We all know things aren’t as easy as they seem.
That’s what the University of Akron dealt with Wednesday night against Ohio Christian. The Zips got a fight from the Trailblazers, an NAIA team, but proved to be too much in the end and came away with a 69-52 win at Rhodes Arena.
“Two good things that happened today was that no one got injured and we won the game,” UA coach Jodi Kest said.
Despite never trailing, the Zips (7-4) struggled to put away the small Christian school from Circleville, as the Trailblazers fought from start to finish.
“At times today I was disappointed that Ohio Christian outworked us. As a coach that bothers me,” Kest said.
The Zips looked primed to run away with it early, leading 9-0 in the first three minutes and 26-12 after the first quarter. But the Trailblazers hung in, outscoring Akron 16-13 in the second quarter and trailed by just 11 (39-28) heading into halftime.
However, Ohio Christian (9-7) shot just 28 percent from the floor (15-of-54), including 4-of-17 in the third quarter. DeShay Thomas led the Trailblazers with 14 points.
Akron (7-4) was led by 6-foot-1 junior forward Greta Burry, who finished with season highs of 15 points and 13 rebounds. She was 7-of-10 from the floor in just 22 minutes of action.
“We needed a post present tonight ’cause we haven’t had one of late,” Burry said. “Parts of that are on me because I need to work harder. I’ve been trying to crash the glass as much as I can.”
Akron outrebounded Ohio Christian 46-30, as the Trailblazers had no one with more than five boards.
Senior leader and most recent Mid-American East Player of the Week Hannah Plybon led Akron in points with 17, including four 3-pointers.
A former Orrville High School standout, Plybon is now just two 3-pointers away from surpassing the school record of 269, currently held by Taylor Ruper. Plybon also is second in the country among active players in career 3-pointers attempted (753) and eighth in 3-pointers made (268).
Haliegh Reinoehl added 10 points off the bench for the Zips, who open Mid-American Conference play at 2 p.m. Saturday at Western Michigan.
“Now that nonconference is over we are 7-4 and now we’re 0-0 and time to get ready for conference play,” Kest said. “Hopefully, we play a lot better on Saturday than we did today because if we play like this on Saturday, Western Michigan will win the game.”