Akron Prepares For Round Two Against Western Michigan

Saturday, January 25

Kalamazoo, Mich.

2 PM

University of Akron

Western Michigan

Akron Prepares For Round Two Against Western Michigan

January 24 | Women's Basketball

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Akron (9-8,2-4 MAC) vs. Western Michigan (10-7, 3-3 MAC)
Saturday, Jan. 25
Kalamazoo, Mich. • Read Fieldhouse/University Arena • 2:00 p.m.
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What's Ahead
The Akron women's basketball team looks to keep its momentum rolling as the Zips head to Kalamazoo, Mich. for round two against the Broncos of Western Michigan. UA and WMU are slated to go head-to-head on Saturday, Jan. 25, at 2 p.m. inside Read Fieldhouse. All the action between the Zips and Broncos can be seen live on ESPN3 or hear live on GoZips.com with Bill Morgan on the call.

Scouting the Broncos
Heading into its contest against Akron, Western Michigan enters with a 10-7 overall record and is 3-3 in the MAC coming off two straight losses. After capturing back-to-back wins to begin league play against Toledo (84-72) and the Zips (56-51), the Broncos dropped three of their next four against Kent State (63-75), Central Michigan (70-80), and Bowling Green (63-72).

Three starters direct the Broncos offense as Jordyn Walker, Breanna Mobley, and Leighah-Amori Wool all are averaging double-figures in WMU's first 17 contests. Walker, the Broncos leading scorer, is averaging 15.0 points while shooting 38.9-percent from the floor and has ripped 35 steals on the defensive side of the ball. After missing the 2018-19 campaign, Mobley has returned to the WMU lineup and is averaging a double-double scoring 13.4 points and pulling in 10.9 rebounds per game, which also ranks first in the MAC. In 17 starts and 534 minutes of action, Wool is scoring 12.6 points per game while adding 6.6 rebounds and a team-high 52 assists. Reed, a senior guard, averages just under 10 points (9.8) and shoots a team-best 31.7-percent from long range.

In the NCAA, WMU ranks in the top-100 in seven statistical categories, including three-point field goals attempted (444), 69th in three-point defense (.284), 71st in three-point field goals per game (7.4), 77th in fewest turnovers (259), 78th in rebounds per game (40.4), 87th in scoring offense (70.4), and 93rd in three-point field goals made (125). Mobley ranks third in the nation in double-doubles (12) and offensive rebounds per game (4.8).

Probable Starters
Western Mich.: Leighah-Amori Wool, Jordan Walker, Kamrin Reed, Breanna Mobley, Chelayne Bailey.

Akron: Shaunay Edmonds, Shayna Harmon, Jordyn Dawson, Haliegh Reinoehl, Caitlin Vari.

Series History
In the all-time series between Akron and Western Michigan, the Broncos hold a 32-12 record against the Zips since the inaugural meeting in 1993.

Last Time Out
On a night when the cold-shooting on the court mirrored the freezing temperatures outside, the Akron women's basketball team turned in a relentless defensive effort, but it wasn't quite enough as they sustained a 56-51 Mid-American Conference loss at the hands of visiting Western Michigan at James A. Rhodes Arena

Senior forward Caitlin Vari (Richfield, Ohio) shook off foul trouble to power her team's offense scoring 13 points. Vari's efficiency was off the charts, as she needed just 12 shots (6-for-12) to tally her team-best point total. Senior guard Shaunay Edmonds (Pittsburgh, Pa.) added 11 points two rebounds, two assists, a steal, and a blocked shot.

Senior forward Haliegh Reinoehl (Westfield, Ind.) was a powerhouse on the glass grabbing double-digit rebounds for the fifth time this season. Her 11 caroms topped all players, while the Zips captain also turned in eight points and two assists. Junior Jordyn Dawson (Huntington, W. Va.) matched Reinoehl's eight points and grabbed four rebounds.

However, it was the Akron defense that kept the Zips (7-6, 0-2 MAC) in the game even as they struggled to get on track offensively following the first quarter. They held the visiting Broncos to 28.3-percent shooting, including a paltry 3-of-22 (13.7 percent) from beyond the arc, and forced 18 Western Michigan turnovers..

Coaches
Western Michigan: Shane Clipfell, the sixth head coach in Western Michigan women's basketball program history, is in his seventh season at the helm of the Broncos. Clipfell has led WMU to a 118-121 mark and 69-78 record inside the MAC.

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 16-15 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 Western Michigan, Akron Would...

Earn its 10th win of the 2019-20 season
Improve to 10-8 on the season and 3-4 in the MAC.
Improves the Zips road record to 6-3.
Hand head coach Melissa Jackson her 27th career win.
Capture the Zips 478th program win.
Split the season series, 1-1, with the Broncos.

Scouting The Zips
Under the direction of second-year head coach, Melissa Jackson, the Akron women's basketball team recorded a 7-4 non-conference record to begin the first half of the 2019-20 campaign. Since Jackson took over ahead of 2018-19, the Zips are 23-19.

Akron's roster is made up of 14 student-athletes including a core senior class of Alyssa Clay (Indianapolis, Ind.), Shaunay Edmonds (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Shayna Harmon (Ashville, Ohio), Haliegh Reinoehl (Westfield, Ind.), and Caitlin Vari (Richfield, Ohio) who are key contributors for the Zips

Making an impact on the court for the Zips along with the five seniors is junior Jordyn Dawson (Huntington, W. Va.), sophomore Kendall Miller (Akron, Ohio), freshman Rachel Martindale (Pittsburgh, Pa.), and freshman Lonasia Brewer (Akron, Ohio).

The most experienced group inside the 12 Mid-American Conference teams, the Akron senior class is playing a large role in the Zips on-court success. Senior captain Haliegh Reinoehl (Westfield, Ind.) is averaging a team-best 14.3 points, 7.0 rebounds per game, and 32 offensive rebounds. Running the backcourt for the Zips is Edmonds who is averaging 9.6 points 2.8 assists, and 2.1 steals per match-up, along with Harmon who is scoring 7.5 points per contest 29.0 minutes of action. Co-captain, Vari, has made her mark Akron's front-court averaging 6.5 points per game and 6.4 rebounds per outing.

Dawson, in her first season with Akron, earned a starting spot three games into the campaign and has since averaged 12.3 points and 6.8 rebounds per game, is shooting 46.8-percent from the floor, and is tied for a team-best 25 steals and 25 assists.

In her second season, Miller has played a large role off the bench for Akron. Averaging 18 minutes per game, the Zips guard scores 3.2 points and 1.9 assists per contest. Martindale and Brewer have played a combined 262 minutes through 11 games with Martindale posting a team-best 44.1-percent three-point field goal percentage and Brewer has pulled down 11 offensive rebounds and scored 33 points.

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 starters 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.
Against Detroit, the Zips recorded a season-high 20 assists, including a game- and season-high five by Shaunay Edmonds.
In the third quarter alone, Edmonds scored or assisted on six of the Zips 10 field goals en route to six points, four assists, and two steals. Haliegh Reinoehl added five points with four rebounds and Shayna Harmon scored five points, two rebounds, and two assists to help lead the Zips to a +11 advantage (25-14).
Akron led for 33 of the 40 minute contest against Cleveland State before a late push by the Vikings earned CSU the win.
The backcourt duo of Haliegh Reineohl and Caitlin Vari scored a combined 30 of the Zips 62 points. Reineohl notched her third double-double (16 pts, 10 reb) and led the Zips in scoring for the fourth time in 2019-20, while Vari scored 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting.
Junior Jordyn Dawson scored seven of her nine points in the fourth quarter against CSU while Shayna Harmon posted a season-high seven rebounds, team-high four assists, made eight free throws, and tallied three steals.
The Zips two best quarters offensively against CSU came in the second and fourth periods where UA shot a combined 13-for-30 and tallied 36 of its 62 total points.
Against Duquesne, Kendall Miller played a career-high 31 minutes and tied a career-mark five assists.
Freshman Rachel Martindale matched her career-high 12 points against the Dukes, went a perfect 4-for-4 from the field, 3-for-3 from long range, and 1-for-1 from the free throw line.
Against Butler, Jordyn Dawson scored 10 of the Zips 13 third quarter points.
Lonasia Brewer scored a career-high eight points against the Bulldogs while Dawson matched a season-high 18 points.
Senior Haliegh Reinoehl scored a season-high 22 points against NC A&T, which fell one point shy of her career-best 23 points.
Senior guard Shayna Harmon turned in 12 points against the Aggies going a perfect 4-for-4 from long range.
The Zips defense forced 23 turnovers by the NC A&T offense while the Akron offense assisted on 17 of its 24 made field goals.
Akron went 2-0 at the 2019 Puerto Rico Classic defeating Denver and Morgan State. The Zips are 4-0 went participating in December holiday tournaments in the past two seasons and collected a three-game win streak (2019) and four-game win streak (2018) to close out the past two non-conference schedules.
Against the Pioneers, senior Haliegh Reinoehl recorded a career day scoring 26 points while senior Caitlin Vari grabbed a career-best 17 rebounds.
The Zips led by just one point heading into the fourth quarter against Denver before scoring a season-high 34 points and shot 91.6-percent from the floor in the final 10 minutes of play to defeat DU by +16.
Akron set season-highs in points in the paint (50 ) and points off turnovers (34) while tying season-high numbers in points scored (88) and assists (21).
In her first Mid-American Conference contest against CMU, junior Jordyn Dawson scored a career-high 25 points, shot 50-percent from the floor, and grabbed seven rebounds.
Akron scored 14 unanswered points against Bowling Green in the final 2:29 of the fourth to complete a come-from-behind 76-73 victory over the Falcons.
Defensively, the Zips shutdown the Falcons offense in the closing minutes of the fourth as BG went 0-for-3, turned the ball over twice, and committed three fouls sending UA to the line.
In the fourth quarter alone, Akron outscored BGSU, 27-17, shot a game-high 55.6-percent from the floor, 5-for-6 from the charity stripe, scored 16 points in the paint, 10 points off turnovers, eight second-chance points, and seven fastbreak points.
The Zips starting five of Edmonds, Dawson, Harmon, Reinoehl, and Vari accounted for 71 of Akron's 76 points against Bowling Green.
Haliegh Reinoehl matched a career-high 26 points against BGSU and recorded her fourth double-double of the season.
Caitlin Vari pulled down 16 rebounds against Bowling Green and scored 14 points for her second double-double of the season.
Haliegh Reinoehl recorded a double-double in back-to-back games for the first time this season against Bowling Green (26/11) and Toledo (15/10).
Akron outscored Toledo 42-27 in the second half and 22-13 in the fourth quarter.
Down by as many as 20 points in the third quarter, Akron rallied in the third and fourth quarter to claim its first lead over Toledo at the 4:10 mark. The Zips outscored the Rockets 28-7 which included 11 straight points beginning at 3:36 in the third and ended at 4:09 in the fourth.
Alyssa Clay scored a season-high nine points against the Rockets going 3-for-6 from distance.
Caitlin Vari has scored in double figures in all four MAC contests and in five of the Zips last six games.
Sophomore Kendall Miller scored a career-high 11 points against Northern Illinois on 5-of-7 shooting and 1-of-2 from long range.
Haliegh Reinoehl has now scored in double figures in four straight games, in seven of the Zips last nine games, and 13 of UA's 17 total contests, while leading UA in scoring in 11 contests.
Shaunay Edmonds became the 18th player in program history to score 1,000 career points.
Akron stole a season-high 14 steals against Miami and forced 18 RedHawk turnovers.
UA snapped a six game losing streak against Miami dating back to 2016.
Jordryn Dawson recorded a career-high 13 rebounds and notched the third double-double of her career in the Zips win over the RedHawks.
In two games, 11 players who checked into the game scored a minimum of one point in the contests against YSU and Detroit. A season-high 12 players scored in the Zips win against the Penguins.
The Zips have had four players score in double figures in four of its 17 games while a minimum of two Akron players have notched double digits in the scoring column in 15 of 17 contests and a season-best five Zips tallied double figures against YSU.
The Zips in the NCAA (stats as of 1/24):
Turnovers: Fewest turnovers (55th, 250), turnovers per game (90th, 14.7), turnover margin (88th, 2.53), assist/turnover ratio (135th, 0.90).
Free Throws: free-throw percentage (167th, .690).
Scoring: scoring margin (163rd, +3.2), scoring offense (134th, 67.6), field goal percentage (137th, 40.7).
Defense: fewest fouls (132nd, 295), steals per game (148th, 8.4).
Zips players in the NCAA (stats as of 1/24):
Haliegh Reinoehl - 151st rebounds per game (7.9), 174th field goal percentage (44.7), 168th points per game (15.1), 199th total points (257).
Jordyn Dawson - 116th field goal percentage (47.5), 102nd steals per game (2.12), 112th steals (36)
Shaunay Edmonds - 186th steals per game (1.88).
Team Game-Highs: Points (91, YSU), field goals made (33, YSU), three-pointers (12), free throws made (25, SBU), rebounds (46, NC A&T), assists (21, Denver.), steals (14, Miami), blocks (7, Det.)
Individual Game-Highs: Points (26, Reinoehl 3X), field goals made (11 Dawson), three-pointers (4, Martindale), free throws made (8, Harmon), rebounds (17, Vari), assists (6 Edmonds), steals (10, Edmonds).

2-for-1(k) Special

On Jan. 22, 2020 against Miami at James A. Rhodes Arena, Shaunay Edmonds knocked down a pair of free throws in the third quarter that marked her 999th and 1,000 career point. Edmonds became the 18th Zip in program history to accomplish the career milestone. With 12 games remaining in the 2019-20 regular season, senior Haliegh Reinoehl sits at 921 career points and is on pace to reach 1,000 career points by the conclusion of her Akron career. Reinoehl would come the 19th player in program history and it would be the fourth time in program history two Akron players eclipsed the 1,000 career mark in the same season.

1987-88 - Pam Arnold & Diane Hollish
2012-13 - Rachel Tecca & Sina King
2015-16 - Anita Brown & Hannah Plybon

History Made
At the 6:29 mark of the third quarter against Miami, Shaunay Edmonds stepped to the free throw line for two shots with 998 career points. By the time Edmonds sunk the pair of free ones, the Zips senior guard became the 18th player in program history to score 1,000 career points.

Up Next
Akron continues its tour against Mid-American Conference East divisional opponents as the Zips head to Athens, Ohio for a midweek contest against Ohio University. UA and the Bobcats are scheduled to go head-to-head on Wednesday, Jan. 29, at 7 p.m. inside the Convocation Center.