Zips Head To Bowling Green In Final Road Contest Of Regular Season

Wednesday, February 28

Bowling Green, OH

7 PM

University of Akron

Bowling Green

Zips Head To Bowling Green In Final Road Contest Of Regular Season

February 27 | Women's Basketball

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Akron at Bowling Green Game Notes: 2/28/18

Akron (8-19, 2-14 MAC) at Bowling Green (10-17, 2-14 MAC)

Wednesday, Feb. 28
Stroh Center
Bowling Green, Ohio • 7:00 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 at 6:45 p.m.
Watch: ESPN3

What's Ahead
Akron heads out on its final road trip of the 2017-18 regular season when the Zips visit Bowling Green, Ohio, in a match-up with the Falcons on Wednesday, February 28. Akron and Bowling Green are meeting for the second time this season and the winner of the contest will claim the 11th seed of the 2018 Mid-American Conference Tournament heading into the final game of the season. Tip-off between the Zips and Falcons is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Scouting The Falcons
Bowling Green will look to celebrate senior night and close out the home portion of its schedule with its third conference win as the Falcons stand 2-14 heading into the last week of the regular season. Bowling Green lost its first four league games, won back-to-back games against Akron (66-64) and Kent State (60-50) in January, and have since lost 10 consecutive contests. The Falcons close the 2017-18 regular season against Akron and Buffalo before heading into tourney play.

Carly Santoro and Sydney Lambert lead the scoring threat for the Falcons averaging 12.9 and 10.1 points per game, respectively. Santoro, Bowling Green's leading scorer, also grabs a team-high 8.9 rebounds per contest, owns a team-best 42 steals, and is second on the team with 47 assists. In the MAC, Santoro ranks third in rebounding, ninth in minutes played (32.4 per game), and 21st in scoring. Along with her 10.1 scoring average, Lambert leads the way for the Falcons in the assists category averaging 2.0 assists a game (54 total). Andrea Cecil currently owns a team second-best .386 shooting percentage (80-of-207), averages 5.2 rebounds per tilt. Haley Puk rounds out the Falcon players averaging over eight points a game with 8.5 ppg while shooting .345 from beyond the arc (39-of-113).

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

Akron: Shaunay Edmonds, Destiny Perkins, Shayna Harmon, Haliegh Reinoehl, Greta Burry.

Series History
Bowling Green and Akron will meet on the hardwood for the 61st 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 seven contests between the two programs, including a 2-1 record at the Stroh center since 2015.

The Last Meeting
Sophomore guard Alyssa Clay (Indianapolis, Ind.) poured in a career-high 22 points and drained a career-best six 3-pointers, but it wasn't enough as the Akron Zips were clipped by Bowling Green, 66-64, on Jan. 13 at James A. Rhodes Arena.

Clay was 75 percent of the Akron offense in the first half, making 6-of-7 shots from behind the arc on her way to 18 first-half points. Clay would finish the contest with a game-high 22 points, her new career-best. Sophomore guard Shaunay Edmonds (Pittsburgh, Pa.) joined in on the scoring in the second half chipping in 15 points to go with five assists. Eight of the nine active Akron players registered points in the contest, with the Zips bench outscoring the Falcons reserves, 14-10.

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 have amassed a 341-180 record and a 177-99 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 178-193 (.480) at Akron and a 403-346 (.538) in her 25 years as a head coach.

With A Win Over Bowling Green, The Zips Would

Earn their ninth win of the 2017-18 season.
Claim its third MAC win.
Move up to fifth in the MAC East and own 11th seed in the tournament.
Even the season series against the Falcons.

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 26 games, Edmonds is averaging 11.2 points, a team-high 4.3 assists, and 2.0 steals per game. The Zips' point guard scored a season- and career-best 27 points against Eastern Michigan, set a new career mark with nine assists against Kent State, and posted a career-best six steals against Harvard.

Reinoehl has become a staple in the Zips starting five since midway through her freshman season, starting the last 40 contests dating back to last year for Akron. Reinoehl recorded a career-best game against Southeastern Louisiana (21 pts/11 reb) and has since recorded three more double-double's against SIU Edwardsville (11 pts/10 reb), versus Central Michigan (15 pts/11 reb), and in a win at Eastern Michigan (15 pts/14 reb). The forward is the team's fourth-leading scorer, 7.6 points per game and leads the squad in rebounding with 233 total rebounds, 8.6 per contest.

Sefcik is having a career year in her junior season en route to leading the team in scoring with 12.5 points per game while making 3.3 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 412 minutes of play and 17 starts, Burry is averaging 5.3 points and 3.8 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 495 minutes of action and started 10 of the last 11 contests. Vari grabs 5.4 rebounds per contest, including a team second-best 42 offensive rebounds. In addition to the rebounding, Vari averages 6.2 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 19 contests and owns the third-most assists on the squad (49). Clay has seen 557 minutes of action through 27 contests, including her first career starts while stepping in for Harmon due to injury. Clay owns the teams second-best shooting percentage from beyond the arc (.367, 44-of-120), which is highlighted by a career night against Bowling Green scoring 22 points and hitting 6-of-8 triples.

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 388 points. Perkins has taken over the backup point guard role and had a career-night against Miami scoring a career-high 21 points and career-best 5 steals against the RedHawks.

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

Up Next
The 2017-18 regular season comes to a close on Saturday, March 3, at James A. Rhodes Arena when the Zips host Ohio. Akron will celebrate the accomplishments of its three seniors prior to the 2 p.m. tip off.