Ball State University
University of Akron
Women's Basketball Heads To Akron For MAC Play Sunday
December 19, 2020 | Women's Basketball
Ball State (2-3, 0-1 MAC) vs. Akron (3-1, 0-1 MAC)
Akron, Ohio | James A. Rhodes Arena
Watch: ESPN+Â | Listen:Â Muncie Sports Station (102.9 FM/1340 AM)Â |Â Live Stats
Game Notes: Ball State | Akron
Opening Tip:
-Â Sunday's game against Akron will mark the 43rd time in program history the two schools have met with the Cardinals leading the all-time series, 25-17. Ball State has won seven of the last eight meetings against the Zips. Brady Sallee owns a 7-6 mark against Akron. Last year in Ball State's lone meeting against the Zips it resulted in a 60-52 victory for the Cardinals at home in Worthen Arena on Feb. 8, 2020.
- Both Ball State and Akron dropped their Mid-American Conference openers. The Cardinals fell 58-77 to Eastern Michign on Dec. 2 in Muncie while the Zips dropped a 77-85 decision at Buffalo on Dec. 13.
- The Cardinals are looking for their third-straight win after opening the season with three-straight losses, Ball State bounced back to earn road wins at Western Kentucky (58-54) Dec. 5 and at Bellarmine (98-42) Dec. 14. Akron on the other hand opened the season with three-straight wins against Bluefield State (95-61) Nov. 29, Northern Kentucky (70-60) Dec. 1 and Dayton (77-74) Dec. 6 before losing its first game to Buffalo (77-85) Dec. 13.
- Mid-American Conference action this year will be a 20-game format. Ball State will take its holiday break after today's contest and will return to league play at home on Jan. 2 against Bowling Green.Â
The Last Timeout:Junior guard Essence Booker scored 10 of the game's first 12 points to help the Ball State women's basketball team close non-conference play with a dominating 98-42 win over Bellarmine Monday night at Freedom Hall. The Cardinals picked up their second victory of the young season with an impressive showing all-around against a Knights (0-1) team which was not only playing its first game of the 2020 season, but also making its NCAA Division I debut. Led by Booker's run at the beginning of the game, Ball State took commanding 27-1 edge at the 2:31 mark of the opening period and never looked back. Aside from the point total, another key stat in the early run was Ball State's ability to keep control of the basketball.
Brown Is Back;
After a minor setback that caused Oshlynn Brown to miss the first four games of the season, the senior forward returned to the court Monday at Bellarmine where she scored 6.0 points, pulled down 5.0 rebounds in just a little over 18 minutes of action.Â
Scouting Akron:
- The Zips have defeated the Cardinals only once since 2014. Akron's last win over Ball State was on Feb. 13, 2019 by a score of 91-61 in James A. Rhodes Arena.Â
- Akron is under the direction of third-year head coach Melissa Jackson who was an assistant for the Zips for 10 seasons prior to her appointment last year.
- Both Ball State and Akron are looking for their first Mid-American Conference win of the season. Last year, Akron went 8-10 in conference play while the Cardinal ended their season 13-5 in league action.
- Akron is led in scoring by Jordyn Dawson who is averaging 21.0 points per game and 9.3 rebounds. Lonasia Brewer is second scoring 14.5 points per contest and Colleen Neitzel rounds out the double digit scoring with 10.5 points per contest.
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