WBB Falls To Akron

Saturday, January 29

Mount Pleasant, MI

1 p.m.

Central Michigan University

4-15,2-8MAC

Akron

9-6,6-3MAC

Akron

Central Mich.

Photo by: Jack Reeber '23,M'25 - @jackreeber.raw

1/29/2022 4:42:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Katherine Schultz, CMUChippewas.com

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- Akron utilized a 10-2 run midway through the fourth quarter on Saturday in defeating Central Michigan, 70-60, in a Mid-American Conference women's basketball game at McGuirk Arena.

The loss dropped the Chippewas to 4-15, 2-8 MAC. The Zips improved to 9-6, 6-3.

CMU is scheduled to play at Kent State on Wednesday, Feb. 2 (7 p.m.). The Golden Flashes are 10-7, 2-6.

"I told the team after the game that I did see some nice things today," CMU coach Heather Oesterle said. "I told them that we hit a cold streak and we couldn't recover from it. Our shots weren't falling … if we're not hitting shots, we've got to be able to get (offensive) boards."

Akron hit 43 percent of its field goal attempts and held the Chippewas to 34.4 percent from the floor. CMU made just nine of its 33 second-half field goal attempts. Akron finished with 48-30 rebounding edge.

The Chippewas were within two, 47-45, with under two minutes to play in the third quarter. The Zips' lead was six, 56-50, early in the fourth when they scored eight consecutive points to bump their advantage to a game-high 14, 64-50, with midway through the fourth quarter.

The Chippewas answered with an 8-0 spurt to trim their deficit to six, 64-58, with under two minutes remaining, but could get no closer.

After scoring a career-high 21 points against Miami (Ohio) on Wednesday, Jahari Smith led the Chippewas with 19 points and 12 rebounds for her second straight double-double and her seventh of the season. She hit seven of her 11 field goal attempts.

"We went on a scoring drought," Smith said. "For maybe three or four minutes we couldn't get anything going, and that's what really hurt us. We couldn't turn it around after that. Defense gets our offense going. When we're getting stops, we're getting points."

Junior guard Molly Davis, who did not play against Miami due to injury, followed with 16 points, while Tiana Timpe hit four of CMU's seven triples to finish with 13 points.