Akron Women's Basketball Begins Two-Game Road Trip At Detroit

Saturday, November 23

Detroit, Mich.

Noon

University of Akron

Detroit

Akron Women's Basketball Begins Two-Game Road Trip At Detroit

November 22 | Women's Basketball

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Akron vs. Detroit Gamenotes (PDF)

Akron (3-1) vs. Detroit (0-5)
Saturday, Nov. 23
Detroit, Mich. • Calihan Hall • Noon
Live Stats: GoZips.com
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What's Ahead
Following a three-game homsetand at James A. Rhodes Arena, the Akron women's basketball team hits the road to begin a two-game road swing starting at Detroit Mercy on Saturday, Nov. 23, with first tip between the Zips and Titans slated for noon on ESPN+.

Scouting the Titans
Detroit Mercy is five games into the 2019-20 campaign and its 43rd season on program history. The Titans opened the season 0-5 dropping contests against Loyola (60-89), No. 17 Michigan State (52-110), Butler (60-82), George Mason (62-75), and Western Michigan (67-82) in its most recent action. A year ago in 2018-19, the Titans recorded a 4-25 overall record and were predicted to place ninth in the Horizon League preseason poll.

Pacing the offensive attack for the Titans are three starters and one reserve player in Maxine Moore, Sylare Starks, Nicole Johanson, and Aly Reiff. Moore, a sophomore forward, is scoring a team-high 9.8 points per game while grabbing 5.2 rebounds per contest, second-most on the roster. Averaging just one point shy of Moore is Starks, a freshman guard. Starks turns in 8.8 points, 1.6 assists, and 1.6 rebounds per contest. In 81 minutes off the bench, Johanson owns a team-high .586 shooting percentage, 8.0 points per match-up, and a team-best 5.4 rebounds per game. Reiff, a junior guard rounds out Detroit's top scorers with 7.2 ppg, has dished out a team-best nine assists and seven steals on the defensive side of the ball.

In the NCAA, Detroit ranks 65th in free throw attempts, 84th in three-point attempts, 112 in free throws made, and 119th in three-pointers made. Individually, Starks ranks 112th in the country in three-point field goal attempts and second in the Horizon League.

Probable Starters
Detroit:Maxine Moore, Sylare Starks, Aly Reiff, Annika Corcoran, Zoey Oatis.

Akron: Shaunay Edmonds, Shayna Harmon, Alyssa Clay, Haliegh Reinoehl, Caitlin Vari.

Series History
Akron and Detroit Mercy are meeting on the hardwood inside the regular-season for the first time since 1996. Since the inaugural match-up between the Zips and Titans, Detroit has claimed a 4-1 all-time series advantage over UA. When in Detroit, Mich., Akron is 0-2.

History Against the Horizon League
Akron is 62-100 against 10 current members of the Horizon League; Cleveland State (17-25), Detroit (1-4), Green Bay (2-9), IUPUI (2-0), Milwaukee (0-2), Northern Kentucky (3-1), Oakland (1-3), UIC (5-5), Wright State (12-11), and Youngstown State (19-40).

Coaches
Detroit: Bernard Scott is in his fifth season as head coach of the Detroit women's basketball program. In his tenure at the helm of the Titan's program, Scott has led Detroit to a 39-87 overall record and an appearance in the 2019 Horizon League championship game.

Akron: Melissa Jackson begins her second season at the helm of the Akron women's basketball program. In her debut season, Jackson led the Zips to a 19-15 overall record, a 7-11 MAC ledger, improved by seven wins overall and +4 in conference victories. Jackson's squad became just the eighth team in program history to win at least 16 games in a season.

Mid-American Conference Member
The Zips have been a member of the Mid-American Conference for the past 28 years after joining the league in 1992 from the North Star Conference.

With A Win Over Detroit Akron Would...

Earn its fourth victory of the 2019-20 season.
Give the Zips their second program win against the Titans and first since 1989.
Capture back-to-back wins for the second time this season
Improves the Zips away record to 2-0.
Hand head coach Melissa Jackson her 20th career win.
Capture the Zips 472nd program win.

Scouting The Zips
After going 16-15 a year ago, the Zips return a bulk of its squad as UA preps for another postseason run. The Akron roster consists of 14 student-athletes, eight returners, and six newcomers, made up of five seniors, one junior, three sophomores, and five freshmen.

The senior leadership from Alyssa Clay (Indianapolis, Ind.), Shaunay Edmonds (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Shayna Harmon (Ashville, Ohio), Haliegh Reinoehl (Westfield, Ind.), and Caitlin Vari (Richfield, Ohio) will be key for the Zips in the upcoming season as the core group has played a combined to play 9,376 minutes and have scored 2,765 points in the first three seasons of their respective careers.

Ready to make an impact on the court in 2019-20 is junior college transfer, Jordyn Dawson (Huntington, W. Va.). Dawson spent last season at Wabash Valley College, the #1 nationally ranked team at the JC Division I level, and averaged 9.8 points per game while shooting at a 56.5-percent clip from the field and 72.1-percent from the charity stripe.

A trio of sophomores in Gabrielle Brown-Mitchell (Solon, Ohio), Kendall Miller (Akron, Ohio), and Colleen Neitzel (Rocky River, Ohio) return for their second seasons in an Akron uniform and will look to take the experience they gained on the court last season and take their games to the next level.

Coach Jackson's first recruiting class, 'the Jackson Five', consisting of Lonasia Brewer (Akron, Ohio), Layne Ferrell (Franklin, Ohio), Rachel Martindale (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Molly Neitzel (Rocky River, Ohio), and Emma Tecca (Tallmadge, Ohio), is a talented group can have an immediate impact on the court in their respective rookie campaigns.

Jackson named Reinoehl and Vari as captains for the 2019-20 season.

Zips Tidbits

The 2019-20 season marks the 46th season of competition for the Akron women's basketball program.
Junior Jordyn Dawson and two freshmen, Rachel Martindale and Lonasia Brewer, made their respective collegiate debuts against St. Bonaventure. Martindale played 15 minutes and scored two points while Brewers saw more minutes of action.
Dawson provided a big spark for the Zips in her Akron debut. JD scored 10 points, grabbed five rebounds, and was +25 in +/- when on the court.
Akron picked up its first victory of the season against the St. Bonaventure Bonnies, 63-54. The win marked the sixth time since 2012-13 that Akron captured a win in the season opener.
Shaunay Edmonds recorded the first double-double of her career scoring 20 points and tallying a career-high 10 steals, including 5 steals in the fourth quarter alone.
Haliegh Reineohl posted her team-leading 25th career double-double (12 points, 11 rebounds).
Forward Caitlin Vari eclipsed the 500 career point mark against St. Bonaventure with her 13 point effort.
In the fourth quarter against St. Bonaventure, Akron outscored the Bonnies 20-4 and scored 17 unanswered points in the final six minutes of the game.
The Zips went to the free-throw line 31 times against St. Bonaventure and connected on 25 attempts. Akron fell two made free throws shy of tying the 10th most free throws made in a single-game.
Defensively, UA limited St. Bonaventure to a game-low four points in the quarter as the Bonnies shot 1-for-13, committed seven turnovers, and Edmonds single-handedly ripped five steals.
Jordyn Dawson registered her first career double-double in an Akron uniform against Fort Wayne while Haliegh Reinoehl notched back-to-back double-doubles to start the season.
UA grabbed a season-high 41 team rebounds, including 14 offensive boards. Dawson and Reinoehl accounted for 24 of the Zips rebounds.
Against the Mastodons, UA scored 34 points in the paint, 20 points in the paint, and the Zips contributed 23 points.
The Zips led for 30:40 of the game against Purdue Fort Wayne and led by as many as +11.
Akron captured two straight wins to begin the season in back-to-back campaigns.
Against Michigan, four Akron players scored in double figures including Haliegh Reinoehl (14), Jordyn Dawson (13), Shayna Harmon (13), Rachel Martindale (12).
Martindale scored a career-high 12 points and knocked down four triples against UM.
As a team, UA shot a season-high 45.9-percent from the floor and 40.7-percent from long range.
The Zips led then No. 24 Michigan for a total of 2:43 and led by as many as four.
UA outscored the Wolverines 22-16 in the second quarter and 24-14 in the third quarter.
Akron earned its third win of the season against YSU as the Zips rolled to a 91-62 victory.
In the 40 minute contest, the Zips led for a season-high 39:18 and led by as many as +34.
From distance, Akron shot a season-best .407 against the Penguins.
In the plus/minus category, all five starts against YSU, Reineohl, Vari, Dawson, Harmon, and Edmonds, were all +25 or high, including a game-high +31 by Vari.
All 12 players who checked into the contest against YSU recorded at least one point.
Freshman guard Molly Neitzel scored the first three points of her career while Gabrielle Brown-Mitchell matched her career-high with 13 points.
The Zips have had four players score in double figures in three of four games while a minimum of two Akron players has notched double digits in the scoring column in all four contests and a season-best five Zips tallied double figures against YSU.
The Zips in the NCAA (stats as of 11/22): Fewest turnovers (85th, 57), free-throw percentage (36th, .763), turnovers per game (71st, 14.3), turnover margin (68th, 4.75), rebound margin (64th, +7.8), three-point field goals per game (92nd, 7.3).
Zips players in the NCAA (stats as of 11/22): Haliegh Reinoehl - 24th double-doubles (2), 121st rebounds per game (8.5), 132nd free throw percentage (.833). Jordyn Dawson - 114th field goal percentage (.537), 24th double-doubles (2). Shaunay Edmonds - 33rd steals (3.25), 40th steals (13).
Team Game-Highs: Points (91, YSU), field goals made (33, YSU), three-pointers (12), free throws made (25, SBU), rebounds (44, YSU), assists (14, YSU), steals (12, SBU).
Individual Game-Highs: Points (20, Edmonds), field goals made (8 Reinoehl), three-pointers (4, Martindale), free throws made (7, Edmonds), rebounds (13, Reinoehl), assists (5 Harmon), steals (10, Edmonds).

Up Next
The Zips continue their road trip with a trip up Route 77 north to Cleveland, Ohio, where a non-conference tilt awaits the Akron women's basketball team against Cleveland State on Wednesday, Nov. 27, against Cleveland State at 7 p.m.