The University of Akron Athletics
University of Akron
Winthrop University
Zips Host Winthrop In Fifth Annual Education Day
November 27 | Women's Basketball
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Akron vs WInthrop Game Notes: 11/28/17
Akron (2-2) vs. Winthrop (1-3)
Friday, Nov. 28
James A. Rhodes Arena
Akron, Ohio. • 10:30 a.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 10:15 a.m.
Watch:Â ESPN3
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Whats Ahead
Game four of a six-game home swing for the Zips is scheduled for Nov. 22 against Winthrop at 10:30 a.m. The contest between the Zips and Eagles is slated as the fifth-annual Education Day hosted by the Akron Zips' women's basketball team. Since the inaugural Education Day in 2013, the event has grown from 400 Akron public school students to nearly 1,000 students across the Akron area.
Scouting The Eagles
Winthrop enters its contest with the Zips with a 1-3 record after four games. The Eagles fell to Elon (37-98), Duquesne (54-81), and South Carolina State (37-65), and earned its lone victory of the young 2017-18 season against North Carolina Wesleyan (94-50). The Eagles were predicted to finish 10th overall in the Big South Conference Preseason Poll.Â
The Eagles are led by freshman Kayla Brown, who is averaging a team-high 10.3 points per game in 26 minutes/game, while also averaging 2.3 rebounds and 1.0 assists per contest. Ronata Rogers and Anika Riley are the team leaders in minutes played, 31.0 and 29.8 minutes, respectively. While leading the squad in minutes played, Rogers also leads the unit in rebounds per game, 7.3, while Riley is the squad's second-leading scorer, 7.5 ppg.Â
Winthrop probable starters: Kayla Brown, Emily Kelley, Anika Riley, Ronata Rogers, Angela Coello Perez.
Series History
Akron has squared off with Winthrop three times in program history, with the Zips holding an advantage in the all-time series history since their first meeting in 2002-03.Â
The Last Time Out
Sparked by a then career-high 19 points from Megan Sefcik (Austintown, Ohio), including drilling five three-pointers, the University of Akron women's basketball team registered an 80-59 victory past Winthrop on, Dec. 3, 2016.
Sefcik led three Zips netting double-digit scoring efforts. Joining her with 10 points apiece were Hannah Plybon and Alex Ricketts. Danyael Goodhope posted a team-best 14 points for the Eagles, while chipping in 10 points was Erica Williams.
History Against The Big South Conference
Akron has met four of the 10 current members of the Big South Conference and holds a is 5-1 league Campbell (1-0), Liberty (0-1), Longwood (1-0), and Winthrop (3-0).Â
Coaches Â
- Winthrop: Lynette Woodard is in her first full season at the helm of the Winthrop women's basketball program after being named head coach in March of 2017 Woodward was an assistant coach on the staff in 2016-17. In 2003-04 Woodard served as the interim head coach at Kansas.
- 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 172-176 (.494) at Akron and a 398-329 (.548) in her 25 years as a head coach.
With AÂ Win Over Winthrop, The Zips Would...
- Earn their third win of the 2017-18 season.
- Head coach Jodi Kest would be one win away from 400 career victories.
- Improve to 4-0 against the Eagles all-time
- Increase its winning percentage against the Big South Conference members to .857 (6-1).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.
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 four games, Edmonds is averaging 9.5 points, 3.5 assists, and 1.25 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 8.0 points and 9.8 rebounds per contest.
Following a career-best year in 2016-17, Sefcik has scored in double figures in three of four games, including 19 points in the season opener against Bucknell, 13 versus Florida Gulf Coast, and 10 against Eastern Kentucky.Â
Burry, the Zip with the most playing experience on the roster, is the centerfold of the roster. In 66 minutes of play, including four starts, Burry is averaging 6.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per tilt. Burry grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds against SLU and scored a season-best 14 points against EKU.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 38 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 11/27)
- Rated first in defensive rebounds (31.5/contest)
- Akron ranks third in scoring defense (61.0 pts/game)
- Ranked fifth in free throw percentage (.699)
- Rated second in field goal percentage defense (.357)
- Akron averages 43.0 rebounding offense per game which ranks third
- Ranked third in defensive rebounding percentage (.750)
- Averages 3.0 blocks per contest which ranks sixth
Where They Rank in the MAC, Individually (as of 11/27)
- Megan Sefcik ranks tied for 25th in scoring (11.0 pts/game)
- In the rebounding category Haliegh Reinoehl ranks third (9.8/game), Caitlin Vari ranks 12th (6.5/game), and Greta Burry is rated 19th (5.5/game)
- Shaunay Edmonds sits tied for 15th in assists per contest (3.5)
- At the free throw line, Edmonds ranks tied for sixth (.867) and Reinoehl is rated tied for ninth (.818)
- Sefcik is seventh in three-pointers per contest (2.8)
- Reinoehl is rated sixth in defensive rebounds per tilt (6.5) and fifth overall in offensive rebounds per game (3.3), while Caitlin Vari ranks tied for 13th in defensive rebounds (4.5).Â
Where They Rank in the Program
- Megan Sefcik needs 20 three-pointers made and 50 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 against Florida Gulf Coast.Â
- Haliegh Reinoehl tied her single-game career-best 12 rebounds against Eastern Kentucky.Â
- The point guard trio of Shaunay Edmonds, Shayna Harmon and Destiny Perkins are averaging a combined 7.75 assists per contest and 31 of Akron's 44 assists.Â
- The Zips have won the battle on the glass in three of its four games and have outrebounded the opposition, 172-166.
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 upperclassmen saw over 1,200 minutes of the court.Â
Education Day... An Akron Tradition
The University of Akron Women's Basketball team will hold its fifth-annual Education Day on Tuesday, Nov. 28, as the Zips host Winthrop. Game time at James A. Rhodes Arena is set for 10:30 a.m.
For the inaugural Education Day in 2013, the brainchild of women's basketball head coach Jodi Kest, the Zips drew approximately 400 students and teachers.
The Zips are expecting nearly 1,000 fifth-grade students coming from all across Akron with nearly 16 schools attending.
Students will have pre-, in-, and post-game "homework" that they will complete based on the outcome of the game. Questions have been integrated into the assignments relating to the game of basketball for example: score at halftime, leading scorer, scoring percentages, etc. as well as a portion about promoting an active and healthy lifestyle.
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
Up Next
Akron welcomes one of the top teams in the nation to James A. Rhodes arena when No. 15 Maryland visits Akron, Ohio, for a 2 p.m. contest against the Zips on Saturday, Dec. 2.Â
