The University of Akron Athletics
Women's Basketball Breezes By Eagles for Fourth MAC Win
February 07 | Women's Basketball
Backed by 38 combined points from Kara
Murphy and Kyle Baumgartner, the University of Akron women's
basketball team cruised to a 71-57 victory over Eastern Michigan
Saturday afternoon at Rhodes Arena.
Murphy led all scorers with 21 points and Baumgartner added 17 as
the Zips (9-13, 4-5 Mid-American Conference) recorded their best
shooting performance of the season, hitting on 62.2 percent
(28-for-45) of their attempts from the floor. UA's four league
victories represents its highest total since the 1999-2000
campaign.
Baumgartner and Jolene Tamboue, who finished with eight points
and 12 rebounds, controlled the inside game as Akron dominated the
paint, out-scoring EMU 40-18.
"We knew going into the game that our team was pretty worn out from
our last road trip to Northern Illinois (last Wednesday)," UA head
coach Jodi Kest said. " But I told them, ‘Give me
everything you have for 40 minutes.' I felt like they did that for
the most part and, in particular, we shot the ball very well, we
made smart passes and played with energy."
Murphy, who entered play as the MAC's leading scorer, broke the
20-point barrier for the third consecutive game on 7-for-11
shooting from the floor, including 3-of-6 from long distance. She
has recorded 20 or more points 12 times this season – the most
of any player in the conference.
Baumgartner, who has developed into a solid secondary contributor
as of late, reached double figures in scoring for the fifth
straight game on 8-for-11 shooting. In all, Akron received scoring
contributions from eight different players in a well-balanced
attack.
Eastern Michigan (4-17, 0-9), which was hampered into shooting 32.1
percent (18-for-56) from the floor, was paced by Paige Redditt's 17
points. Tavelyn James followed with 12 as the Eagles dropped their
10th consecutive game.
Akron, which led 32-26 at halftime, put the game away early in the
second half. After a quick bucket by Eastern Michigan's Cassie
Schrock, the Zips scored eight straight points en route to a 17-2
run. During that time, UA held EMU without a field goal for nearly
seven minutes while forcing five turnovers and five missed
shots.
Junior Ayla Guzzardo stole the inbounds pass after a
lay-in by Ashley Veal to cash in at the 15:05 mark before a
3-pointer by Murphy and a short jumper by Jasmine
Mushington gave the Zips their largest lead of the game, 49-30,
with 13:04 left to play.
From there, Akron never looked back and held a double-digit lead
the rest of the way. It was the Zips' largest margin of victory in
league play since defeating EMU by 16 points, 69-53, in 2006-07
– Kest's first year at the helm.
The Zips broke away from a tight game early on with a 12-0 run to
jump out to a 19-8 advantage at the 7:48 mark of the first half. Victoria Arndt, who finished with eight points
and three rebounds in 17 minutes, sparked the surge with five
points – including a three ball from the top of the key.
James and De'Ja Wills connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to pull
the Eagles to within two, 23-15, and forced an Akron time out with
1:47 to play.
But the Zips responded by scoring the next seven points, capped by
four five straight from Murphy, to push out to a 32-23 edge. Wills
snapped the EMU scoring drought with another deep triple with 15
ticks on the clock as Akron took a 32-26 lead into the
intermission.
Akron sabotaged a torrid-shooting first half in which it connected
on 59.1 percent (13-for-22) of its attempts from the floor with 13
turnovers. But the Zips were bailed out by their swarming defense,
which entered play ranked fourth in the MAC in points allowed, as
UA held EMU to just 31.0 percent (9-for-29) shooting from the
floor. The Eagles were opportunistic with their makes however, with
four 3-point field goals in 10 attempts in the opening stanza.
The Zips will next head north for a pair of road games starting at
Central Michigan Wednesday night at 7 p.m. (EST).
Zips Notebook: UA has held its opponent to 65
points or less in 12 of 22 games this season and improved to 8-4 in
that scenario ... Kest has now led the Zips to nine league wins in
two-plus seasons. The program had recorded a total of eight
conference wins in the five seasons prior to her arrival in 2006
... Murphy increased her season scoring average to 18.6, which is
currently the second-highest single-season average in school
history (Sue Davis, 21.6 ppg in 1975-76).
