Akron Downs Winthrop, 69-43, As Sefick Ties Career-Best 20 Points

Tuesday, November 28

Akron, Ohio

10:30 AM

University of Akron

3-2

Winthrop University

1-4

WINTHROP

Akron

Photo by: Jeff Harwell

Akron Downs Winthrop, 69-43, As Sefick Ties Career-Best 20 Points

November 28 | Women's Basketball

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AKRON, Ohio – In front of a crowd made up of nearly 1,000 fifth grade students from the Akron public schools on Education Day, redshirt junior Megan Sefcik (Austintown, Ohio) tied her career-high scoring 20 points and lit up the three-point line as the Akron women's basketball team came out on top over Winthrop, 69-43, Tuesday morning at James A. Rhodes Arena.

En route to tying her career high in points, Sefcik shot 7-of-14 from the floor and 4-for-9 from beyond the arc, with all four triples and 14 points coming in the fourth quarter. The Zips guard also hit a pair of free throws, tallied three steals, and grabbed a rebound in 22 minutes of play. Senior Greta Burry (Lakewood, Ohio) recorded her second consecutive double-digit effort with a 10 point, three rebound performance. In back-to-back games, 11 of the 12 Zips players to check into the contest recorded a basket. In total, the Zips reserves scored 29 of Akron's 69 points.

As a team, the Zips (3-2) shot the ball at a 38.2 percent clip (26-of-68) from the field, while shooting 38.1 percent (8-of-21) from beyond the arc. On the defensive side of the ball, Akron forced 24 Eagle turnovers which led to 34 points.

The Zips also edged the Eagles in points in the paint (28-to-16) and second-chance points (11-to-5) thanks to 12 offensive rebounds.

Winthrop (1-4) was led by Emily Kelly who dropped 11 points, while Marissa Cantrell nearly recorded a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds. Ronata Rogers recorded a game-high 13 rebounds, nine defensive and four offensive, for the Eagles.

As a squad, Wintrhop was limited by the Akron defense forcing the Eagles to shoot under 30 percent from the floor (28.6 percent) and a low 18.8 percent from long range.

Akron opened the contest at the JAR with an early 8-2 lead after back-to-back layups by Burry, a jumper from Sefcik and a lay-up from sophomore Haliegh Reinoehl (Westfield, Ind.).

After the Zips opened the quarter shooting the ball well, the Eagles countered Akron's run with a 10-0 run to claim a 12-8 lead. Sefcik ended the Winthrop scoring streak with her second jump shot at the 3:30 mark.

From that point on, the Zips and Eagles exchanged buckets back-and-forth in the final two minutes of the quarter as Akron regained the lead with 9 seconds to play in period number one, 15-14.

The first three minutes of the second stanza belonged to the Eagles as Akron went 0-for-4 from the floor to open the period, while Winthrop put three points on the board to take a 17-15 lead.

Burry ended the Akron scoring drought after she completed a three-point play making a basket, getting fouled, and hitting a free throw.

The three-point sequence from Burry sparked the Zips offense in the second quarter leading to an 11-0 run which included two huge back-to-back triples from sophomore Alyssa Clay (Indianapolis, Ind.) to give Akron a nine-point lead (26-17).

After the Eagles cut the deficit back to four points with 2:15 to play in the second quarter, Akron ended the half outscoring Winthrop, 8-1, capitalized by sophomore Shaunay Edmonds (Pittsburgh, Pa.) lay-up with time expiring to give the Zips a 34-23 lead heading into the locker room.

After two quick buckets by the Zips in quarter number three, Akron led by 15 points (38-23) with 7:48 to play. However, the Eagles knocked the lead back down to plus-10 (39-29) with a short 5-0 run in a matter of a minute (7:28-6:20).

The Zips extended their lead back to 16 points with 3:35 remaining in the stanza, before the final minutes of the third period went back-and-forth to close out the quarter with Akron leading 48-36.

The fourth quarter was dominated by the Zips as Akron pulled away from the Eagles. Winthrop scored the first point of the quarter hitting a free throw, but the Zips took over from there outscoring the Eagles 21-7 in the fourth.

Sefcik scored eight points for the Zips in a two-minute span (9:07-7:06), sinking two of her three-pointers, along with freshman Sarah Leyendecker (Lawrenceburg, Ind.) who scored her four points of the contest to give Akon a 60-40 lead.

The Zips claimed a 27-point lead, their largest lead of the morning, at the 2:58 mark following Sefick's final two long balls and a triple from freshman Kynnedy Azubike (Columbus, Ohio) for the final points of the contest for Akron.

When the final buzzer went off and a roar of cheers from 1,000 fifth graders flowed throughout the JAR, the Zips found themselves in the win column for the second straight game.

Up next for the Zips, 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.