The University of Akron Athletics
University of Akron
Eastern Kentucky University
Zips Continue Homestand Against Eastern Kentucky On Wednesday
November 21 | Women's Basketball
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Akron vs Eastern Kentucky Game Notes: 11/22/17
Akron (1-2) vs. Eastern Kentucky (2-1)
Wednesday, Nov. 22
James A. Rhodes Arena
Akron, Ohio. • 7:00 p.m.
Live Stats:Â GoZips.com
Radio: SportsRadio 1350 AM (WARF) in Akron (flagship), for free at SportsRadio1350.com and on iHeartRadio. Bill Morgan will have the call starting with the pregame show starting at 7:15 p.m.
Watch:Â ESPN3
Whats Ahead
The Zips are slated for game three of a six-game homestand inside James A. Rhodes Arena when the Akron welcomes in Eastern Kentucky on Wednesday, Nov. 22. The contest between the Zips and Colonels is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Scouting the Eagles
Eastern Kentucky enters the contest with Akron having won its last two games at Western Carolina (62-59) and versus UNC Greensboro (70-59), after dropping its season opener to fellow Mid-American Conference member, Bowling Green (60-77).Â
A pair of Colonels, A'Queen Hayes and Abby Wright, are averaging double-figures in scoring through three games, at 16.7 and 16.0 points per game, respectively. In their previous contest, Hayes went off for 23 points, six assists and six rebounds en route to earning Ohio Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week honors. To go with her 16.0 points per game, the Colonels' forward, Wright, is also averaging 4.32 rebounds, an 1.6 assists per tilt. 13 EKU players have seen action in all three contests thus far.Â
Eastern Kentucky's probable starting lineup: A'Queen Hayes, Shay Solomon, Bria Bass, Madison Pierce, and Abby Wright
Series History
Akron and Eastern Kentucky are all even in all-time series record in program history at 5-5 since first meeting in the 1980-81 season.Â
The Last Time Out
University of Akron's Hannah Plybon led three Zips scoring in double figures with a 20-point performance to spark Akron to its third-straight victory, in come-from-behind fashion, 63-57, past Eastern Kentucky on Dec. 10, 2016.
Joining Plybon with double-digit scoring efforts for the Zips was Shaunay Edmonds (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Alex Ricketts with 12- and 10-point games, respectively. Alexus Cooper directed the Colonels with a team-high 19 points, while Jalen O'Bannon added 14 points.
History Against the Ohio Valley Conference
Akron is 23-33 against the 12 current members of the Ohio Valley Conference; Austin Peay (5-6), Belmont (1-0), Eastern Kentucky (5-5), Eastern Illinois (1-0), Jacksonville State (1-0), Morehead State (3-8), Murray State (2-6), Tennessee Tech (2-8), while the Zips will also meet SIU Edwardsville for the first time later this year. Akron was once a member of the Ohio Valley Conference from 1983-87.
Coaches Â
Eastern Kentucky: Chrissy Roberts is in her 10th season at the helm of the Colonels and her alma mater. As the head coach of the EKU program, Roberts has compiled a 114-149 overall record and led the Colonels to the OVC championship game the past two seasons.Â
Akron: Jodi Kest, the all-time winningest coach in program history, is in her 12th-season in charge of the Zips program. The longest-tenured coach in the Mid-American Conference holds an all-time record of 171-176 (.496) at Akron and a 397-329 (.546) in her 25 years as a head coach.
With a Win Over Eastern Kentucky, The Zips Would
- Earn their second win of the 2017-18 season.
- Head coach Jodi Kest would be two wins away from 400 career victories.
- Improve to 6-5 against the Colonels all-time
- Increase its winning percentage against the Ohio Valley Conference members to .411 (24-33).Â
2017-18 Zip BreakdownÂ
Under the guidance of Kest, the Zips have 13 young and talented players eager to make an impact in 2017-18 highlighted by returning starters, sophomore guard Shaunay Edmonds (Pittsburgh, Pa.), sophomore forward Haliegh Reinoehl (Westfield, Ind.), and sophomore forward Caitlin Vari (Revere, Ohio), along with the veteran presence of senior forward Greta Burry (Lakewood, Ohio), senior guard Lauren Hung (Waterford, Mich.), and redshirt junior guard Megan Sefcik (Austintown, Ohio).
Probable Starters: Shaunay Edmonds, Shayna Harmon, Megan Sefcik, Haliegh Reinoehl, Greta Burry.
Edmonds earned the role of starting point guard for the Zips as a freshman and has not looked back since. Through three games, Edmonds is averaging 11.3 points, 3.3 assists, and 1.67 steals per game. The Zips' point guard scored a season-best 16 points against Southeastern Louisiana, and a season-high five assists and three steals against Bucknell.Â
After coming off the bench in a reserve role during the first 13 games of her freshman season, Reinoehl became a staple in the starting-five down the stretch for Akron and into the new season. Reinoehl recorded a career-best game against Southeastern Louisiana scoring 21 points and 11 rebounds for her first double-double as a Zip. The forward is averaging just shy of a double-double for the season with 9.3 points and 9.0 rebounds per contest.
Following a career-best year in 2016-17, Sefcik has scored in double figures in two of three games, 19 in the season opener against Bucknell and 13 versus Florida Gulf Coast.Â
Burry, the Zip with the most playing experience on the roster, is the centerfold of the roster. In 48 minutes of play, including three starts, Burry is averaging 3.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per tilt. Burry grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds against SLU and added six points.Â
Freshmen Kynnedy Azubike (Columbus, Ohio), Sarah Leyendecker (Lawrenceburg, Ind.) and Destiny Perkins (Indianapolis, Ind.) have each made their collegiate debuts for the Zips three games into the season and combined to score 27 points. Â
Kest named Burry, Sefcik, and Reinoehl as the 2017-18 season captains.
Where They Rank in the MAC as a team (as of 11/15)
- Akron ranks sixth in scoring defense (66.3 pts/game)
- Ranked fourth in free throw percentage (.719)
- Rated fourth in field goal percentage defense (.370)
- Akron averages 42.0 rebounding offense per game which ranks fourth
- Ranked third in defensive rebounding percentage (.750)
Where They Rank in the MAC, Individually (as of 11/15)
- Megan Sefcik and Shaunay Edmonds rank 25th in scoring (11.3 pts/game)
- Haliegh Reinoehl is tied for fifth in rebounds per game (9.0)
- Shaunay Edmonds sits 15th in assists per contest (3.3)
- At the free throw line Edmonds ranks ninth (.846) and Reinoehl is rated 13th (.818)
- Sefcik is seventh in three-pointers per contest (2.7)
- Reinoehl is rated fifth in defensive rebounds per tilt (6.0) and ninth overall in offensive rebounds per game (3.0), while Caitlin Vari ranks ninth in defensive rebounds (5.0).Â
Where They Rank in the Program
- Megan Sefcik needs 23 three pointers made and 53 three point attempts to break into the programs all-time top ten list .Â
Zips tidbits
- Kynnedy Azubike and Sarah Leyendecker made their regular season college debuts against Bucknell (11/12)
- Lauren Hung played a career-high 25 minutes against Bucknell.
- Megan Sefcik's 19 points are a career-best in a season opening game.
- Two Zips, Haliegh Reinoehl and Caitlin Vari, are each averaging double-digit rebounds.Â
- Three Akron players, Shaunay Edmonds (12.5), Haliegh Reinohel (12.5), and Megan Sefick (10.5), are averaging double-digit points, with each scoring over 20 points thus far.Â
- Kynnedy Azubike scored her first career points (4) against SELU (Nov. 17).
- Destiny Perkins made her collegiate debut against SELU (Nov. 17) after missing the first game due to injury.Â
- Halieigh Reinoehl recorded her first career double-double against SELU (Nov. 17) with a career-best 21 points and pulled in 11 rebounds, one shy of her career-best.
- Caitlyn Vari recorded 16 rebounds against SELU (Nov. 17), a career-best, beating her previous record of five.
- Alyssa Clay played a career-high 14 minutes en route to scoring a career-best eight points.Â
- Destiny Perkins first significant playing time resulted in a 10 point, four assist, and two steal performance.Â
Young Guns
Inside the Mid-American Conference, the Zips return the second-youngest squad with 4,964 minutes returning for the 2016-17 campaign. The Akron sophomore class made up nearly half of the minutes amassing over 2,000 minutes of action a season ago, while the upper classmen saw over 1,200 minutes of the court.Â
Zips Women's basketball Drafts Brayden McDonald from TeamImpact
The University of Akron women's basketball team and head coach Jodi Kest announced the signing of Brayden McDonald on Nov. 21 The 8-year-old Akron native signed her national letter of intent to join the Zips' women's basketball squad this season.
Team IMPACT, an organization that connects children facing chronic or life-threatening illnesses to college athletic teams in an effort to improve their quality of life, orchestrated Brayden's recruitment with the Akron women's basketball program. Brayden's determination to persevere through adversity has already made her an inspiration to her Zips teammates.
Since 2011, Team IMPACT has matched more than 1,300 children with more than 500 colleges and universities in 47 states, reaching over 35,000 participating student-athletes. The child joins the athletic team and the student-athletes join the child's support team – from Draft Day to Graduation.
A Night To Remember
On the first night of the 2017 Akron Classic, five Akron players each set a career-mark in the Zips 66-54 win over Southeastern Louisiana. Haliegh Reinoehl posted her first double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds, Caitlin Vari grabbed a career-best 16 rebounds, Alyssa Clay scored a career-best eight points in a career-high 14 minutes of play, and Shayna Harmon dished out a career-most four assists.Â
Preseason Projections
In the annual Mid-American Conference preseason poll, the Akron women's basketball team was predicted to finish sixth in the MAC East Division, by the leagues 12 head coaches on Oct 25.
In the East field of teams, Buffalo was voted as the preseason regular-season champion with 69 first-place votes, followed by Kent State (52 points), Ohio (47 points), Miami (40 points), Bowling Green (23 points), and the Zips (21 points).
Over in the West Division, Central Michigan received 70 votes as the predicted regular-season champion with Toledo (60 points) in second, and Ball State (46 points) to finish third. Rounding out the six West Division teams are Western Michigan (32 points), Northern Illinois (29 points), and Eastern Michigan (15 points).
Overall, Central Michigan was tabbed to win the 2018 MAC regular-season crown, followed by Ball State, and Buffalo.
The Chippewas are also predicted to hoist the 2018 MAC tournament trophy at Quicken Loans Arena following postseason play.
Up Next
Akron hosts in fifth annual Education Day at James A. Rhodes Arena on Tuesday, Nov. 28, against Winthrop at 10:30 a.m.Â
