The University of Akron women’s basketball team used a huge third period to send them to a 76-59 victory over the Winthrop Eagles in the first game of the Akron Classic Friday morning at the James A. Rhodes Arena.

Akron (1-1) outscored the Eagles 27-9 in the third stanza to break open a close game. The Zips held a slim 38-32 advantage at the intermission over the Eagles (0-3).

“We got stops, our transition game worked well, and they got tired,” Akron head coach Jodi Kest said about her team in the pivotal quarter in which the Zips ended on a 12-0 run.

Greta Burry led the Zips almost completing a double-double with 16 points and 9 rebounds. Anita Brown did complete a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds, while Lauren Hung chipped in 11. DiAndra Gibson grabbed 11 boards and Megan Barilla dished out seven assists.

The game was also part of the third-annual Education Day with approximately 900 children attending at had a start time of 10:30 a.m.

“We had a great pre-game meal, and everything worked out that it did not feel early at all,” Kest said. “We came out with high energy and we won the game, that is what matters most.”

Winthrop stayed close in the first half as the Zips shooting was not up to par. Akron hit only 30.6 percent (11-36) in the opening two periods. The key was the charity stripe where the Zips hit 13 of 20 attempts while the Eagles were 2 of 3.

Another bright spot for Akron was the rebounding. “We did well with second chance points, we worked hard on the offensive glass,” Kest said.

The Zips grabbed 22 offensive boards and outdid Winthrop 21-10 in second chance points.

Akron had its largest lead of the day at 65-41 starting the final period. With just over seven minutes to go, Kest started emptying the bench, but the Eagles started fighting back cutting the lead to 15.

“I was disappointed in the play when we did some substituting, we have to count on our bench this year,” Kest said.

The Zips do not get time to rest after this one as they take on Florida Gulf Coast tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. as the late game on the second day of the Akron Classic.