into the extra period.
"You have to focus on what is in front of you. You have to focus on the play of what is in front of you and your duty and what you can control," Clephane said after the contest.
Ball State would then open the extra period with back-to-back baskets from freshman Marie Kiefer and graduate student Chyna Latimer. Freshman Ally Becki, who led all players in her first collegiate contest with 17 points, gave the Cardinals a 78-73 advantage with 2:28 remaining.
Milwaukee would battle back within three (78-75) with just under two minutes remaining. The Cardinals answered quickly with four straight points from junior Sydney Freeman. In its last efforts, Milwaukee was forced to foul sending senior Thelma Dis Agustsdottir to the line where she knocked down both of her free throws to seal the win for Ball State.
The Cardinals had a slow start in the first half from behind the arc, making only one three-pointer, but came back in the second half knocking down seven. Milwaukee played off a lot of Ball State's early miscues, but the Cardinals were resilient and fought back every time.
After the game, Sallee said you must put the good plays and the bad plays behind you. You just need to play the next play because it is critical. It is about putting together stops and good execution.
This year, the Cardinals are forgoing "traditional" positions and using their own such as backs, crashers, and keys, to bring a sense of team unity. Today that proved to be the lift Ball State needed, especially with so many new faces on the court.
All 11 Cardinals that played today either scored or had a rebound, with three reaching double figures in scoring. Along with Becki's 17-point performance, Agustsdottir had 14 and Clephane finished day with 12.
The Ball State women's basketball team remains at home Friday when it hosts Purdue Fort Wayne at 6:30 p.m. ET in Worthen Arena.
Akron 97, Slippery Rock 54
Boxscore
AKRON, Ohio- The Akron Zips women's basketball team (1-0, 0-0) started fast and outpaced visiting Slippery Rock for a resounding 97-54 win in their season opener Tuesday night at James A. Rhodes Arena.
Redshirt senior guard Jordyn Dawson(Huntington, W Va.) led all scorers with 31 points and was one of eight Zips to connect from beyond the arc as Akron made 13 of 34 3-point attempts and outscored the Rock 39-9 from long distance.
A balanced scoring attack saw redshirt sophomore guard Layne Ferrell (Franklin, Ohio), freshman forward Reagan Bass (Strongsville, Ohio), senior guard Kendall Miller (Akron, Ohio) and sophomore guard Alexis Stewart (Hamilton, Ontario) contribute eight points each, while sophomore Annika Corcoran (Painesville, Ohio) and redshirt freshman guard Alanna Carter (Mason, Ohio) add six apiece.
Slippery Rock did its best to stay in the game early on, shooting well and trailing just 22-18 after one quarter, but the Zips simply had too much firepower in the end. A 13-2 run midway through the second quarter helped tilt the game decidedly in Akron's favor as Dawson tallied 10 of her team's 13 points in the run and the staunch Akron defense limited Slippery Rock to 1-of-8 shooting during the run.
Defense was a deciding factor in the win and especially in the final three quarters, when the Zips limited the Rock (0-2) to 36 total points. For the game, Slippery Rock shot just 30.8 percent and made only three 3-pointers. Akron also controlled the glass and just as with its scoring, the collective output led to a 54-40 edge in rebounding. Dawson led the way with nine rebounds, but 12 different Zips secured at least one rebound on the night.
With their first win of the season in hand, the Zips now shift their focus to their first road game of the campaign, with that contest set for Sat., Nov. 13 against Robert Morris. Tip-off is slated for 3 p.m. and the contest can be seen on ESPN+ and heard on WHLO 640-AM.
Youngstown 70, Eastern Michigan 67
Boxscore
YPSILANTI, Mich. Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team dropped a hard-fought, 70-67, decision to Youngstown State University today, Nov. 9, inside the Convocation Center.
The Eagles (0-1, 0-0 MAC) had two players score in double figures, led by redshirt senior Areanna Combs (Oklahoma City, Okla.-Putnam City West (Oklahoma State)), who had 19 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, and two steals. Redshirt sophomore Ce'Nara Skanes (Oklahoma City, Okla.-Putnam City West (Florida International) tacked on a double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds while freshman Lachelle Austin (Redford, Mich.-Wayne Memorial) added nine points and two steals.
Both teams got off to a slow start in the first period of action, however, redshirt senior Danielle Rainey (Cedar Park, Texas-Vista Ridge (Florida)) and junior Kylee O'Hara (Ajax, Ontario-Henry Street (Florida International)) each added a triple as the Eagles trailed 17-13 to close the first. The Penguins grew their lead to 28-15 halfway through the second quarter, its biggest lead of the afternoon, before the Eagles made it a 34-29 YSU advantage heading into the locker rooms.
The Green and White bounced back in the third, taking a 48-46 lead late in the period thanks to a layup from redshirt junior RayJon Harris (Euclid, Ohio-Euclid) and jumper from Rainey. The game continued to swing back-and-forth, with Youngstown State holding on to a 53-52 edge going into the final period. In the fourth, O'Hara drilled a three-pointer with an assist from Combs while Austin nailed another three-ball under pressure to make it a two-point game, 67-65. The Eagles were unable to overcome the deficit, falling to Penguins 70-67.
Georgia Tech 74, Central Michigan 40
Boxscore
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- No matter the year, no matter the personnel, no matter the opponent, there is a constant in the Central Michigan women's basketball program: Ambition.
Despite a 74-40 loss to 17th-ranked Georgia Tech on Tuesday in the season opener at McGuirk Arena, the Chippewas have confidence that the gears will start turning in their favor.
"We just have to continue to stay positive because we are a work in progress," said third-year CMU coach Heather Oesterle, who returned two starters and a key reserve from a team that won the Mid-American Conference Tournament a year ago. "It's not going to happen overnight that we just start clicking.
"The team we had last year was a team of veterans. The team Georgia Tech has this year has nine players back from last year's Sweet 16 team. That's a team that has played together for years, and we haven't."
Oesterle added that she recruits athletes who want the challenge, who want to play tough matchups like those posed by Georgia Tech and 11th-ranked Michigan, which CMU will host at McGuirk Arena on Nov. 20.
Before that, The Chippewas are set to travel to Valparaiso for a nonconference game Sunday, Nov. 14 (2 p.m.).
"We've got to continue to get people minutes and get them experience in games," Oesterle said. "We have to stay positive; this is a marathon season, not a sprint. It's only our first game; there's nowhere to go from up from here."
CMU found itself in a 19-6 hole after one quarter and was down 34-18 at halftime. The Chippewas trimmed their deficit to 10, 34-24, early in the third quarter, but the Yellow Jackets went on a 16-0 run to up their lead to 50-24 with under three minutes to play in the third quarter.
Senior Jahari Smith made all eight of her free throw attempts en route to 14 points to lead CMU. Freshman Lisa Tesson added nine points in her first collegiate game.
"It felt good, honestly," Tesson said. "I thought I played good because I was aggressive and I wasn't scared to go at them, even though they were bigger."
Georgia Tech made 48.5 percent of its field goal attempts while holding the Chippewas to 25.5 percent. CMU made just four of its 20 3-point tries.
"I thought we had some good ball movement in the second half," Oesterle said. "We were able to get in there and skip it out for a couple of wide-open shots; they didn't go. We're going to do a ton of shooting, I'll tell you that, in the next few days.
Buffalo 102, Canisius 42
Boxscore
BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo women's basketball team dominated from start to finish as the Bulls cruised to a 102-42 victory over Canisius in the regular season opener at Alumni Arena on Tuesday night. The 60-point victory is UB's largest in the Division 1 era and the most since a 92-38 win over Youngstown State in 2009.
With the win, Buffalo improves to 22-9 in regular season-openers since joining Division I for the 1991-92 season.
The Bulls showed their balance and depth as seven players scored in double figures, led by junior guard Dyaisha Fair who scored 16 points to go along with two assists and four steals. Reshirt fifth year forward Summer Hemphill recorded her first double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore Cheyenne McEvans scored 13 points and added five rebounds, while Loren Christie and Adebola Adeyeye recorded 12 points each. Freshman Georgia Woolley added 11 points to go along with six rebounds and three steals and senior Jazmine Young rounded out the double-figure scoring effort with 10 points.
It was a back-and-forth start to the game before the Bulls used a 10-0 run to go up 14-9 lead and they would lead 16-10 at the first media timeout. Junior Dominique Camp provided a spark out of the timeout as she knocked down a three on the wing to put UB up 21-13 and Christie would follow with an offensive rebound putback to give the Bulls a 25-13 lead at the end of the first.
The Buffalo offense continued to stay hot, opening the second quarter on a 13-0 run, capped by a triple from Woolley and a pair of fastbreak baskets from Adeyeye and Fair to give the Bulls a 38-13 lead and force a Canisius timeout at the 5:34 mark. Buffalo continued to apply the full court press and they would capitalize as Woolley cashed in on a pair of easy layups to put UB up 29. The Bulls continued to stay aggressive as they scored six straight points from the charity stripe and then later, Christie put an exclamation point on a stellar first half for UB with a corner triple to give Buffalo a 51-17 lead at the break.
The Bulls defense held Canisius to just 23% shooting and seven made field goals while the offense shot just under 44% in the opening half.
The two squads traded baskets to start the third quarter before Canisius cut the lead to 56-28 at the 5:35 mark, but the Bulls answered with a 6-2 run of their own, capped by a fastbreak bucket from McEvans and a Hemphill offensive rebound putback to take a 62-30 lead at the media timeout. Christie continued to be a force for UB as she got a putback bucket and the foul before Fair and Woolley put together an 8-2 run through the transition game to give the Bulls a 75-36 lead at the end of the third.
Buffalo continued to pour it on to start the fourth quarter as they rattled off a 7-0 run in less than a minute, including a triple and fastbreak by McEvans, to take a 88-40 lead and force a Canisius timeout at the 6:59 mark and would continue to extend the lead as junior Nia Jordan and redshirt sophomore Ramatoulaye Keita got in on the action with a pair of layups to secure the dominant victory.
Over the last five seasons, UB is now 52-0 when holding opponents to 59 points or less. The Bulls dominated the glass, outrebounding the Golden Griffins 54-32, and in the paint, winning the battle inside 62-18 while also scoring 32 points in transition and 43 points off Canisius turnovers. The UB bench showed its potential as well as they contributed for 40 points with all 10 players who saw action finding the scoring column.
"We are just working on ourselves," said head coach Felisha Legette-Jack. "We are trying to lock into our foxhole and find out who we are as young women, coaches and who we are as a unit and if we can take care of the present and not look ahead to what's next, we can be a pretty special team. I love the leadership that Summer and Ade give us and when you lead from the inside out, great things can happen."
Toledo 84, Oakland 72
Boxscore
ROCHESTER, Mich. – The University of Toledo women's basketball team opened its 2021-22 season on Tuesday night with an 84-72 win at Oakland.
The Rockets trailed 21-14 at the end of the first quarter, but pulled ahead before halftime to take a 36-34 lead into the second half. A 12-2 run in the third quarter helped push the lead to double digits, and the Midnight Blue and Gold would not trail for the remainder of the night.
"I told them I was proud of them after the game," head coach Tricia Cullop said. "We had some sloppy moments tonight, which is to be expected in the first game of the year, but we also had some moments where we executed really well. This team has a lot of room to grow. I get excited every day in practice because I can see what's ahead for this team."
Junior Quinesha Lockett led the Rockets with a 23 points and a career-high 12 rebounds, her first career double-double. Freshman Jessica Cook, making her collegiate debut, also tallied a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Toledo had three other players reached double figures in scoring: junior Sophia Wiard (11), senior Jayda Jansen (10), and sophomore Nan Garcia (10), the latter two playing their first game with the Midnight Blue and Gold. Sophomore Sammi Mikonowicz collected eight points and added a couple baskets.
Toledo won the battle on the glass, outrebounding Oakland to the tune of 46-36, and also outscored the Golden Grizzlies 42-24 in the paint.
Notre Dame 105, Ohio 69
Boxscore
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Ohio women's basketball team started their 2021-22 season on the road Tuesday night (Nov. 9), as they travelled to take on Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish defeated the Bobcats, 105-69. Ohio was led by Cece Hooks with 21 points, four rebounds, and three steals. Erica Johnson joined Hooks with double-digit scoring, as Johnson finished with 14 points. Abby Garnett led the team with eight rebounds, five defensive and three offensive.
"I thought their length gave us some trouble around the basket," head coach Bob Boldon said after the game. "I thought they did a nice job of recovering. We had some looks that didn't quite go our way. But I thought we had some nice moves and would be baskets get erased by their athleticism and their length. We kind of get that when you play these sorts of teams. And it's a great learning experience for us."
Ohio got off to a hot start in the first quarter, taking a 15-14 lead into the quarter's media timeout, shooting 55% from the field (6 for 11) and 60% from beyond the arc (3 for 5). The two teams continued the close play to finish out the first quarter, with the Fighting Irish taking a 24-22 lead after the first 10 minutes of play.
The second quarter saw the Fighting Irish offense get hot, shooting 60% from the field in the quarter, at one point extending their lead to nine at 44-35 with 1:37 remaining in the half. The Bobcats responded well though, finishing out the half by making five of their final shots and cutting the deficit to just 47-42 heading into the break.
Notre Dame took control in the third quarter, shooting 74% from the field (14 for 19), including 22 points in the paint. Going into the 4th and final 10 minutes of play, the Fighting Irish had extended their lead to 81-55. Sophomore Madi Mace led the Bobcats offensively in the quarter, with seven of the Bobcats' 13 points.
Ella Pope made her Bobcat debut in the 4th quarter, scoring six points on two three pointers. The Fighting Irish offense continued their strong performance however, finishing the game out with a 53% shooting performance from the field. In the end, it was a 105-69 victory for Notre Dame.
The Bobcats finished the contest shooting 36.4% from the field (24 for 66). As a team, they reeled in 35 total rebounds, and had nine assists.
Western Michigan 95, Kentucky State 58
Boxscore
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Western Michigan women's basketball picked up an emphatic win over visiting Kentucky State on Tuesday afternoon by a score of 95-58. The win is the first for the Broncos in the 2021-22 regular season.
WMU started the game off with a 12-0 run and did not look back. Sophomore guard Lauren Ross led the Broncos with 19 points and five rebounds in 23 minutes of play. Ross finished shooting 70% from the field on 7/10 shooting, while also shooting 3/6 from beyond the arc.
Sophomore guard Taylor Williams had her first official double-double of the season, finishing with 14 points and 12 rebounds on 5-11 shooting. Williams also recorded a double-double in the exhibition game against Goshen College last week.
Junior guard Sydney Shafer added an additional 17 points and five steals in 25 minutes of play for WMU, and all five starters finished scoring in double-digits.
While the offense was clicking, so too was the defense. The Broncos forced 27 Thorobread turnovers, recording 14 steals as a team, and also capitalized off of Kentucky State blunders for 35 points.
The Broncos were able to control the block against Kentucky State, scoring 48 of their 95 points in the paint. Additionally, Western Michigan received a nice boost from the reserves who added 25 points to their team's cause. Senior guard Maddie Watters added eight points and a pair of steals, while freshmen center Lauren Audino and junior forward Abby Voss each added seven points.
The balanced scoring effort was certainly something that head coach Shane Clipfell was pleased with. When asked how his team was able to find success this afternoon, Clipfell had this to say: "We had really good ball movement from the beginning [of the game] with our offense. The ball was going from one side to the other, inside-out, and I thought we had great balance. It wasn't one person over and over again."
Clipfell also praised his starters, who scored 70 combined points, following their strong performance. "That group making each other better consistently, which they all have the ability to do, makes the sky the limit collectively for us," Clipfell explained. The Bronco starters all finished with +/- ratings of 40 and higher, including a team high +53 for Sydney Shafer.
Next, Western Michigan will travel to Purdue on Nov. 14 for a non-conference matchup with the Boilermakers. Tip-off in West Lafayette is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Sunday's game will also be broadcast on Big Ten Network
Northern Illinois 77, Illinois State 60
Boxscore
DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team used a 23-10 third quarter and shooting 46.4 percent from the field to win its season opener 77-60 over the Illinois State Redbirds Tuesday night at the NIU Convocation Center.
"I couldn't be more pleased and more happy with a lot of people tonight," said head coach Lisa Carlsen following Tuesday night's victory. "Our balance in scoring the basketball and our defensive effort for 40 minutes was phenomenal. We were able to keep Illinois State off balance and did a great job on the glass."
NIU (1-0) had all five of its starters score in double figures on the night. Junior guard Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) led all scorers with 17 points, adding six rebounds, four assists and two steals. A'Jah Davis (DeKalb, Ill./Montverde Academy [Fla.]) had a double-double with 15 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.
"I thought Chelby did a great job, especially in the first half," Carlsen said. "In the first half when she needed to get a couple buckets for us, she did. Her command of the offense in the second half was critical and she facilitated well. We got A'Jah going as well early and she's a lot to handle in the bottom half of the lane and she was able to get some big rebounds for us as well."
Janae Poisson (Matteson, Ill./Marian Catholic) made four three-pointers on her way to 16 points. Mikayla Brandon (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) had 11 points and five rebounds as Errin Hodges (Pontiac, Ill./Evansville Central [Ind.]) had 10 points.
The Huskies built a 25-18 lead nearly midway through the second quarter when Poisson's first three of the game put NIU up seven. Illinois State then rattled off 11 straight points over 2:59 as threes from Jada Stinson, Mary Crompton and Maya Wong gave the Redbirds a 29-25 lead with 1:53 to go until halftime. NIU closed the half on a 7-0 run sparked by a Davis layup to take a 32-29 lead into the locker room.
The run extended into a 12-2 run in the third quarter, as a Brandon triple and another Davis layup gave NIU a 37-31 lead with 8:52 left in the period. NIU's defense was on point in the third, holding Illinois State without a field goal for the first 8:13 of the quarter. The Huskies built the lead to 16 with a 14-2 run midway through the third, highlighted by three-pointers from Brandon and Poisson, to go ahead 51-35 at the 2:47 mark.
Illinois State (0-1) got within 12 with 1:18 to play in the third when back-to-back baskets from DeAnna Wilson and JuJu Redmond made the score 51-39. NIU scored the final four points of the quarter to go back up 16, 55-39. The Huskies shot 56.3 percent from the field in the third and held Illinois State to 21.4 percent and 0-for-4 from the three-point line. NIU put its lead over 20 points in the fourth quarter. Powered by seven points from Poisson, the Huskies went on an 11-3 run over 2:20 to take a 68-47 lead with 5:44 to play in the game.
The Huskies held a 43-32 rebounding edge and scored 22 points off 14 offensive rebounds. NIU also scored 19 points off 15 Illinois State turnovers. Redmond led the Redbirds with 12 points as Stinson added 10 off the bench.
"Every team on our schedule is going to challenge us in different ways," added Carlsen. "We knew that Illinois State was going to come in and be real physical and good defensively. We're going to see from Harvard a really fluid offense that has a lot of skill, so it'll be a little different game and its own challenge. I think this group is excited to play as much basketball as possible so we'll go to Boston and see what happens."
