Akron Falls To Youngstown State, 72-61

Wednesday, November 28

Youngstown, Ohio

7 PM

University of Akron

3-1

Youngstown State

5-2

Akron

Youngstown State

Photo by: Jeff Harwell

November 28 | Women's Basketball

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YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio– After a back-and-forth battle between the Akron women's basketball team and Youngstown State in the first half of the contest, the Penguins took control of the game in the third quarter en route to a 72-61 win over the Zips on Wednesday night inside the Beeghly Center.

Akron now stands 3-1 after its four-game road swing to begin the 2018-19 season, while YSU improves to 5-2 overall.

The Zips offense that was lights out in the first quarter of contest going 8-for-12, but ended the game shooting just 35.8-percent (19-for-53). After Akron knocked down four three-pointers in the first 10 minutes, the Zips made just three triples in the final three periods.

Akron turned 11 offensive rebounds into 15 second-chance points and cashed in 14 points off 14 YSU turnovers.

Three Akron players ended the contest in double-figures as juniors Haliegh Reinoehl (Westfield, Ind.), Shayna Harmon (Asheville, Ohio), and Caitlin Vari (Richfield, Ohio) finished the game with season-highs of 18, 12, and 10 points, respectively. Reinoehl's 18 points came courtesy of a trio of three-pointers and seven free throws while adding six rebounds. Seven of Harmon's 12 points in the contest came in the third quarter alone and Vari registered her first career double-double adding a game-high 10 rebounds to go with her 10 points.

The Akron offense spread the ball around in the first 10 minutes of the game with four Zips in the scoring column and a 66.7-percent clip from the floor, which included connecting on 4-of-5 three-pointers courtesy of Reinoehl and Brown-Mitchell each hitting a pair.

After Youngstown State opened the second quarter on a 5-0 run, the Zips bounced back by rattling off six straight points of their own in a back-and-forth battle, but YSU claimed a two-point advantage at the second quarter media timeout, 29-27 (4:39).

The Zips ended the second quarter making just two field goals on 11 attempts. But thanks to the season of giving and seven personal fouls called on the Penguins, Akron cashed in from the charity stripe (9-of-10) to keep them in the game and trailed by just five points (40-35) at the halftime intermission.

Through the first five minutes of the third period, the Zips had seven points courtesy of Harmon who splashed four free throws and knocked down a triple from the right wing.

However, that would be all the Zips would tally in the third period and the Penguins scored 18 unanswered points to close out the third quarter and take a commanding 62-42 lead heading into the fourth quarter

Vari broke the Akron scoring drought with a jumper at 8:19. The Zips were held scoreless for nearly eight minutes before pouring in 19 fourth quarter points.
Despite winning the final period of the contest, 19-to-10, the deficit was too large to overcome for Akron.

The Akron women's basketball team is set for its 2018-19 home opener inside James A. Rhodes Arena after opening the season with a four-game road trip. The Zips tip-off the home portion of its schedule on Saturday, Dec. 1, at 2 p.m., against Eastern Kentucky. The contest against the Colonels starts a four-game homestand for Akron spanning over two and half weeks.