Akron's 2018-19 Campaign Comes To A Close With 73-59 Loss To Tennessee Tech In First Round Of The WBI

Thursday, March 21

Cookeville, Tenn.

6 PM CT | 7 PM ET

University of Akron

16-15

Tennessee Tech University

22-10

Akron

Tennessee Tech

Akron's 2018-19 Campaign Comes To A Close With 73-59 Loss To Tennessee Tech In First Round Of The WBI

March 21 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Box Score | Box Score (PDF)

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – In the first round of the 2019 Women's Basketball Invitational, the Akron women's basketball team's 2018-19 season came to a close as the Zips dropped a 73-59 decision to Tennessee Tech on the road in Cookeville, Tenn., on Thursday night in postseason action.

As the book closed on the 45^thseason of Zips' women's basketball, Akron finished the campaign with a 16-15 overall record, surpassing its win total from last season by seven games. The 2018-19 Zips are just the eighth team in Akron program history to win at least 16 games in a season and the seventh Zips squad to do so in the Division I era.

In the contest, Akron went on to shoot 38.6-percent from the floor against the Golden Eagles, while hitting 31-percent from distance including a game-high nine triples. The Zips also connected on six free throws in eight attempts, shot a game-high 50-percent from the floor in the first quarter, scored 22 points in the paint, and assisted on 15 of its 22 made field goals with eight Zips tallying a helper.

The Zips redshirt senior Megan Sefcik (Austintown, Ohio) competed in her final game in an Akron uniform and went on to score a game-high 21 points, hit five three-pointers, dished out two assists, and swatted a pair of shots. Junior guards Shayna Harmon (Ashville, Ohio) and Alyssa Clay (Indianapolis, Ind.) each tallied 10 points in the match-up to round out the Zips scorers in double-figures. Four more Akron players etched their names into the scorebook as seven Zips scored to pace the balanced scoring attack.

The first six minutes of the first quarter was all Akron as the Zips jumped out to a 12-6 lead at the 4:14 mark. All five of the Akron starters found their names in the scorebook with Sefick and junior Shaunay Edmonds (Pittsburgh, Pa.) knocking down a triple while junior Haliegh Reinoehl (Westfield, Ind.), Harmon, and junior Caitlin Vari (Richfield, Ohio) connected inside the paint.

Tennessee Tech would gain some momentum on its offensive end as the quarter wound down to cut into the Zips lead (13-11) with a 5-2 run.

Clay single handedly scored five unanswered points for Akron in the final 55 seconds of the period to boost the Zips advantage to +5 (18-13) after the first 10 minutes of play.

As the second quarter got underway, Tennessee Tech took off as the Golden Eagles soared to a 24-18 lead courtesy of an 11-0 run. TTU's Anacia Wilkinson scored the Golden Eagles first six points of the run before Kesha Brady rattled off five straight that forced the Zips to call a timeout.

Akron chipped away at the Golden Eagles lead in the remaining minutes of the first half. The guard duo of Harmon and Sefcik took over for the Zips scoring a combined 14 points for Akron in the final seven minutes of the period to keep UA in striking distance, 37-32, at the halftime break.

The third quarter again went in favor of Tennessee Tech, but this time, the Zips struggled to stick around before the Golden Eagles opened the game up leading by as many as 20 at one point in the quarter.

TTU extended its lead to +11 at the 6:42 mark of the stanza following an 8-2 run in the first three minutes. The Zips and Golden Eagles then exchanged buckets back-and-forth each scoring five points in the next two minutes (6:41-4:21). From that point on, Tennessee Tech shut down the Akron offense and continued to roll with the ball in their hands scoring nine unanswered points, including 13 points to the Zips five in the last 3:45, and claimed a 63-44 advantage heading into the final 10 minutes of play.

Despite looking up at the scoreboard and seeing a large deficit in front of them with only 10 minutes remaining in what turned out to be Akron's final game of the season, the Zips squad did not quit.

Akron turned a 22-point deficit into 10 points in a six-minute time span and had all the momentum in its corner with 1:54 remaining on the clock. The Zips used a 12-0 run that saw five different players involved and forced TTU to call a timeout and regroup.

Despite all its efforts, TTU scored the final four points of the game to secure the postseason win and move onto the quarterfinal round of the 2019 Women's Basketball Invitational.