2021 Weekly Mid-American Conference Women’s Basketball Recap: Jan. 30

Last week proved to be another exciting slate of results in the world of women’s basketball, as the full schedule, save for Kent State’s two postponements due to COVID, played out in the last days of January.

(As of publication, there was no announcement regarding potential dates for the affected games. Kent State’s games vs. Buffalo and EMU will be determined at a later date.)

Tuesday’s slate started with Eastern Michigan downed Ohio by a score of 69 to 66. Ohio’s leading scorer was Cierra Hooks with 29 points. The Eagles were led by Ce’Nara Shanes with 22 points.

• The Ball State Cardinals beat the Miami Redhawks by 85 to 82. The leading Cardinal was Oshlynn Brown with 33 points (she also got over 10 rebounds that night). The leading Redhawk was Peyton Scott with 19 points.
• The Central Michigan Chippewas defeated the Toledo Rockets by a final score of 83 to 74. Leading for the Chippewas was Molly Davis with 27 points. The Rockets led with Quinesha Lockett with 23 points.
• The Bowling Green Falcons dropped the Western Michigan Broncos by a final score of 77 to 53. The Falcons main bucket scorer was Elissa Brett with 17 points. The Bronco that found the basket the most was Sydney Shafer with 18 points.
• The Northern Illinois Huskies were good dogs as they defeated the Akron Zips by a score of 76 to 63. The main Huskie scorer was Chelby Koker with 19 points. On the Zips side, that was Gabrielle Brown-Mitchell with 12 points.

The Saturday slate of games proved to be just as interesting.

• The Ball State Cardinals outlasted the Western Michigan Broncos by a score of 78 to 71. The leading scorers were Thelma DisAgasttir with 18 points for the Cardinals and the Broncos had Sydney Shafer for 24 points.
• The Northern Illinois Huskies shot down the Miami Redhawks by a score of 66 to 52. Chelby Coker led the Huskies with 26 points. Abbey Hoff would be the leading scorer for the Redhawks with 11 points.
• The Bowling Green Falcons proved to be too much for the rival Toledo Rockets with a score of 76 to 59. The Falcons were led by Elissa Brett and Lexi Fleming each with 13 points. The Rockets leading scorer was Quinesha Lockett with 17 points.
• The Central Michigan Chippewas continued winning with a win over the Buffalo Bulls by a score 66 to 62. The Chippewas were led by Micaela Kelly with 19 points. The Bulls leading scorer was Dyaisha Fair with 22 points.
• The Ohio Bobcats trounced the Akron Zips with a final score of 85 to 55. The Bobcats were led by Cierra Hooks with 31 points. The Zips leading scorer was Jordyn Dawson with 15 points.

So, what does that mean for the state of the MAC Tournament race?

The Kent State Golden Flashes are in the lead with a MAC record of 4-0. They are followed by Bowling Green who is 9-2 in the conference. In third place is the Chippewas with a conference record of 8-3. The Bulls are in fourth, with 6-3. They are followed by the Cardinals who are also 6-3 but they have 1 less win that the Bulls.

The Huskies are also at 6-3 but they have one more loss than the Cardinals. The Ohio Bobcats are 7-4 in the MAC and that’s good enough for 7th place. Eastern Michigan rounds out the top eight at 6-4.

In the danger zone as of publication are the Toledo Rockets, who sit at 4-7. The Akron Zips find themselves at 10th place with a conference record of 1-9. The Broncos also have a 1 and 9 record but they have a worse overall record than the Zips. At this point in the season, the Miami Redhawks find themselves winless in the MAC and they only have 1 win overall.

Looks like there should be a good slate of games with the women with a couple of rivalry games highlighting their respective slates, as geographic rivals Toledo and EMU face off in Ypsilanti on Tuesday, while the Victory Cannon rivalry renews when WMU takes on CMU on Saturday.