The University of Akron Athletics
University of Akron
Northern Iowa
Women's Basketball improves to 3-0 with 82-73 victory over UNI
November 18 | Women's Basketball
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AKRON, Ohio -- The University of Akron women's basketball team used a 17-3 second-half run to put away visiting Northern Iowa in an 82-73 victory Tuesday morning at James A. Rhodes Arena.
In front of a crowd of more than 1,200 for UA's second annual Education Day, three Zips scored in double figures to give Akron (3-0) the win.
Senior Sina King scored a career-high 27 points in 29 minutes to lead the Akron charge, including an 8-for-9 effort from the free throw line and five 3-pointers. Mid-American Conference East Division Player of the Week Anita Brown added 18 points, and Kerri McMahan posted a personal-best 14.
DiAndra Gibson registered her second-straight career-best rebounding mark, pulling down 11 boards on the day.
UNI (1-1) was led by Jen Keitel with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
The two teams battled it out in the post, each scoring 34 points in the paint for the game, but perhaps the most telling statistic was the turnover margin. Akron posted just six miscues, while forcing UNI into 15 turnovers, which the Zips converted into 25 points.
The Panthers jumped out to an early lead, but King was ready with five of the Zips' first seven points to make it a one-point game at 8-7 by the first media timeout.
Northern Iowa stretched its lead to 16-9 on a jumper by Sharnae Lamar, but again King had an answer, finding her way to the bucket to pick up an old fashioned 3-point play and cut the margin to 16-12.
Trailing by 12 midway through the opening period Akron continued to chip away, as Greta Burry, Gibson and McMahan teamed up for three consecutive layups, making the score 26-20 at the 7:58 mark.
UA locked down defensively, holding the Panthers without a field goal over the final 4:48 of the first half. The defensive efforts resulted in an 8-0 Akron run to close the half, capped by a made free throw by King with two second left to send the Zips into the intermission with the game tied at 33.
McMahan gave the Zips their first lead of the game less than three minutes into the second half at 40-39 on a layup. The Panthers scored the next four points before King put Akron ahead 48-45 on back-to-back 3-pointers with 16 minutes remaining.
Brown put the finishing touches on the 8-0 run for the Zips with a jumper, pushing the margin to 50-45 with 15:34 on the clock. Megan Barilla and Hannah Plybon extended Akron's nearly four-minute run (3:56) to 17-3 with a pair of lay-ups and a 3-pointer, respectively.
In the midst of the run, the Zips held Northern Iowa without a field goal for just over four minutes (4:02), to maintain a 59-48 lead with 12:37 remaining in the game.
UNI's Keitel made it a two-point game at 72-70 with just under four minutes to go, but that is as close as the Panthers would get, as the Zips out-scored the visitors 10-3 over the last 3:39 to secure the win.
Akron will have a week off before it returns to the court on Tuesday, Nov. 25, when it hosts Valparaiso. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the JAR.
