Zips Take Part In Florida Gulf Coast Hilton Garden Inn Classic

Wednesday, December 20

Fort Myers, Fla.

4:30 PM

University of Akron

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Zips Take Part In Florida Gulf Coast Hilton Garden Inn Classic

December 19 | Women's Basketball

Follow Akron Women's Basketball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
Follow Coach Kest on Twitter
Purchase 2017 Akron Women's Basketball Season Tickets

Akron vs SIU Edwardsville Game Notes: 12/20/17

Akron (5-4) vs. SIU Edwardsvile (3-6)

Wednesday, Dec. 20
Alico Arena
Fort Myers, Fla. • 4:30 p.m.

Live Stats: 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 4:15 p.m.
Watch: FGCUathletics.com

Whats Ahead

The Akron Zips head south for warmer weather to take part in the Florida Gulf Coast Hilton Garden Inn Classic and close out the 2017-18 non-conference schedule. In the two-game classic, the Zips take on SIU Edwardsville on Wednesday, Dec. 20 and square off with Harvard on Thursday, Dec. 21.

Scouting the Cougars

Entering the week, SIUE has played nine total games and have compiled a 3-6 record. After starting off the season winning three of their first four games, the Cougars have now lost five straight contests dating back to Nov. 30. SIUE has faced off against two fellow Mid-American Conference members and lost to Central Michigan (56-94) and most recently Northern Illinois (75-86). The three wins for the Cougars have come against the likes of Air Force (76-40), Saint Louis (79-72), and SIU Carbondale (57-53).

In nine starts, Lauren White leads the Cougars in scoring with 14 points per game, while grabbing 4.8 rebounds, and posting 2.7 assists in 29.8 minutes of play. Donshel Beck is the teams second leading scorer with 11.8 ppg and the units second-leading rebounder averaging 6.4 ppg. Sydney Bauman takes up space inside the paint and pulls in a team-best 7.1 rebounds while averaging 5.8 points.

Probable Starters

SIU Edwardsville: Donshel Beck, Sydney Bauman, Lauren White, Nakiah Bell, Jay'Nee Alston.

Akron: Shaunay Edmonds, Shayna Harmon, Megan Sefcik, Haliegh Reinoehl, Greta Burry.

Series History

Akron and SIU Edwardsville will meet on the hardwood for the first time in program history on Dec. 20, in Fort Myers, Fla.

History Against The Ohio Valley Conference

Akron is 24-33 against the 12 current members of the Ohio Valley Conference; Austin Peay (5-6), Belmont (1-0), Eastern Kentucky (6-5), Eastern Illinois (1-0), Jacksonville State (1-0), Morehead State (3-8), Murray State (2-6), Tennessee Tech (2-8), while the Zips will meet SIU Edwardsville for the first time later this year. The Zips have defeated one member of the OVC this season in a 62-45 over Eastern Kentucky. Akron was once a member of the Ohio Valley Conference from 1983-87.

Coaches

SIU Edwardsville: Paula Buscher is in her sixth season as the head coach of the Cougars' women's basketball program, and has since put together an 81-83 record. Buscher and SIUE have made an appearance in five straight OVC tournaments.

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 175-178 (.496) at Akron and a 401-331 (.548) in her 25 years as a head coach.

With A Win Over SIU Edwardsville, the Zips would

Earn their sixth win of the 2017-18 season.
Claim the first win between the two schools in the first-ever meeting.
Earn their second straight win.
Increase its winning percentage against the Ohio Valley Conference members to .440 (25-33).

2017-18 Zip Breakdown

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).

Edmonds earned the role of starting point guard for the Zips as a freshman and has not looked back since. Through nine games, Edmonds is averaging 10.8 points, a team-high 4.1 assists, and 1.8 steals per game. The Zips' point guard scored a season-best 19 points, tied her career mark with seven assists and a season-best four steals against Youngstown State.

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 2017-18 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 the team's fourth-leading scorer, 6.3 points per game, and leads the squad in rebounding with 74 total rebounds, 8.2 per contest.

Following a career-best year last season, Sefcik has continued to impress and has scored in double figures in seven of Akron's nine games. The Zips' guard broke the Akron single-game three-point record with 10 against Ohio Christian, while also tying the MAC record. Sefcik has now scored in double-figures in seven of Akron's nine contests.

Burry, the Zip with the most playing experience on the roster, is the centerfold of the squad. In 151 minutes of play and nine starts, Burry is averaging 6.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per tilt. Burry grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds against SLU and scored a season-best 14 points against EKU.

Sophomores Alyssa Clay (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Shayna Harmon (Ashville, Ohio) have seen a significant bump in playing time in year two. Harmon has started all nine contests and owns the second-most assists on the squad (26). Clay has seen 124 minutes of action through nine contests, almost double her playing time in 13 games in 2016-17. Clay owns the teams second-best shooting percentage (.406) from beyond the arc (13-of-32) and scored a career-high 13 points against Duquesne.

Freshmen Kynnedy Azubike (Columbus, Ohio), Sarah Leyendecker (Lawrenceburg, Ind.) and Destiny Perkins (Indianapolis, Ind.) made their collegiate debuts for the Zips three games into the season and have combined to score 95 points. Perkins has taken over the backup point guard role after returning from injury and has since recorded 20 assists, third-most on the squad.

Kest named Burry, Sefcik, and Reinoehl as the 2017-18 season captains.

Where They Rank in the MAC as a team (as of 12/18)

Akron ranks first in scoring defense (57.7 pts/game).
Rated first in defensive rebounds (30.8/contest).
Rated second in field goal percentage defense (.344).
Ranked second in defensive rebound percentage (.725).
Akron averages 41.8 rebounding offense per game which ranks fourth.
Zips defense ranks fourth in 3-point field goal percentage defense (.284).
Akron's 3.4 blocks per game are the fourth-most in the MAC
Ranked fourth in free throw percentage (.725).
The Zips sharpshooters rank fifth in three-point field goal percentage (.340)
Averages 8.0 three-pointers per game, ranking fifth
Averages 2.7 blocks per contest which ranks sixth.
Through nine games, Akron is rated fifth in scoring margin ( 8.3)

Where They Rank in the MAC, Individually (as of 12/18)

Megan Sefcik ranks 10th in scoring (15.0 pts/game) and Shaunay Edmonds is rated 24th (10.8 pts/game).
In the rebounding category, Haliegh Reinoehl ranks sixth (8.2/game) and Caitlin Vari ranks 19th (5.6/game).
Shaunay Edmonds sits 10th in assists per contest (4.1) and Shayna Harmon is tied for 15th (2.9).
At the free throw line, Edmonds ranks tied for third (.880).
Sefcik is third in three-pointers per contest (3.8) and 10th in three-point field goal percentage (.425(, while Alyssa Clay ranks 12th (.406).
Reinoehl is rated sixth in defensive rebounds per tilt (5.9) and eighth in offensive rebounds per game (2.3), while Greta Burry ranks T-12th in offensive rebounds (2.1).
Shaunay Edmonds ranks 12th in the assist/turnover ratio category (1.4).
Alyssa Clay and Megan Sefcik rank 13th and 14th in the MAC in three-point percentage, .379 and .375.
Sarah Leyendecker is rated third in blocks (1.4 ppg).

Where They Rank in the Nation Inside the top 50 (as of 12/18)

11th - Defensive rebounds.
22nd - Field goal percentage defense.
35th - Fewest fouls.
48th - Scoring defense and three-point field goals per game.

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.
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.
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 then career-high 14 minutes en route to scoring a then career-best eight points.
Destiny Perkins first significant playing time resulted in a 10 point, four assist, and two steal performance against Florida Gulf Coast (Nov. 18).
Haliegh Reinoehl tied her single-game career-best 12 rebounds against Eastern Kentucky (Nov. 22).
The point guard trio of Shaunay Edmonds, Shayna Harmon and Destiny Perkins are averaging a combined 9.2 assists per contest and 83 of Akron's 121 assists.
The Zips have won the battle on the glass in five of its nine games.
The Zips have won six of their last nine games.
In Akron's five wins, the opposition is averaging just 46.6 points per game, a shooting percentage of .285, a three-point percentage of .228, have outrebounded their opponents, and 247-to-189, forced 75 turnovers.
Shaunay Edmonds scored a season-best 19 points against Youngstown State, tied a career-best seven assists, and a season-high four steals.
Shaunay Edmonds' four triples against YSU are the most she has knocked down in a single-game in her career.
Megan Sefick has now scored in double-figures in six of the last seven contests and hit at least three triples in seven contests.
In the 75-58 win over YSU, Shayna Harmon tallied a career-best 10 points.
Alyssa Clay scored a career-best 13 points with 12 of her points coming from beyond the three-point line (4-for-5).
Sarah Leyendecker tallied eight blocks against Ohio Christian, which puts her tied for second in the program for most blocks in a single-game. Her 11 rebounds against the Trailblazers were also a career-best.
After tying her career-mark twice, Megan Sefcik surpassed her 20 point career-mark with 32 points against Ohio Christian.
En route to her 32 points, Megan Sefcik hit 10 three-pointers to break the Akron women's basketball single-game record and tied the Mid-American Conference record.
As a team, Akron recorded 14 triples against Ohio Christian, tied for the second most in a single-contest by a unit.

Records Are Made To Be Broken

In the Zips 93-33 win against Ohio Christian, Megan Sefick drained ten three-pointers in a single-contest to break the Akron women's basketball program. The record was set a season ago in 2016-17 by Hannah Plybon with nine triples against Canisius on Nov. 20, 2016.

Climbing The Charts

Megan Sefcik continues to climb into the list of all-time best three-point shooters in Akron women's basketball program history. Sefcik is now tied for three-pointers made with 111 and is 11 three-point attempts away cracking the top-ten list.

400 Milestone Club

With the Zips 75-58 win over Youngstown State, the all-time winningest coach in Akron history, Jodi Kest, earned a historic 400th career victory.

In her 25-year career, Kest earned 48 wins at Wilkes University, 105 victories at Gannon University, 73 W's at Texas A&M – Corpus Christie, and now the longest tenured coach in the MAC earned her 174th win with UA to total her 400th career victory.

Up Next

Akron continues play at the Florida Gulf Coast Hilton Garden Inn Classic on Thursday, Dec. 21 at 4:30 p.m. against Harvard.