“After a bitter defeat to Mid-American Conference rival the Ohio Bobcats last Jan. 20, the Zips (10-9) came on strong Jan. 23 against the Western Michigan Broncos (5-14) as the Zips took home the victory 58-44 last Saturday. It felt great, Zips head coach Jodi Kest said.”
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After a bitter defeat to Mid-American Conference rival the Ohio Bobcats last Jan. 20, the Zips (10-9) came on strong Jan. 23 against the Western Michigan Broncos (5-14) as the Zips took home the victory 58-44 last Saturday.

It felt great, Zips head coach Jodi Kest said. We had a tough loss against Ohio University last Wednesday night, and so it showed great character of how our players responded to get the win today.

The loss to the Ohio Bobcats was painful, but the Zips showed on Saturday that they can come back from a loss.

We knew at Ohio we didn’t play 40 minutes, and that is what Coach (Kest) kept telling us that we needed to play 40 minutes, Zips small forward Kara Murphy said.

The Zips only made 44 percent of their shots and 50 percent of their shots from behind the arc.

We struggled shooting the ball today, as we only shot 44 percent, but they (the Broncos) only shot 24 percent, Kest said.

The Broncos only made 19 percent of their from behind the arc.

Two Western Michigan players scored in double digits: Miame Giden had 14 points and Ebony Cleary had 11 points.

Cleary also led the defensive attack for the Broncos with nine rebounds. Giden had two blocks in the game.

The Zips struggled early in the game but had some support from the bench as point guard Natasha Williams helped lead the Zips to victory.

I was very pleased with Natasha. When she uses her speed and gets into that 4th gear to defend, she can be very effective, Kest said.

Leading the offensive attack for the Zips was small forward Kara Murphy who recorded 27 points for the game.

It feels good, but my team deserves credit for getting me the ball and playing as a team, Murphy said.

Another double-double was in the books for the Zips as Tamboue recorded 11 points and 15 rebounds in the game, which is a new career high for her.

It felt great. I love getting rebounds because I know it frustrates the other players and coaches. I love it, Tamboue said.

36 of the Zips 58 points came from the paint for the Zips as they had strong post play from Tamboue, power forward Rachel Tecca, and center Kyle Baumgartner.

Saturday’s win was only the second time that the Zips have defeated the Broncos since the 1999 season.

It was a great game. We just had to get them back from last year. They gave us a beat down last year, so we needed to play hard this year and beat them, Tamboue said.

The Zips will hit the road this week to take on Ball State and Eastern Michigan. The next time the Zips will return to James A. Rhodes Arena will be Feb. 4 to take on the Central Michigan Chippewas.

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