The University of Akron Athletics
Women's Basketball Drops 72-50 Decision at Toledo
January 26 | Women's Basketball
The University of Akron women's basketball team fell victim to
costly turnovers and some torrid second-half shooting in a 72-50
defeat to Toledo at Savage Hall Saturday afternoon. The Rockets
used a 23-2 run over a five minute span to blow open what had been
a close game and hand the Zips (5-15, 0-6 Mid-American Conference)
their 10th straight loss.
"I thought we played good defense in the first half but we missed a
lot of easy baskets offensively," said UA head coach Jodi
Kest. "Instead of being up eight or 10 points at the break, we
ended up being tied. Then they came out and shot well in the second
half and we made bad decisions with the ball."
Toledo (10-8, 3-3) scored the final four points of the first half
and the first 13 of the second to take a commanding 38-25 lead.
After going 0-for-6 from 3-point range in the opening period, the
Rockets were true on their first five attempts after the break in
pushing their lead to 19, 46-27, at the 14:48 mark and the rout was
on.
In all, UT shot 18-for-30 (.600) from the floor and 6-for-8 (.750)
from beyond the arc in the second half while making the Zips pay
for their 21 turnovers in scoring 36 points off of UA miscues.
Akron freshman Keyla Snowden (Lexington, Ky, Lexington Catholic)
hit double digits for the fifth straight game with a team-leading
19 points. With four 3-pointers, she moved into fourth place on
UA's list for most threes in a single season with 59 and trails the
school record by just four. Kara
Murphy (Hartville, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary) joined Snowden in
double figures with 10 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
Olivia Terry was one of four UT players in double figures finishing
with a team-high 17 points. Akron finished the game shooting
20-for-59 (.339) from the floor.
Akron and Toledo played to a 25-all tie in a defensive-minded first
half which saw both teams shoot a combined 18-for-61 (.295) from
the floor. Behind four threes from Snowden, the Zips were deadly
from long distance, hitting 5-of-8 attempts (.625) while Toledo
owned a significant edge in the paint where it outscored UA
18-4.
The Zips jumped out to an early 10-5 lead following back-to-back
threes from Snowden and Amanda Sedlack (Pittsburg, Pa./Oakland
Catholic) and led by six points, 19-13 with 5:07 left in the
half.
The Rockets scored four straight points following the final media
timeout to regain the lead, 21-19, before Snowden connected on
consecutive triples to put UA back on top 25-21 with two minutes
left. UT scored the final four points of the half to force the
fourth tie of the contest.
The Zips will continue their swing through the MAC West Division
with a pair of home games starting Tuesday night when Central
Michigan comes to Rhodes Arena for a 7 p.m. tip off.
