Tinara Moore became just the second player in NCAA DI history to finish with 100% field goal percentage.
AKRON, Ohio — It was the Tinara Moore show in Akron’s James A. Rhodes Arena on Saturday.
The 6-foot-3 sophomore forward poured in 35 points and grabbed 20 rebounds – both career-highs – in leading the Central Michigan women’s basketball team to 97-77 rout of Akron in a Mid-American Conference game.
Moore made all 16 of her field goal attempts, becoming just the second player in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history to finish a perfect performance in so many attempts. Kelly Mago of Missouri State accomplished the feat in a 1988 game against Bradley.
“I was just feeling good and my teammates gave me a lot of confidence,” Moore said. “I was taking my time, I used to try to rush my shots, but now I like to see what I have and read the defense.”
It was Moore’s third consecutive double-double and her fifth in the last seven games. The Chippewas improved to 8-6 overall, 2-1 MAC.
“I thought Tinara was slow in her movement, which was really good,” CMU coach Sue Guevara said. “She was relentless pursuing the ball, and I was very pleased with the way she went left under the rim.”
CMU’s 97-point output was its second-highest of the season and it marked the Chippewas’ fifth victory by margin of at least 20 points.
Moore’s 100 perfect performance from the field sparked CMU to a 58.8 percent field-goal shooting day, by far their best this season. They entered the game shooting 40.4 percent. Moore also went 3-for-3 from the free throw line, from which the Chippewas finished 9-of-11.
CMU outrebounded the Zips, 40-29.
“We had to control the glass in this game, because of the way Akron attacked the glass against Eastern,” Guevara said.
The Chippewa bench, which went scoreless Wednesday in a 67-61 loss at Buffalo, bounced back to outscore Akron’s reserves, 22-18.
“I was very pleased with our bench,” Guevara said. “They really contributed in the first half after not scoring at all against Buffalo, to see them make that change I thought was really good.”
Sophomore guard Cassie Breen finished 5-of-10 from 3-point range and finished with 21 points.
“I thought that Cass did a really nice job of swinging through and she started to hit some short jumpers,” Guevara said. “She did a real nice job of shot faking through, pulling up and finishing.”
CMU guards Da’Jourie Turner and Presley Hudson each dished out six assists.
Diandra Gibson scored 21 points and Hannah Plybon added 17 to lead Akron (7-7, 1-2).
The Chippewas outscored Akron, 26-13, in the second quarter for a 53-39 halftime advantage. The lead was 75-60 after three quarters, and CMU started the fourth quarter with a 16-7 spurt to put it away.
The Chippewas will return to McGuirk Arena on Wednesday, Jan. 13 (7 p.m.) for a MAC matchup with Northern Illinois (8-5, 1-1).
