Story Courtesy of Central Michigan Athletic Communications
Central Michigan 86, Akron 79
Box Score
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. — Central Michigan Women's Basketball completed the season sweep of Akron Wednesday night, 86-79, inside McGuirk Arena.
The sophomore duo of Madi Morson (Canton, Mich. / Salem) and Ayanna-Sarai Darrington (Lexington, Ky. / Frederick Douglass) combined for 54 points, 29 and 25 respectively.
"Both of them have been very consistent and our players are doing a good job of 'feeding the beast,'" Head Coach Kristin Haynie said. "They're great talents, they're hard to stop, and we played pretty well together as a team."
Morson accounted for nearly half of CMU's field goals (11 of 26), matched her career mark of four steals for the second time in five games and added four assists to share the team high with freshman point guard Lilah Turnbull (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Western Reserve).
"Madi's just hard to guard. She can score in so many ways at all three levels."
Darrington was an unrelenting presence in the paint as constant double-teams from the Akron defense led to 10 fouls drawn and a strong 11-of-14 night from the free throw line on top of a seven-of-12 mark from the field and seven rebounds, bested only by the team's leader in rebounds, Taylor Anderson (South Lyon, Mich. / East) with 10.
"Her patience and development have been awesome to see, plus knocking down all those free throws. She keeps working, she's always positive: it's not a surprise to ser continue to blossom."
The Chippewas fell behind early, by as many as six points, 14-8, six minutes into the contest though a short spurt put them out front at the end of the quarter.
CMU remained in control the rest of the way, outside of a three-minute window early in the second half, though the Zips stuck around.
"Akron has some talented players. They're young, their freshmen are stepping up, and they're really scoring for them."
A 13-2 CMU run late in the third quarter provided enough room to hold on as the largest lead of the contest, 65-51, came from a Turnbull three-pointer in the final minute of the period. The Chippewas caused two turnovers and never allowed a second chance opportunity during the run.
"We need to get stops so we can get out and run—we're very good in transition. It's one of the things we said at halftime. We started the third quarter a lot better than we started the game."
There was a secret kept from the Chippewas at the end of the third quarter: CMU went over 14 minutes without a turnover, a stark contrast to the team's 18.8 per-game average on the season, 21.25 per game over the previous four.
"We noticed we hadn't had any turnovers since halftime at the end of the third quarter. We didn't tell anyone in the huddle. We've been working on that in practice, and it was something else we said at halftime, so it was good to see it play out."
The clean streak lasted the full third quarter, plus the final two minutes of the first half and first two minutes of the fourth quarter.
