The University of Akron Athletics
Women's Basketball Defeated 67-64 at Kent State
February 25 | Women's Basketball
After trailing by as many as 10 points late in the second half,
the University of Akron women's basketball team saw its comeback
fall just short in a 67-64 setback at Kent State Wednesday night at
the M.A.C. Center.
Down 64-56, Ayla Guzzardo and Kyle
Baumgartner connected on back-to-back threes to cut he KSU lead
to two with 47 seconds left. But Kent State's Jamilah Humes, who
led all scores with 31 points, converted a pair of free throws on
the subsequent possession to hold off the Zips.
Akron (15-12, 9-5 Mid-American Conference), which was attempting to
sweep a season series from its arch rival for the first time in
school history, had one last chance, but a 3-pointer by Taylor
Ruper, who finished with nine points, fell just short as time
expired.
The defeat overshadowed a career performance by sophomore Jasmine
Mushington, who led UA with 16 points. The forward from
Baltimore, Md., scored eight points in each half on 6-for-10
shooting from the field and 3-for-4 shooting from the free throw
line and finished with five rebounds and five asists in 25 minutes
off the bench.
Freshman Rachel Tecca joined
Mushington in double digits, recording 12 points and six rebounds,
as the Zips' reserves out-scored KSU's bench, 42-7.
Moreover, Akron out-rebounded Kent State, 40-26, but Kent State
scored 23 points off of 23 UA turnovers and rode Humes' big night
to victory. Yoshica Spears also had a strong game for the Golden
Flashes, who improved to 18-8 overall and 11-3 in MAC play. Spears
scored 18 points on 7-for-12 shooting and grabbed five rebounds in
34 minutes for KSU.
Kent State got off to a quick start, scoring seven of the first
eight points of the game and forcing an Akron timeout at the 17:15
mark. But Mushington caught fire, scoring seven points over the
next five minutes to lead a 13-4 UA run that gave the Zips a 14-11
lead with 12:09 to play.
A three-pointer from the left wing by Natasha Williams put the
finishing touches on a 10-2 run that pushed UA out to its largest
lead of the half, 26-16, at the 6:47 mark. Kent State made a run of
is own, however, and a 12-2 surge - sparked by Jamilah Humes, who
scored the final 14 points of the half for KSU - tied the game at
28-all with less than a minute left before the intermission.
After the ball was deflected out of bounds on the Zips' final
possession of the half, Ruper took
the in-bounds pass and drilled her second 3-pointer of the opening
period as time expired to give Akron a 31-28 lead at the break.
Led by Ruper's two triple strikes, the Zips were deadly from long
distance in the first half, connecting on 5-of-8 (62.5 percent)
attempts. As a team, UA shot 40.0 percent (12-for-30) from the
floor while holding the Golden Flashes to a 37.0 percent
(10-for-27) mark. Humes led all scorers with 18 first-half points
on 6-for-7 shooting from the field and a perfect 6-for-6 from the
charity stripe.
The teams traded leads on back-to-back threes by Ruper and KSU's
Yoshica Spears before playing to a 38-all tie early in the second
half. But Kent State used a 12-2 run - highlighted by four points
from Humes and a three ball by Jena Stutzman - to break open the
contest, taking a 50-40 lead with 11:40 to play.
The Zips will next return home to host Miami (Ohio) Saturday at 2
p.m. at Rhodes Arena.
Zips Notebook: UA is 2-2 in its last four games
against KSU with the home team winning each contest ... Akron's
last three losses to Kent State have been by a combined 10 points
... Akron suffered its first defeat when leading at halftime this
season, falling to 10-1 ... senior Jolene Tamboue led the Zips
with seven rebounds in 24 minutes ... Wednesday's game featured
four ties and four lead changes.
