Akron Fights For 40 Minutes Before Falling 81-71 To Ohio

Saturday, March 2

Akron, Ohio

5 PM

University of Akron

16-11, 7-9MAC

Ohio University

23-4, 12-4MAC

Ohio

Akron

Photo by: Jeff Harwell

Akron Fights For 40 Minutes Before Falling 81-71 To Ohio

March 02 | Women's Basketball

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AKRON, Ohio– The quartet of junior forward Caitlin Vari (Richfield, Ohio), junior guard Shaunay Edmonds (Pittsburgh, Pa), junior guard Alyssa Clay (Indianapolis, Ind.) and redshirt senior Megan Sefcik (Austintown, Ohio) combined to score 64 points for the Zips as the Akron women's basketball team battled Ohio to an 81-71 decision in favor of the Bobcats in Mid-American Conference action on Saturday night inside James A. Rhodes Arena.

Despite the result, Akron (16-11, 7-9 MAC) maintained its position in the MAC standings as eighth overall, while Ohio (23-4, 11-4 MAC) remains among the top teams in the league with two games remaining in the regular season.

Akron's leading scorer, Sefcik, paced the Zips offensive efforts for the 17th time this season as the sharpshooter knocked down nine field goals for 22 points to go along with five assists and three rebounds. It was a career-night for Vari in the scoring column as the junior notched a career-high 18 points on 7-for-10 shooting. Vari also grabbed six rebounds and a block. Edmonds, who is coming off a career-night, pitched in 13 points and five assists. Clay, who turned in 23 strong minutes off the bench, chipped in 11 points due in large part to three triples from long range.

For the game, Akron shot 39.4-percent from the floor (26-for-66), but the Zips were on fire in the fourth quarter in its attempt for a come-from-behind victory recording a 73.3-percent clip (11-for-15) in the final 10 minutes of play. Akron also turned in a 36.3-percent shooting performance from beyond the arc and went 11-of-14 from the charity stripe.

In countless contests this year, the Akron squad has shown the game is not over until the fourth quarter clock hits 0.0 and fights for all 40 minutes. The Zips continued that mentality as they opened the fourth quarter with a 9-2 run to trim the Bobcats lead to five (51-46) and forced Ohio to call a timeout. The trio of Edmonds, Vari, and Sefcik kept their momentum rolling scoring all nine points for the Zips.

The Bobcats would not remain down for long as the MAC's second-best offense kicked it into gear and went on a 14-5 run, including seven unanswered points, to extend its lead to 71-58. From that point on, the Bobcats lead would not drop below 10 points in the final 3:27 of the contests earning Ohio the win.

Ohio's Cierra Hooks was on target from distance in the first five minutes of the contest connecting on three-straight three-pointers for the Bobcats. The Zips countered with a pair of buckets courtesy of junior Shayna Harmon (Ashville, Ohio) and Vari, but trailed by seven early (11-4).

The Zips inched closer to the Bobcats in the final four minutes as Akron outscored Ohio, 5-4. Sefcik connected on a jumper from the free throw line and Clay knocked down a triple from the far corner, the lone three-pointer for Akron in the quarter (1-for-7).

Quarter number two opened in a physical battle between the Zips and Bobcats and included back-and-forth scoring between the two squads. Akron and Ohio each scored 10 points in the first six minutes of the period but neither side could string together more than five straight points allowing the game to remain close.

After Ohio opened the stanza with a triple, Akron fired back on back-to-back layups off the hands of Edmonds and Harmon. Ohio halted the Zips momentum laying in a basket for two and connecting on their second three. The Zips countered again scoring five straight courtesy of a three-pointer off the hands of Sefcik and Vari's second field goal of the game. Ohio capped the run with one more three-pointer to extend its lead back to six points, 15-19, with 4:08 left in the first half.

Akron could not keep up its efficient shooting as the first half came to a close while Ohio stayed hot from the floor outscoring the Zips, 10-4 to take a game-high 12-point lead, 35-23, into the intermission.

The Zips offense could not find a consistent rhythm in the first 20 minutes and shot just 25-percent from the floor (9-for-35), including a low 20-percent (2-for-10) from distance. Nearly half of Ohio's 13 made field goals came from long range as the Bobcats knocked down six three-pointers to help lead them to a halftime advantage.

Akron came out of the locker room firing on all cylinders on the offensive side of the floor. The Zips turned a 15-point deficit into just six (38-32) in a matter of two and a half minutes. Akron poured in nine unanswered points thanks to five points from Edmonds, two from Vari, and two from Sefcik.

Ohio came storming back in the closing minutes (2:05) of the third quarter to once again reclaim a double-digit lead (49-37) by way of six straight points.

One final home game at James A. Rhodes Arena for the 2018-19 regular season is on tapped for the Akron women's basketball team. On Wednesday, March 6, the Zips host cross-town rival Kent State for part two of the Crystal Clinic Orthopaedic Center Wagon Wheel Challenge at 7 p.m. The game will also represent Senior Day for the Zips where Akron will honor Megan Sefcik and Fredniqua Walker prior to the start of the contest.