The University of Akron Athletics
University of Akron
Miami (Ohio)
Zips set school record for home victories with a 67-55 win over Miami
March 04 | Women's Basketball
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AKRON, Ohio - The Akron women's basketball team came out of the halftime locker room and connected at a 55-percent clip over the final 20 minutes to defeat Miami University, 67-55, in its final regular-season home game of the season at James A. Rhodes Arena Wednesday night.
The victory enabled the Zips (21-7, 11-6 MAC) to equal a school record for regular season wins (21) set by the 2012-13 Akron squad. The triumph also established a new program high for home victories (13) in a campaign.
Akron honored their lone on-court senior Sina King (Waterford, Ohio) along with manager Matt Shopbell during pregame festivities. King played in her 121st game as a Zip versus the RedHawks and has scored 1,564 points in an Akron uniform, the fifth-highest total in program history.
A game-high 19 points from sophomore Hannah Plybon (Orrville, Ohio) led the Zips. King turned in an 18-point, seven-rebound effort, while junior Anita Brown (Warren, Ohio) added 16 points and dished out a game-high six assists.
From the field, Akron shot 40.7 percent (22-for-54), while connecting for 45 percent (9-for-20) from beyond the arc. Miami (7-21, 4-13 MAC) registered a 34.7 percent (17-for-49) shooting mark from the floor and at 28.6 percent (4-for-14) from long range.
The Zips won the rebounding battle, 38-26, including outrebounding the RedHawks on the offensive glass, 12-6.
Kayla Brown paced Miami in scoring with 19 points, two assists and one steal.
Juniors Megan Barilla (Fairview Park, Ohio) and DiAndra Gibson (Ravenna, Ohio) contributed four and three assists, respectively, to Akron's efforts.
King opened the game for the Zips shooting 3-for-3 from the floor en route to recording Akron's first seven points. Miami struggled to get anything going early and went 0-of-5 to start the game and split a pair of free throws to trail 7-1 at the 16:03 mark.
After the slow start, the Redhawks did not let the Zips stretch their advantage in the game. Miami and Akron went back-and-forth scoring, as the Zips led by seven before Miami cut the lead down to four, twice.
Miami used a 6-0 run to decrease its deficit to one, 16-15, when Brown made a pair of free throws at the 7:53 mark. During the Redhawks' short run, Akron went 0-for-4 from the floor over a 4:54 stretch before Plybon ended the Miami run with a three-pointer with 7:03 left in the half.
Miami trailed by just one point, 29-28, with 48 second to play in the half. Akron scored seven-straight points, including a five-point play, with Plybon drilling a triple, while King converted a pair of free throws after she was simultaneously fouled on the play. The Redhawks hit two last-second free throws and the Zips led at halftime, 36-30.
Akron made its first three shots of the second half to extend its lead to 43-32. Brown made a pair of lay-ups, while Plybon made a wide-open three-pointer.
King scored her 16th point of the game and extended the Akron lead to 16, 51-35, at the 13:17 mark in the second half with an assist from freshman Alli Ball (St. Louis, Mo.).
Akron went scoreless for four minutes, but Miami did not take advantage only cutting the Zips' lead to 10. Brown ended Akron's cold spell with a jumper from the baseline with 8:51 to play to give the Zips a 53-41 advantage.
After leading by 10, the Zips extended their margin to as many as 17. Miami could not cut the Akron lead below 14 from the 6:54 mark on.
Akron closes out the regular season with a 1 p.m. tilt at Bowling Green on Saturday, March 7. A victory by the Zips will give Akron a top-four seed at next week's Mid-American Conference Championship and a bye into the tournament quarterfinals on March 12.
