Monday's Scoreboard
No. 7 Eastern Michigan 76, No. 10 Northern Illinois 69
No. 9 Toledo 63, No. 8 Akron 59
No. 6 Buffalo 87, No. 11 Miami 72
No. 5 Western Michigan 84, No. 12 Bowling Green 67
Stories Courtesy of MAC Sports Information
No. 7 Eastern Michigan 76, No. 10 Northern Illinois 69
Box Score
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – Trailing by as many as 12 points in the opening half, the Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team came back to eliminate Mid-American Conference rival Northern Illinois University, 76-69, on Monday, March 9 inside the Convocation Center. The Eagles (15-15, 9-9 MAC) had three players reach double-figures in points in Corrione Cardwell (Cleveland, Ohio-New Tech East), Areanna Combs (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma-Putnam West (Oklahoma State)), and Courtnie Lewis (Belton, Mo.-Belton).
Combs led the way in scoring for the Eagles with 23 points, 10 rebounds, and a trio of steals. Her double-digit rebounding performance marks her fourth of the season. Lewis dropped 21 points, her second-highest scoring performance ever, shooting 6-of-7 from the charity stripe and adding four boards. Meanwhile, Cardwell finished with 15 points while pacing the team in assists with four.
Down 6-0 early, Cardwell came off the bench and immediately made an impact. The Cleveland native sank EMU's first two buckets and caused a turnover on the defensive end. Moments later, Lewis nailed a deep mid-range jumper to bring the Eagles within striking distance. Combs drained a three-pointer at the 2:50 mark, then proceeded to steal the ball back from Northern Illinois and lay it in to tie the game at 13. However, the Huskies finished the quarter on a 9-2 run to lead 22-15 after one period of play.
In the second quarter, behind 29-20, Lewis hit a three-ball with contact from the Huskies, then converted on the four-point play. Coming off the bench, sophomore Kiara Johnson (Buffalo, N.Y.-Cardinal O'Hara) scored on a physical lay-in, drawing the foul in the process. After converting the and-one, Johnson grabbed a board and scored another tough basket. Lewis hit a jumper at 52 seconds left to cut the Huskies' lead to four before halftime, 37-33.
Early in the third, Cardwell found Lewis as the latter drilled another shot from beyond-the-arc, but the Eagles continued to trail, 43-38. Cardwell was effective on the other end of the floor, nabbing a steal and finding teammate Jenna Annecchiarico (Baldwin, N.Y.-Baldwin) for the easy lay-in with 3:28 left in the period. The Convocation Center erupted moments later as Lewis knocked down yet another trifecta to give the Eagles their first lead of the game, 50-48. The Green and White wrapped up the quarter on a 6-0 run highlighted by an Annecchiarico jumper with fewer than ten seconds to go. The Eagles would end the third quarter up 56-52, and would not relinquish the lead for the remainder of the game.
Annecchiarico started where she left off in the fourth quarter, hitting a deep three to put the Eagles up by five with over nine minutes to play. Combs hit a jumper at the 4:24 mark as Eastern expanded its cushion to six, 65-59. The Oklahoma native hit three more shots in succession to keep the Huskies at bay as the Eagles built a 71-65 advantage with under a minute remaining in regulation. The Green and White continued to be stingy on defense and knock down shots to ultimately overwhelm the Huskies, 76-69.
The Eagles were more efficient from the field, shooting 27-of-64 (42.2%) from the floor compared to the Huskies' 25-of-66 (37.9%) clip. Eastern also led in bench points (22-19), fast-break points (12-6), and points off of turnovers (19-7).
Eastern Michigan will continue its MAC Tournament run on Wednesday, March 11 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio. The Eagles will face the No. 2 seed Ball State University at approximately 5 p.m., 30 minutes after the conclusion of the matchup between Western Michigan and Ohio.
No. 9 Toledo 63, No. 8 Akron 59
Box Score
AKRON, Ohio – Toledo secured a nail-biting 63-59 victory over Akron on Monday in the first round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament in James A. Rhodes Arena.
The No. 9 seed Rockets (13-17) will now advance to the MAC Tournament Quarterfinals against vs. No. 1 seed Central Michigan (23-6) at Noon on Wednesday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland.
Junior Nakiah Black scored 15 of her team-high 17 points in the second half and junior Tanaya Beacham contributed 15 points and a game-high 12 rebounds to lead a balanced Toledo attack.
Senior Sara Rokkanen added 12 points and senior Mariella Santucci had 10 points and a contest-best eight assists to help the Rockets pull off the heart-pounding four-point road triumph. As a team, Toledo connected on 32.8 percent (19-of-58) from the floor, including 5-of-20 from three-point range, and a splendid 80.0 percent (20-of-25) from the charity stripe. The Rockets posted a sizable 37-27 advantage on the glass and finished with 13 assists, compared to only 12 turnovers to run their record to 6-2 all-time against the Zips in the conference tournament.
Haliegh Reinoehl paced the No. 8 seed Zips (15-15) with a game-high 21 points, followed by Shaunay Edmonds and Jordyn Dawson with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
No. 6 Buffalo 87, No. 11 Miami 72
Box Score
BUFFALO, NY – Four players scored in double figures as the University at Buffalo women's basketball team never trailed in an 87-72 win over Miami (OH) in the first round of the MAC Tournament at Alumni Arena on Monday night. With the win the Bulls advance to the MAC Tournament quarterfinals where they will face #3 seed Kent State.
Buffalo was led by freshman Dyaisha Fair who scored a game-high 28 points to go along with four rebounds, three assists and five steals. Senior Theresa Onwuka scored 18 points to go with eight rebounds, six assists and three steals. Junior Hanna Hall was happy to see the calendar turn to March as scored 13 points while adding five assists and three rebounds and Adebola Adeyeye chipped in 10 points and six rebounds.
The two teams would trade baskets in the early going before Buffalo rattled off a 13-6 run, sparked by a pair of transition buckets and a Hall three, to take a 20-11 lead at the first media timeout. Buffalo would continue to attack, extending the run to 21-8 out of the media to take a 28-13 lead and force a RedHawks timeout and the Bulls would take a 32-14 lead at the end of the first. The 32 first quarter points were the most scored by UB in a quarter this season.
The Bulls would extend their lead to 37-16 on a Hall spot up three early in the second quarter and the teams would trade baskets from there as UB maintained a 41-22 lead at the media timeout. Buffalo would continue to stay hot as they rattled off a 9-0 run out of the media, scoring on four straight possessions with baskets by Fair, Keowa Walters, Loren Christie and Onwuka to go up 50-24 at the 2:35 mark and UB would lead 56-27 at the half.
The 56 first half points were the most scored by the Bulls in a half this season. Buffalo shot a blistering 56.4% from the floor and dominated the paint, outscoring the RedHawks 34-10 in the opening half. UB also turned 11 Miami turnovers into 19 first half points.
It would be a back-and-forth affair to start the third quarter as Miami would get no closer than 27 and UB would lead 66-39 at the media timeout. Miami would come alive, putting together a 15-0 run to cut the UB lead to 66-51 at the 1:41 mark, but Fair would stop the four-plus minute UB scoring drought with a runner in the lane and the Bulls would take a 70-53 lead at the end of the third.
Fair went on a 6-2 run on her own to start the fourth quarter to give UB a 76-55 lead. Later, Onwuka sliced to the basket and dumped a pass off to Adeyeye who went up strong for two to put UB up 80-57. Freshman Jessika Schiffer got in on the action with a three on the wing off the feed from Aireal Dickson to give Buffalo an 83-59 lead at the final media timeout. Miami would close the game on a 9-0 run but it wouldn't be enough as the Bulls held on for the home court win.
The Bulls dominated the paint, outscoring Miami 48-16. Buffalo also took advantage of 18 Miami turnovers, scoring 25 points and capitalized in transition as well, scoring 25 fastbreak points.
"What a great opportunity to represent our University on this stage again," said head coach Felisha Legette-Jack. "It's a privilege to wear Buffalo across your chest and to go and represent the fashion we did today. This team is really starting to hit its stride. We've been working really hard to find our way. We are one of the youngest teams in the country but now we've turned into just a team that has stayed in our foxhole and I'm excited about the story we have to tell."
The Bulls will face #3 Kent State in the MAC Tournament quarterfinals at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland on Wednesday, March 11. It will be the fourth game of the day and will begin 30 minutes after the conclusion of game three.
No. 5 Western Michigan 84, No. 12 Bowling Green 67
Box Score
KALAMAZOO, Mich.- The No. 5 seeded Western Michigan women's basketball team defeated No. 12 seeded Bowling Green 84-67 Monday night in the first round of the Mid-American Conference Championship.
With the win the Broncos advance to Cleveland to face No. 4 Ohio University in the quarterfinals at Rocket Mortgage Field House on Wednesday, March 11. The WMU versus Ohio matchup marks the second time the teams will meet this season, last time being a win for the Broncos inside University Arena on Jan. 15.
Western Michigan experienced a similar fate in the 2017-18 season, when it defeated the Falcons at home 85-71 to advance to the MAC Championship quarterfinals.
WMU (18-12) had stellar performances with all five starters scoring in double-digits and three registering double-doubles. Jordan Walker led the pack with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Leighah-Amori Wool had 14 points with 10 rebounds, and Breanna Mobley tallied 10 points with 13 rebounds. Graduate transfer Chelayne Bailey had 17 points with a team-high six assists and three steals. Kamrin Reed recorded 12 points, shooting three-for-six from three-point range.
The Broncos converted a season-high 15-of-34 three-point field goals and shot 42.6 percent (29-of-68) from the field. WMU notched 14 points off Bowling Green turnovers with 18 points in the paint. Western Michigan's biggest lead came in the third quarter with a 32-point advantage over the Falcons, and held onto the lead for nearly all 40 minutes of the contest.
Walker shot out of the gate with back-to-back threes to open scoring for the Broncos. Bailey came up with five straight points shortly after in a quarter that saw the Brown & Gold shoot 6-for-12 from long range. With more points from Walker on her heels, Bailey drew up another three-point shot, and Walker capped it off with a buzzer-beating three to close out the quarter.
Western Michigan held the Falcons to just 10 points in the second quarter, coming up with five made three-pointers. Reed hit her first of the game, followed up by points from Mobley and a three off the bench for freshman Sydney Shafer. The Broncos headed back to the locker rooms with back-to-back threes from Shafer and Jacobson at the end of the quarter.
The domination for the Broncos continued for the remainder of the game. Their highest-scoring quarter came in the third frame with a 28-point performance. WMU drew up four more three-pointers and shot 6-for-7 from the free throw line, led by Walker with ten points. Despite a low-scoring fourth quarter, the home team wrapped things up clean with more strong shooting from the charity stripe. The Bronco bench cleared for the final minutes as Hannah Douglas, Jillian Fletcher and Ashley Konkle came onto the court. Sophomore Kiana Cencula made her second appearance of the season and scored her first points for the Brown & Gold with a made shot from the free-throw line in the final seconds of the game.
