Akron Falls Short Against Northern Illinois, 70-59

Sunday, January 20

DeKalb, Ill.

3 PM (2 PM CT)

University of Akron

11-5, 2-3MAC

Northern Illinois

11-6, 3-2MAC

Akron

Northern Ill.

Photo by: Jeff Harwell

Akron Falls Short Against Northern Illinois, 70-59

January 20 | Women's Basketball

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DEKALB, Ill.– Twenty-five hours following its originally scheduled contest, the Akron women's basketball team falls in Mid-American Conference action to Northern Illinois, 70-59, as a late fourth-quarter comeback falls short inside the Convocation Center on Sunday afternoon.

The Zips now stand 11-5 overall on the season with a 2-3 MAC ledger while Northern Illinois improves to 11-6 on the season and 3-2 in league play.

Akron held a 30-29 lead at the halftime intermission limiting the Huskies high-powered offense. However, NIU would take over in the second half outscoring the Zips 41-29 en route to the victory.

UA's offense was led by the duo of redshirt senior Megan Sefcik (Austintown, Ohio) and junior Haliegh Reinoehl (Westfield, Ohio) scoring a combined 30 points for the Zips. Sefick led all Akron players with 20 points on 7-of-16 shooting and 3-of-9 from long distance. Reinoehl turned in her ninth double-digit scoring performance of the season and nearly posted a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds. On top of her in-game performance, Reinoehl reached a milestone in her career when she hit her first triple of the game posting her 500^thcareer point. Juniors Caitlin Vari (Richfield, Ohio), Shaunay Edmonds (Pittsburgh, Pa.), and Alyssa Clay (Indianapolis, Ind.) combined add 21 points on the afternoon.

Offensively, Akron shot an efficient 47.8-percent (11-for-23) from long range but from the field made just 21-of-56 attempts (37.5-percent) from the floor. The Zips offense was firing on all cylinders in the second and fourth quarters going a combined 12-for-27, including nine three-pointers. On the flip side, Akron shot just 23.1-percent in the third quarter while the Huskies converted on 50-percent of their shots to break open the game.

The first basket of the game was scored at the 7:47 mark of the first quarter by Vari down low with the left hand. Prior to the basket, the Zips and Huskies went 0-for-3 from the floor.

Akron and NIU exchanged 8-0 runs in the first period. The Huskies offensive spurt gave them an 8-4 lead with 6:11 to play before Vari ended their run with her second layup of the game. The Zips then countered with a run of their own which included a pair of triples courtesy of Sefcik and freshman Colleen Neitzel (Rocky River, Ohio).

At the end of the first stanza, the Huskies claimed a 16-14 lead following the first 10 minutes of the game. The Zips had five players in the scoring column and assisted on five of their six made baskets.

The Zips started the second quarter red hot and garnered its first lead of the game. In the first five minutes of the period, Akron went on a 10-6 run. Reinoehl connected on back-to-back triples and Vari notched her sixth point of the contest to hand Akron a 24-22 lead.

Over the next five minutes of the period, the Zips and Huskies went back-and-forth before Akron took a 30-29 lead into the locker room during the halftime intermission.

In the first 20 minutes of the contest, Akron assisted on 10 of its 12 made field goals, Vari grabbed four offensive rebounds, the Zips shot 66.7-percent from distance, the trio of Sefcik, Vari, and Reinoehl scored a combined 20 points, and the Akron defense limited the second-best offense in the MAC to 35.3-percent shooting from the floor and 33.3-percent from three-point range.

The third quarter belonged to the Huskies as NIU outscored Akron 21-10 in the stanza. The Akron offense went cold as the Zips shot just 3-of-13 from the field and missed its only three-point attempt. On the other side of the box score, Northern Illinois shot 50-percent (8-for-16) and connected on five free throws.

Akron was down to their final 10 minutes but was still within striking distance of the Huskies.

In the first 2:10 of the quarter, the Zips defense did its job holding NIU to just two points. However, in that time span, Akron could not convert on the offensive end of the floor going 0-for-3 from the field. The only points the Zips managed came from the charity stripe as Vari connected on a pair of free ones.

Northern Illinois did not struggle for long as the Huskies went on a 7-3 run in a matter of just over a minute to push its lead to a game-high 15 points with 6:13 left to play in the contest forcing Akron to take a timeout.

Up to that point in the of the period, the Zips had made just four field goals in the second half.

Out of the timeout and a pep talk from head coach Melissa Jackson, Akron trimmed the NIU lead to nine points (60-51) after Neitzel and Reinoehl launched back-to-back three-pointers and found nothing but the bottom of the net.

With 4:23 now left to play in the ball game, Northern Illinois outscored Akron 10-8 not allowing the Zips to get any closer than nine points to close out the contest.

The Akron women's basketball team will now head east to Buffalo, N.Y., on Wednesday, Jan. 23 to take on MAC East opponent, Buffalo. The Zips and Bulls are slated to square off at 7 p.m. inside Alumni Arena.