Akron women defeat Winthrop at home, 80-59
Winthrop women’s basketball coach Kevin Cook says he asks his Eagles basketball team — which has just two seniors on the roster — if he uses the “youth card” too much.
Apparently the players’ answer is “no”, but Cook says he’s past that after nine games anyway.
“It’s time to forget that,” Cook said after the latest installment of “Growing Pains,” an 80-59 home loss to Akron in front of 281 fans Saturday afternoon at Winthrop Coliseum. The loss dropped the Eagles’ record to 1-8.
“If we can hold on to our confidence and regroup, we have what looks like a wide-open conference schedule ahead of us. I haven’t given up on this team,” Cook said.
Freshman guard Danyael Goodhope, coming off the bench after starting the first eighth games, scored 14 points to lead the Eagles. Senior forward Erica Williams added 10 and freshman forward Angela Coello Perez added 9.
Guard Megan Sefcik led all scorers for Akron (3-2) with 19 points. All 14 Zips players scored at least two points.
Turning point
It came after Winthrop took its last lead at 10-9 on Teylahna Green’s baseline jumper with 5:42 to play in the first quarter. Akron closed the quarter on a 12-2 run for a 21-12 lead.
The Zips increased that lead to 18 points (36-18) in the second quarter before Perez scored the last five points of the half on an inside basket and a three from the deep corner.
Critical
The Eagles have struggled with turnovers so far and this game was no exception. Winthrop doubled up the Zips in that category in the first half, 12-6 and finished with 21.
Inside the three-point arc, the Eagles weren’t bad, hitting just over 50 percent (25-of-49) of their shots. But they struggled from outside, hitting just 1-of-14 three-pointers. Perez made that one in the game’s final minute.
Quote
“ I thought the shots we took were makeable. We’re averaging just over 60 points a game, which is enough to win on a lot of nights. We just need to find a way to stop people.” — Cook
Star Contributions
Megan Sefcik, Akron: Sophomore guard hit 5-of-9 shots from behind the arc to lead her team’s 9-of-25 three-point shooting effort.
Erica Williams, Winthrop: Senior forward had a tough night from the field (4-of-18), but scored eight of her 10 points in the first half and led the Eagles with a game-high seven rebounds.
Danyael Goodhope, Winthrop: Freshman point guard turned it over just once before the final minute of the game on an afternoon when giveaways were a problem. She led the team in scoring for the third time this season.
On Deck
The Eagles host USC-Aiken in an exhibition game at Winthrop Coliseum at 4 p.m. Saturday, The next regular season game is against Baylor, currently ranked No. 4 in the AP poll, at 1 p.m. Dec. 15 in Waco, Texas.
This story was originally published December 3, 2016 at 4:50 PM with the headline "Akron women defeat Winthrop at home, 80-59."