The University of Akron Athletics
Akron seeks to extend win streak hosting Valparaiso
November 24 | Women's Basketball
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Zips Host Valparaiso
Akron seeks to extend its season-opening win streak to four straight as the Zips welcome Valparaiso to the James A. Rhodes Arena for a 7 p.m. tilt on Tuesday, Nov. 25.
News, Notes and Story lines
• Akron parlayed a 17-3 second-half run into its third-consecutive victory to open the season, besting Northern Iowa, 82-73, on Nov. 18.
• Senior forward Sina King (Waterford, Ohio) registered a career-high 27 points against the Panthers, including 13 in the second half. She finished the contest connecting on five three-pointers.
• Junior guard DiAndra Gibson (Ravenna, Ohio) added to the comeback triumph over Northern Iowa with a seven-point, 11-rebound performance. Her 11 rebounds established a new career mark, while she equaled a career-best with two steals.
• Junior guard Megan Barilla (Fairview Park, Ohio) came off the bench to register four points, while distributing a team-high four assists in 16 minutes versus the Panthers
• The Zips next win will mark the 350th in the coaching career of head coach Jodie Kest.
• Akron began the 2014-15 season as the defending Mid-American Conference champions, and were picked to finish third in the MAC East Division this year in the preseason poll by the league's head coaches.
• Akron returns two starters and eight letterwinners from last year's squad, and welcomes five freshmen to the team this season. In their second-straight 23-win campaign last year, the Zips posted the best conference record in the history of the program at 14-4.
• The Zips made their third postseason appearance in the last five years, advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. The 13th-seeded Zips ended their postseason run with an 84-55 loss to fourth-seeded Purdue in the first round of the tournament at Mackey Arena.
• Sina King returns to the basketball court for a fifth year this season after sitting out her true senior year to undergo treatment for blood clots. King was named to the All-MAC East Preseason Team. She was a third team All-MAC selection in 2012-13, after putting up 14 double-doubles, averaging 15.0 points and a team-high 8.7 rebounds per game.
• Head Coach Jodi Kest, now in her ninth season at the helm of the program, has collected the most wins of any Akron women's basketball head coach in the history of the program.
A Look at Valparaiso
Valparaiso comes into action this week having won its last two contests, including a 79-61 victory over Tennessee Tech on Saturday, Nov. 22. Freshman forward Dani Franklin and junior guard Abby Dean lead the Crusaders averaging 12.5 and 12.3 points per game. Freshman forward Jasmyn Walker is pulling down a team-best 9.0 rebounds a night, while junior guard Lexi Miller is dishing out a team-high 4.3 assists per tilt. Valparaiso is scoring 71.0 points a game and have limited their opponents 62.2 points a night on 38 percent shooting, including 21.9 percent from beyond the arc. The Crusaders are connecting on 10.3 triples per game.
Akron vs. Northern Iowa Recap
Akron used a 17-3 second-half run to put away visiting Northern Iowa in an 82-73 victory Nov. 18 at James A. Rhodes Arena.
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 three-pointers. Junior guard Anita Brown (Warren, Ohio) added 18 points, and freshman guard Kerri McMahan (Novi, Mich.) posted a personal-best 14.
DiAndra Gibson registered her second-straight career-best rebounding mark, pulling down 11 boards on the day.
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 freshman forward Greta Burry (Lakewood, Ohio), 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 sophomore guard Hannah Plybon (Orrville, Ohio) 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 Jen 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 got, as the Zips outscored the visitors 10-3 over the last 3:39 to secure the win.
Preseason Predictions
The Zips were picked to finish third in the MAC East Division this year in the conference preseason poll voted on by the league's head coaches. UA was projected to finish behind Buffalo and Bowling Green in the East after capturing its first-ever conference tournament title and NCAA Tournament berth a year ago. Buffalo was picked to win the East Division, receiving eight first place votes out of a possible 12. BGSU received three first place votes. Ohio, Miami (Ohio) and Kent State were picked fourth, fifth, and sixth, respectively.
In the West Division, Central Michigan was chosen as the favorite, earning 11 of the 12 first place votes. Ball State was selected second with one first place vote, followed by Western Michigan, Toledo, Eastern Michigan and Northern Illinois.
CMU was also predicted to win the 2015 MAC Tournament, March 9-14 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
Poll Party
Akron received 22 votes in the Nov. 18 CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top-25 poll. Other MAC schools showing up in the poll were Bowling Green (No. 13), Central Michigan (No. 13), Toledo (18 votes), Western Michigan (14 votes), Ohio (eight votes) and Buffalo (six votes).
The King is Back
Sina King, the lone senior on Akron's roster, has made her return to the basketball court for a fifth year in 2014-15, after a medical issue sidelined her a year ago. King underwent treatment for blood clots during what would have been her true senior year last season, serving as a student assistant coach to help her teammates capture the first Mid-American Conference championship in school history.
King was a third-team All-MAC selection two years ago in 2012-13, after putting up 14 double-doubles, averaging 15.0 points and a team-high 8.7 rebounds per game. She shot 84.9 percent from the free throw line that year, ranking No. 32 in the nation. The 288 rebounds she pulled down as a junior are the fourth-most for a single season in program history.
Sophomore Status
Sophomore Hannah Plybon is one of two starters returning from last year's squad. The 2014 All-MAC Freshman Team selection established herself as a prominent offensive threat on the Zips' roster last season, starting all but one game as a rookie on a senior-laden team. The Orrville, Ohio native scored in double figures on 11 occasions, averaging 25.3 minutes per game and 7.1 ppg (8.2 ppg in MAC play).
Anita Buckets
After playing some of her best basketball near the end of the 2013-14 campaign junior Anita Brown has cracked the starting line-up in each of the Zips' first three games this season. She has responded registering a team-high 23.0 points per contest, while connecting on nearly 51 percent of her shots from the field. Additionally, she is pulling down 7.0 rebounds a game, while distributing a 2.3 assists a tilt. A year ago, she was fourth on the team in scoring and rebounding as the first guard off the bench (7.5 ppg and 4.4 rpg). Brown averaged 10.7 ppg over the course of the 2014 MAC Tournament, including a 16-point effort in 25 minutes in the semifinal game against Central Michigan.
Leading Scorers
For the third-straight season, the Zips set a new school record for most points scored in 2013-14. Akron's signature high-octane offense averaged 82.0 points per game, which ranked 11th in the nation in scoring offense. UA was also seventh in the country in assists per game at 18.5, fueled by the graduated Kacie Cassell, the school's all-time career assists leader (688).
Zips in the Pros
Following graduation in 2014, seniors Hanna Luburgh and Rachel Tecca signed contracts to play professionally overseas. Luburgh went on to play for AZS UMCS in Lublin, Poland, for the 2014-15 season, while Tecca traveled to Iceland to compete for U.M.F. Grindavik out of the Dominos League. The pair were two of the most prolific scorers to come through Akron, as Tecca left as the career scoring leader and Luburgh holds the single-season record.
Newcomer Notes
• Alli Ball - Fr., F, 6-1, Saint Louis, Mo./Principia Upper School: Set the school record for career points (1,360), points in a single season (553), blocks in a single season (122) and career blocks (255)...two-time Missouri Basketball Coaches Association all-state selection...two-time first team all-district...named MBCA Class 3 as well as Metro League Player of the Year as a senior...averaged 19.1 points, 9.6 rebounds and 4.2 blocks per game as a senior...led her team to two conference, district and sectional championships in her four years...was a cross country state qualifier as a freshman and a track & field state qualifier as a sophomore.
• Greta Burry - Fr., F, 6-1, Lakewood, Ohio/St. Joseph Academy: Four-year letterwinner...averaged 9.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.0 steals as a senior...recognized by the Cleveland Plain Dealer as a top-25 player to watch, player of the week and postseason honorable mention...recipient of the coaches award as a senior.
• Kaitlyn Flowers - Fr., G, 5-5, Lompoc, Calif./St. Joseph: Scored 1,448 points over the course of her prep career...as a senior, averaged 17.9 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 4.8 steals per game...shot 41 percent from the field for her career...three-time team captain ... four-time scholar-athlete...all-division first team as a senior and second team as a junior...led her squad to two league championship titles in four years and one California Interscholastic Federation Division 3 state championship...two-time all-league first team defensive MVP...was also an all-league performer in track & field (hurdles).
• Lauren Hung - Fr., G, 5-8, Waterford, Mich./Waterford Mott: Earned all-state recognition as a senior...scored 1,315 points for her career...averaged 15.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 2.4 steals per game as a senior...two-time state free throw champion...shot 82 percent from the charity stripe during her senior season...four-time team MVP.
• Kerri McMahan - Fr., G, 5-10, Novi, Mich./Novi: Graduated as the only girls' basketball player in school history to surpass 1,000 points, finishing with 1,069 points for her career...set the school single-game scoring record (32 points)...led her team to four division championship titles...four-time all-conference selection...Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan (BCAM) all-state first team as a junior and senior...two-time All-Oakland County first team selection...three-time all-area Player of the Year...received BCAM academic-all state recognition as a junior and senior...averaged 18.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 4.0 steals during her senior season...was also an all-state cross country runner as a freshman and the fifth-fastest freshman in the state of Michigan...three-time all-state runner in the 4x400 meter relay...four-time all-state high jumper...only student-athlete in school history to earn all-state honors in three different sports.
• Megan Sefcik - Fr., G, 5-10, Austintown, Ohio/Austintown Fitch: Graduated as the school's second all-time leading scorer...averaged 19.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 4.0 steals per game as a senior...named the conference Player of the Year as a senior...shot 53.0 percent from the field and 89.0 percent from the free throw line during her senior season...three-time first team all-conference selection...All-Ohio Special Mention.
Reid Promoted, Pierce Joins Akron Staff
Head coach Jodi Kest made a few changes in her staff during the offseason, promoting former graduate assistant Preston Reid to assistant coach, and hiring Sam Pierce as an assistant coach.
Reid served as a graduate assistant on Kest's staff for the last two seasons, after one year as the assistant video coordinator at Florida State.
Pierce comes to Akron from the state of Pennsylvania, where he founded a basketball development program called PA Pride located in Altoona, Pa. He coached boys and girls for the last six years as a part of the program.
2013-14 Postseason Recap
In Coach Kest's eighth year at the helm, the University of Akron women's basketball team captured its second-consecutive 23-win season in 2013-14, finishing the year with a 23-10 overall record and a 14-4 mark in Mid-American Conference play.
Akron used the strength of a school-record 13-game winning streak to earn the No. 3 seed in the MAC Tournament for the second-straight season. During the last week of the regular season, it was one of 10 active double-digit winning streaks in Division I.
Along with several team and individual school records, the Zips secured their first Mid-American Conference Tournament title and NCAA Tournament berth in the 40-year history of the program. The Zips were selected as the No. 13 seed in the South Bend region and traveled to No. 4 seed Purdue to play the Boilermakers on their home court at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind.
UA kept it close in the first half, trailing 46-34 at the break, but would fall 84-55 as the historic season came to a close.
