Akron Women's Basketball Earns 64-57 Victory Over UTEP

Friday, December 21

Las Vegas, Nev.

5 PM (8 PM ET)

University of Akron

8-2

University of Texas at El Paso

3-9

UNIV TEXAS EL PASO

AKRON

Photo by: Jeff Harwell

Akron Women's Basketball Earns 64-57 Victory Over UTEP

December 21 | Women's Basketball

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LAS VEGAS, Nev.– The Akron women's basketball team dug deep and gritted out a 64-57 win over the University of Texas-El Paso in game two of the of the 2018 South Point Holiday Hoops Classic on Friday evening inside the South Point Arena.

The Zips improved to 8-2 on the season and won its third straight game for the second time this season. UTEP fell to 3-9 on the year.

The upperclassmen led the charge for the Akron offense against the Miner's as redshirt senior Megan Sefcik (Austintown, Ohio), junior Shaunay Edmonds (Pittsburgh, Pa.), and junior Caitlin Vari (Richfield, Ohio) scored a combined 40 points. Sefcik connected on a game-high 17 points with 15 coming in the second half alone. In her first game back, Edmonds notched 13 points and three assists while Vari added 10 points and four rebounds.

As a whole, the Zips shot 43.3-percent from the floor (23-for-53) including a game-high 50-percent in the third quarter. Additionally, Akron shot an efficient 90.0-percent from the charity stripe (10-for-11) while shooting 30.8-percent from beyond the arc.

Following the tip-off between the Zips and Miners and an Akron missed shot in the first possession of the game, UTEP rattled off four straight points to begin the contest.

The Zips offense began to click after trailing early and fired off seven straight points coming courtesy of Vari, freshman Gabrielle Brown-Mitchell (Solon, Ohio), and junior Shayna Harmon (Ashville, Ohio).

Akron went on to claim a 14-10 lead after the first period of play while shooting 35.7-percent from the floor and hit a trio of free throws. Defensively, Akron limited the Miners on the perimeter as UTEP failed to connect from long range in the stanza.

After extending its lead to +10 with 6:05 in the second quarter, the Zips struggled to keep up the offensive pressure while the Miners turned theirs up. UTEP went on a 13-6 run to close out the first half to cut the deficit to just one heading into the locker room.

The Zips went into attack mode following the halftime intermission and regained its 10-point advantage. An 8-0 run with a pair of triples and layup by junior Haliegh Reinoehl (Westfield, Ohio) paced the way for Akron to reclaim the lead.

The Miners bounced back after the Zips blitzed them defensively and scored 12 straight points in a three-minute span and took its second lead of the game, 43-41.

After 30 minutes of play, the back-and-forth contest was deadlocked at 45 all heading into the final period of play.

Akron opened the fourth quarter on a short 5-2 run after Vari connected on a lay-in and Sefcik nailed a three-pointer.

Each team struggled to score for nearly three minutes as both squads went 0-for-7 throughout the run of play (9:13-6:58).

With 4:35 left to play in the game, the score was once again tied in a back-and-forth battle.

In the final 2:10 of the game, Akron locked down defensively and went on a 10-3 run to close out the contest and secure the victory.

The Akron women's basketball team closes out non-conference play as the Zips return home to James A. Rhodes Arena on Saturday, Dec. 29. Akron welcomes in the Malone Pioneers from Canton, Ohio. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.