Rivalry Week Part One On Deck For Akron Women's Basketball As Zips Host Kent State

Wednesday, February 12

Akron, OH

7 PM

University of Akron

Kent State

Rivalry Week Part One On Deck For Akron Women's Basketball As Zips Host Kent State

February 11 | Women's Basketball

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Akron vs. Kent State (PDF)

Akron (10-11,3-7 MAC) vs. Kent State (12-9, 5-5 MAC)
Wednesday, Feb. 12
Akron, Ohio • James A. Rhodes Arena • 7:00 p.m.
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What's Ahead
There is no better week than rivalry week. The Akron women's basketball team has its eyes set on the first of two tilts in the Crystal Clinic Orthopaedic Center Wagon Wheel Challenge as the team from the east, Kent State, heads to James A. Rhodes Arena on Wednesday, Feb. 12. The Zips and Golden Flashes are scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip-off that can be seen live on ESPN+ or heard on Fox Sports 1350 AM.

Scouting the Golden Flashes
With eight games remaining in the 2019-20 regular season, Kent State sits sixth overall at 5-5 in the Mid-American Conference while holding a 12-9 overall record. After opening league play with back-to-back losses to Ball State (62-66) and Eastern Michigan (69-74), the Golden Flashes reeled off three straight wins against Western Michigan (75-63), Northern Illinois (79-71), and Miami (78-75). KSU has since gone 3-2 over its last five games.

The Golden Flashes offense flows through their starting five of Nila Blackford, Asiah Dingle, Megan Carter, Katie Shumate, and Lindsey Thall who have scored 1,202 of their 1,451 total points. Blackford, a freshman forward, has made a huge impact for Kent State in her first season as the Golden Flashes leading scorer (13.6 ppg) and leading rebounder (7.5 rpg). The backcourt duo of Dingle and Carter have tallied a combined 94 assists while Dingle averages 12.3 points and a 44.5-percent clip from the floor and Carter averages 11.9 points per game along with 18 steals. Shumate, another freshman for the Golden Flashes, is scoring 11.7 points per game and grabbing 6.7 rebounds as a guard. Sophomore forward Lindsey Thall rounds out the scoring threats for Kent State and averages 10.8 points, 3.7 rebounds, and has garnered a team-high 45 made three-pointers.

In the NCAA, Kent State ranks in the top-100 in five statistical categories, including fewest turnovers (27th), turnovers per game (53rd), free throw percentage (68th), blocked shots per game (75th), and turnover margin (79th). Individually, Thall is rated 50th in blocked shots per game (1.86) and 61st in blocks (39).

Probable Starters
Kent State: Nila Blackford, Asiah Dingle, Megan Carter, Katie Shumate, Lindsey Thall.

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

Series History
The Akron and Kent State women's basketball rivalry dates back to 1975 in which the Zips won the inaugural meeting against the Golden Flashes, 85-67. Since then, the two sides have met 78 times on the hardwood with the Zips holding a 16-52 overall mark against KSU. Dating back to 2013, Akron is 9-5 including 5-2 at James A. Rhodes Arena.

Last Time Out
In a contest befitting one of the most intense rivalries in the Mid-American Conference, Akron fell 65-55 to Kent State in overtime at James A. Rhodes Arena in a thrilling game that featured 10 ties and 11 lead changes during part two of the Crystal Clinic Orthopaedic Center Wagon Wheel Challenge.

Junior guard Shaunay Edmonds (Pittsburgh, Pa.) tied the game at 51-all with 12.7 seconds left with a driving layup on which she was fouled, then headed to the line and calmly sank the ensuing free throw to knot up the contest and send the game to overtime after Kent State missed a last-second shot to try to win the game. However, the Flashes were able to hold the Zips to four points in the extra period to capture the win.

Yet again, Akron was led by redshirt senior guard Megan Sefcik (Austintown, Ohio) and its junior forward duo of Caitlin Vari (Richfield, Ohio) and Haliegh Reinoehl (Westfield, Ohio), who combined for 20 points and 27 rebounds to power the Zips on the interior.

Out of the 27 rebounds between Reinoehl and Vari, Reinoehl collected a career-high 20 boards off the glass and also moved into ninth place on the program's all-time rebounding list with 651. Sefcik scored a team-high 14 points, including 12 in the second half, to give her 999 points for her career, one point shy of becoming the 15th member in program history to join the 1,000-point club.

Coaches
Kent State: Todd Starkey is in his fourth year as the sixth head coach in Kent State women's basketball program history. Starkey has led the Golden Flashes to 64-54 overall mark, a 20 win campaign in 2018-19, and was named MAC Coach of the Year in 2017.

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 Kent State, Akron Would...

Earn its 11th win of the 2019-20 season
Improve to 11-11 on the season and 4-7 in the MAC
Improves the Zips home record to 6-5
Hand head coach Melissa Jackson her 27th career win
Capture the 479th win in program history.
Earn its 17th win over Kent State and end a three-game losing streak.

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 eight games remaining in the 2019-20 regular season, senior Haliegh Reinoehl sits at 980 career points and is on pace to reach 1,000 career points by the conclusion of her Akron career. Reinoehl would become 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

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 then 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 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.
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.
The four-headed attack of Jordyn Dawson, Shaunay Edmonds, Haliegh Reinoehl, and Shayna Harmon scored 56 of UA's 71 points.
Akron tallied a shooting percentage of 60-percent in the fourth quarter against the Broncos.
Jordyn Dawson turned in her best two-game stretch of the season against Miami and Western Michigan. Dawson scored 20.5 points per game, pulled down 7.5 rebounds per match-up, ripped 4.0 steals per contest, and averaged 2.0 assists per game while shooting 60-percent from the floor and 76.9-percent from the free-throw line.
The Zips turned the ball over a season-high 25 times against Ohio. It was the first time this season Akron ended the game with 20+ turnovers.
Senior Alyssa Clay tallied a season-high 18 points against the Bobcats that included five three-pointers and a trio of free throws. In her career, Clay has scored 61 points against Ohio that included a career-high 25 points in 2018-19.
Defensively, Akron held a high-powered Ohio offense to just 32 first-half points and a low 29-percent field goal percentage. The Zips held three of the top scorers inside the MAC to a combined 21 points including just five points for Erica Johnson, the reigning Freshman of the Year.
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.
In the Zips first overtime contest of the season against Eastern Michigan, Akron picked up the victory against the Eagles outscoring EMU 12-5. The Zips shot 4-for-7 from the floor in the extra five minutes of play including two three-pointers from senior Alyssa Clay.
Clay has scored 35 points in Akron's last two games. Going into the Zips contest against Ohio, Clay had scored just 32 points.
Against OU and EMU, Clay shot 10-for-20 from long range connecting on five triples in each game.
Akron pulled down a season-high 53 rebounds against the Eagles including 15 offensive rebounds.
Three Zips including Haliegh Reinoehl, Jordyn Dawson, and Caitlin Vari recorded a double-double against EMU.
The Zips have had four players score in double figures in six of its 21 games while a minimum of two Akron players have notched double digits in the scoring column in 19 of 21 contests and a season-best five Zips tallied double figures against YSU and Eastern Michigan.
Haliegh Reinoehl has now scored in double figures in seven straight games, in 11 of the Zips last 13 games, and 17 of UA's 21 total contests, while leading UA in scoring in 13 contests.
Seven Zips scored in the first quarter of the Ball State game as UA jumped out to an early 22-12 lead over the Cardinals.
Akron's 22 points in the first quarter against the Cardinals was the second-highest point total for the Zips in the first quarter all season.
Sophomore Kendall Miller scored in double figures in back-to-back games for the first time in career scoring 10 points against Eastern Michigan and matched a career-high 11 points vs. Ball State.
The Zips in the NCAA (stats as of 2/11):
Turnovers: Fewest turnovers (86th, 330), turnovers per game (158th, 15.7), turnover margin (135th, 1.0), assist/turnover ratio (172nd, 0.81).
Free Throws: free-throw percentage (185th, .684).
Scoring: scoring margin (182nd, +0.8), scoring offense (132nd, 67.5), field goal percentage (133rd, 40.7).
Defense: fewest fouls (154th, 383), steals per game (180th, 7.8).
Zips players in the NCAA (stats as of 2/11):
Haliegh Reinoehl - 135th rebounds per game (8.0), 189th field goal percentage (43.3), 163rd points per game (15.0).
Jordyn Dawson - 165th steals per game (1.9)
Shaunay Edmonds - 247th steals per game (1.71).
Team Game-Highs: Points (91, YSU), field goals made (33, YSU), three-pointers (12), free throws made (25, SBU), rebounds (52, EMU), 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).

Up Next
The final Mid-American Conference cross-divisional match-up is on deck for the Akron women's basketball team as the Zips prepare for its second showdown against Eastern Michigan in a matter of two weeks. UA heads to Ypsilanti, Mich. on Saturday, Feb. 15 for a Noon tilt against the Eagles.