Showdown With Bowling Green Awaits Akron

Saturday, January 13

Akron, Ohio

4:30 PM

University of Akron

Bowling Green

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January 12 | Women's Basketball

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Bowling Green vs. Akron Notes: 1/13/18

Bowling Green (8-7, 0-4 MAC) vs. Akron (6-9, 0-4 MAC)

Saturday, Jan. 13
James A. Rhodes Arena
Akron, Ohio • 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: ESPN3

Whats Ahead

Akron continues its two-game homestand this weekend, Saturday, Jan. 13, as the Zips welcome Bowling Green to James A. Rhodes Arena for a Mid-American Conference showdown between the Zips and Falcons. First tip is scheduled for 4:30 p.m., or approximately 30 minutes following the men's basketball contest against BG at 2 p.m.

Scouting The Falcons

Bowling Green looks for its first conference win against Akron after starting MAC play 0-4, dropping contests against Western Michigan (58-67), Eastern Michigan (52-54), Ball State (73-84), and Central Michigan (54-90). Overall, the Falcons own an 8-7 record through 15 games. After winning its first seven of eight games, the Falcons have recently lost five straight contests and have lost the last six of seven games dating back to Dec. 9.

Carly Santoro and Andrea Cecil lead the scoring threat for the Falcons averaging 14.1 and 11.1 points per game, respectively. Santoro, Bowling Green's leading scorer, also grabs a team-high 10.3 rebounds per contest, owns a team-best 30 steals, and is second on the team with 34 assists. In the MAC, Santoro ranks second in rebounding, 10th in steals, and 11th in scoring. Cecil currently owns a team-best .419 shooting percentage (57-of-136), averages 5.4 rebounds per tilt, and leads the unit in blocked shots with eight. Leading the way for the Falcons in the assists category is Sydney Lambert who averages 2.4 a game and tallied 36 assists in total.

Probable Starters

Bowling Green: Carly Santoro, Andrea Cecil, Haley Puck, Sydney Lambert, Jane Uecker.

Akron: Shaunay Edmonds, Alyssa Clay, Lauren Hung, Haliegh Reinoehl, Caitlin Vari.

Series History

Bowling Green and Akron will meet on the hardwood for the 60th time since the first meeting back in the 1978-79 season. The Zips have had recent success against the Falcons winning four of the last six contests between the two programs, with three of those wins coming at home.

The Last Meeting

Bowling Green connected on a season-high 15 three-pointers en route to dealing the University of Akron women's basketball team an 86-50 setback on Feb 4, 2017, at the Stroh Center.

The Falcons shot nearly 54 percent (.536) from beyond the arc in the game and 44.8 percent overall, while limiting the Zips to a 32.8 percent shooting mark en route to earning the victory.

Megan Sefcik led Akron with a team-high 14 points, including make four triples. Carly Santoro directed three Bowling Green players scoring in double figures with a game-high 16 points. Also surpassing the double-digit scoring plateau for the Falcons was Sydney Lambert and Caterrion Thompson with 14 and 12 points, respectively.

Mid-American Conference Member

The Zips have been a member of the Mid-American Conference for the past 26 years after joining the league in 1992 from the North Star Conference

Coaches

Bowling Green: Jennifer Roos is in her sixth season as head coach of the Bowling Green women's basketball program, but has been a member of the Falcons program for 27 seasons as an assistant coach and associate head coach. Since Roos arrival to Bowling Green, the Falcons had amassed a 339-170 record and a 175-89 mark in league play.

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 176-181 (.493) at Akron and a 402-334 (.547) in her 25 years as a head coach

With A Win Over Bowling Green, The Zips Would

Earn their seventh win of the 2017-18 season.
Claim its first MAC win
Earn the program's 450th all-time victory.
End a five-game slide.

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 has taken on the role as the team's facilitator and floor general, while also having the ability to score the ball. Through 15 games, Edmonds is averaging 10.5 points, a team-high 4.1 assists, and 2.2 steals per game. The Zips' point guard scored a season-best 19 points and tied her career mark with seven assists against Youngstown State, while posting a career-best six steals against Harvard.

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 in the 2017-18 season. Reinoehl recorded a career-best game against Southeastern Louisiana (21 pts/11 reb) and a double-double against SIU Edwardsville (11 pts/10 reb). The forward is the team's third-leading scorer, 6.4 points per game and leads the squad in rebounding with 123 total rebounds, 8.2 per contest.

Sefcik is having a career year in her junior season en route to leading the team in scoring with 13.4 points per game while making 3.4 triples per contest. The Zips' guard broke the Akron single-game three-point record with 10 triples against Ohio Christian, while also tying the MAC record.

Burry, the Zip with the most playing experience on the roster, is the centerfold of the squad. In 224 minutes of play and 12 starts, Burry is averaging 5.9 points and 4.3 rebounds per tilt. Burry grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds against SLU and scored a season-best 14 points against EKU.

Vari, a member of the Zips frontcourt, has seen 289 minutes of action while grabbing 5.6 rebounds, a team-best 33 offensive rebounds, and averages 5.5 points per contest.

Sophomores Alyssa Clay (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Shayna Harmon (Ashville, Ohio) have seen a significant bump in playing time in year two. Harmon has started 14 contests and owns the second-most assists on the squad (39). Clay has seen 238 minutes of action through 14 contests, which is over double her playing time in 13 games in 2016-17. Clay owns the teams' second-best shooting percentage from beyond the arc (.388, 19-of-49) 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 157 points. Perkins has taken over the backup point guard role after returning from injury and has since recorded 29 assists, third-most on the squad.

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

Up Next

Akron returns to the road for a quick one-game road trip to Oxford, Ohio for a match-up with Miami on Wednesday, Jan. 17. The Zips and RedHawks are set to tip-off at 7 p.m. inside the Millett Hall.