This was exactly what the Zips had in mind — an intense, hard-fought battle with their biggest rival.
The University of Akron women’s basketball team applied pressure Saturday to defeat Kent State 68-62 in a Mid-American Conference game at Rhodes Arena.
“You always expect that when you play Kent State it’s going to be a close game,” Zips coach Jodi Kest said. “Both teams are going to play hard. Bob [Lindsay] knows my players very well. We know what he normally does, so it’s a chess match back and forth.”
Even so, things may have been too close for comfort for the Zips, who were victimized by slow starts in both halves.
The Golden Flashes (3-11, 1-2) got the Zips (8-10, 2-2) into a half-court game, slowing things down. But even when the Zips got to the hoop, shots rained with a thud instead of a swish. Kest solved the problem by turning on the pressure, and the Zips climbed back.
Kest remained cautious with how she used the stategy. After abandoning it in the first half, a 10-point deficit forced her to return to it in the second.
“I felt we did a good job of getting back in the game. Our kids got tired, so we turned the press off. Sometimes if you go too long on the press, they get open jump shots and we didn’t want that to happen.”
It had its desired effect.
“I think we panicked in it a little bit,” Kent coach Lindsay said. “They brought it at us in the first half and we were OK; the second, we probably looked a little tired, mentally more than anything else.”
KSU’s Diamon Beckford, the game’s leading scorer with 21 points, had little problem finding her shot, but she said the press did give the Flashes problems.
“I think we needed to make adjustments earlier,” she said. “At times, once we slowed down their pace and got into half-court sets, it worked to our advantage a little bit.”
Zips seniors Jasmine Mushington and Ti’eshia Stubbs each scored 15 points, while Sina King and Carly Young each added 13. Kacie Cassell had eight assists.
Akron’s defense forced 12 second-half turnovers leading to 13 Zips points. More importantly, it got them back in the game.
“Mostly it was our defense, our press that we had,” Mushington said. “We were getting a lot of steals. They were really turning the ball over, so that was the key in the last three minutes.”
Mushington scored seven points in the game’s final three minutes, driving to the basket with confidence to lead the Zips to victory.
“Jasmine is a great penetrator. That’s what she does best, she’s in the open floor and driving,” Kest said. “When Jasmine drives she’s really sometimes great.”
“Basically, we just needed to get the win. Whatever we had to do, we had to get it done,” she said.
Defense and her efforts changed the game.
“They made the plays at the end that we didn’t make and that was the difference in the game,” Lindsay said.
Quick shots
The Zips went into Saturday’s game leading the MAC in scoring offense, field-goal percentage, 3-pointers made per game and assists. They rank second in 3-point field-goal percentage and free-throw percentage. … Kest needs just six wins to join the 300 club, coaching 294 wins over 19-plus seasons as coach.
George M. Thomas can be reached at gmthomas@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Zips blog at http://zips.ohio.com. Follow the Zips on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/GeorgeThomasABJ and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/sports.abj.
