Csaszar, DeGrate Lead Womens Basketball Past Akron, 68-59
1/31/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
After trailing by as much as 14 points in the second half, the Zips fought back to tie the game at 53 with 8:13 remaining, sparked by eight points from Jae Conn. After a Kent State timeout, the Flashes went on a 15-6 run to end the game with seven of those points coming from DeGrate. The Zips shot just 3-for-11 in the last eight minutes of play.
Kent States defense hounded Akron all night on the perimeter, recording 15 steals and scored 27 points off 26 Akron turnovers. Sophomore Malika Willoughby (Milwaukee, Wis./UW-Milwaukee) pocketed four steals while DeGrate had three.
Id like to give all of the credit in the world to the University of Akron, head coach Bob Lindsay said. One of the things I thought I saw from Akron was that they played hard for 40 minutes, whether they were up, down or tied.
For us, I think this was a fairly typical game in a lot of ways. We played well in spurts, defensively in places and offensively in places, just not for 40 minutes. To our credit, weve played a very difficult non-conference schedule and have been in a lot of close games. Sometimes when you play those kind of schedules and youre in a lot of close games throughout the course of the season, sometimes you make the plays to win and I think that was the difference in the game.
Kent State took a nine-point lead into halftime on the heels of 12 first half points by Csaszar who finished the game with eight rebounds, two blocks and two steals to compliment her 21 points.
Every team tries to double-up on me and push me around, Csaszar said. But as long as we can pass the ball around and get good position on them, theres no way they can defend both our outside and inside game.
A three-ball by Heather Harris (Duncan Falls, Ohio/Youngstown State) put Kent State up 22-11 nine minutes into the game, but four first half three pointers by the hot shooting Conn kept Akron close. The Zips hit 8-of-15 three pointers in the first period to help them tie the game at 30 with 5:46 left before Kent State closed out the period on a 9-0 run to take the 39-30 lead into the lockerroom.
We know were better than the teams that weve lost to, DeGrate said. "We just have problems playing a complete 40 minutes. We know that if we can do that, we can beat any team in our conference.
Harris recorded six points on two trifectas and three assists while Kacie Vavrek (So., Bellaire, Ohio/Bellaire) added four. Willoughby finished with three points and five assists while freshman LaKia Stewart (Philadelphia, Pa./Central) added two points, four rebounds and three steals off the bench.
Conn led the Zips with 20 points including six three-pointers. Mandy Holzer added 12 points and eight rebounds.
The Golden Flashed will try to extend its winning streak to three games when they travel to Eastern Michigan at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 4.
Notes: The Golden Flashes have now held 11 opponents to 60 points or less this season ... Melissa DeGrate scored a season-high 19 points ... Andrea Csaszar matcher her season-best with 21 points ... Kent State is now 10-2 when they score at least 60 points ... The Golden Flashes tied a season-high with 15 steals.
