Mid-American Conference

With the win the Eagles improve to 22-6 on the season and will advance to play fifth-seeded Ball State in the quarterfinals of the tournament Wednesday, March 9, at Gund Arena in Clevaland, Ohio. With the loss the Bulls season ends with a 4-24 record.

The Eagles jumped out to an 8-2 advantage as four different Eagles scored during the games opening few minutes. The Green and White lead would expand to eight, 12-4, with 15:07 to play as junior Nikki Knapp layed one off the glass for her second bucket of the contest. Buffalo would manage to hang close at 18-8 heading into the second media break despite making just three of its first seven shots and turning the ball over four times.

Eastern started to pull away as sophomore Sarah VanMetre made two consecutive baskets, a fast break layup and a three-pointer, to push the lead to 11, 21-10, with just over nine minutes to play. After a missed jumper by the Bulls, senior Ryan Coleman connected on a layup to make the score 23-10 and forcing Buffalo to call a timeout.

EMU opened up the lead, while turning up the defensive intensity, going on an 18-0 run over the next 7:24. Buffalo, after not scoring for over seven minutes, finally got on the board again with 3:42 to play in the period as freshman Heather Turner layed on off the glass to make the score 41-12 with 3:20 remaining in the half.

Eastern headed into the lockerroom at halftime with a 46-17 lead. The Bulls' 17 points were the third lowest point total allowed by the Eagles in a half this season. Knapp paced the EMU attack with 17 points, while Coleman added 13. The Royal Blue and White were led by Turner with six points.

In the second half, the game's outcome was never in doubt as the Eagles continued to dominate controlling the glass and the scoreboard. EMU outrebounded the Bulls by 13, 46 to 23, and every time UB scored the Eagles responded with a bucket of their own to keep the advantage above 35 points.

Four Eagles scored in double-figures including Knapp, who led all scorers with a career-best 26 points. Coleman added 17, Kristen Kilgore 12, Erika Ford 12, and VanMeter 10. Buffalo was paced by Turner with 15 points.

EMU shot 52.5 percent from the floor (32-of-61), while UB managed just 35.2 percent (19-of-54). Eastern won the assist-to- turnover battle with 18 assists and 12 turnovers.

With the victory, the Rockets improve to 14-14 on the season. UT also improves to 35-13 (.729) all-time in the conference tournament, including 3-0 in first-round competition.

"We're going to Cleveland," Toledo Head Coach Mark Ehlen said. "That's the best thing. Today was the third-straight game we had four players finish in double figures and we shot over 80% from the free throw line which we haven't had all year. I like the fact that we are playing the best basketball right now. We are in a good state of mind physically and mentally."

UT will now play in the quarterfinal round on Wednesday, March 9 at Cleveland's Gund Arena against No. 3 seed Marshall. Game time is slated for 7:30 p.m.

The Huskies end the season with a 7-21 record.

Four Rockets hit double digits in the win, led by senior Karin Hoogendam and freshman Olivia Terry's 16 points apiece. Hoogendam also tied her career-high with 15 rebounds for her eighth double-double of the season and 13th in her career. Sophomore's Danielle Bishop and Savannah Werner also chipped in 14 points.

The Rockets' offense has been hitting on all cylinders in the last three games to the tune of 73.0 points per contest. For the year, UT is tallying 61.6 points per game.

Toledo shot 41.1 percent (23-of-56) from the field, including a sizzling 57.1 percent (12-of-21) in the final 20 minutes. UT also converted 26-of-32 (81.3 percent) from the charity stripe and won the battle of the boards by a whopping 45-27 margin, including 18-9 on the offensive glass.

"This is a big win for us," Bishop said. "The last couple of games we've had great intensity, especially in the second half and that's what wins games. But we want to come out every game and play all 40 minutes with that intensity."

Stephanie Raymond scored 15 points and Keishonda Williamson had 11 for Northern Illinois, which committed 19 turnovers. Kristin Wiener had 13 points and four rebounds, but also had seven of the Huskies' turnovers.

The Huskies led for much of the first half, until a pair of free throws by junior Crystal Young gave UT a 25-23 edge with 5:33 left.

NIU quickly recovered and a three-point field goal by Raymond put the lead back in its favor, 26-25.

The two teams exchanged baskets over the next few minutes, before the Rockets finished off the first half with a 13-5 run, including hitting seven-consecutive free throws, to take a 43-38 advantage at the intermission.

Toledo shot only 31.4 percent (11-of-35) in the first half, but was 18-of-20 (90.0 percent) from the charity stripe to tally the second-most points in an opening stanza this season.

The Rockets held off the Huskies in the second half and Werner helped them secure the victory during a key stretch of time to give the Midnight Blue and Gold some breathing room. She made a layup with 12:47 to play and then connected on a three-point play with 11:57 remaining for five straight points and a 56-46 advantage. Werner is averaging 10.3 points over the last eight games, shooting 56.8 percent from the field and 93.1 percent from the free throw line. UT then held a 10-point cushion for the remainder of the contest.

"Our offensive execution was much better in the second half," Ehlen said. "We haven't rebounded like that in a long time and this is a good rebounding team. That's a real good sign, and I think we have rebounded better the last three games. The key is if we rebound well, we have a pretty good chance to win."

Endress took the opening tip and scored a layup with just four seconds eclipsed off the clock. Julie DeMuth nailed a long bomb 30 seconds later and then Endress added a 10-foot jumper to put BSU on top 7-0 with just 1:46 elapsed in the period. After Akron got within three points at 9-6 and then later 11-8, the Cardinals went on a 10-2 run to build an 11-point advantage of 21-10 with 10:59 left. Endress converted back-to-back 3-pointers to give BSU a 17-point lead (31-14) at the 5:24 mark. She hit a jump shot with 51 seconds on the clock to boost the team to a 39-22 lead at the break.

Ball State shot 42.4 percent (14-of-33) from the field compared to 36 (9-of-25) percent for its opponent. However, the Cardinals took advantage of a 26-10 lead on the boards, including 12 offensive caroms to take the commanding lead.

The Cardinals built their first 20-point advantage of the game, when Raechelle Hampton converted a layup 2:48 into the second half. Akron pared away at its deficit and got within 15 points at 57-42 with 7:45 on the clock. BSU responded with back-to-back buckets by Hampton and the game was out of reach.

Besides the 25-point effort of Endress, DeMuth added 18. Tina Bolte and Hampton chipped in with 13 and 10, respectively. DeMuth also led the team with eight rebounds as the Cardinals gained a 38-27 advantage on the boards. She added four assists. BSU shot 46.4 (26-of-56) from the field for the game, including 8-of-16 from 3-point range. BSU also connected on 17-of-22 free tries. Akron shot 37.3 (19-of-51) for the game, including a frigid 11.8 (2-of-17) from beyond the arc. The Zips made good on 11 of 15 free throw attempts.

"Our start was huge for us tonight," BSU head coach Tracy Roller said. "The last five games we have had great starts like today. I knew from shoot around we were going to have that kind of start. Kate had a great game and was especially key in the first half. We are on a mission right now. Our kids are playing for Kate and I think we are a pretty good team going into the quarterfinals."

Ball State, which improves to 16-12 overall, will ride the waves of a five-game winning streak into Cleveland, where it will face Eastern Michigan Wednesday. The Eagles (20-8) advanced with a 79-46 win over Buffalo today.

The teams battled back and forth out of the gates with eight lead changes taking place before the first media timeout at 15:43 with Western Michigan leading 10-9. Behind Merrill and Jackson, who combined to score 14 of Miami's first 17 points, the RedHawks inched ahead over the next four minutes and held a 17-14 edge with under 12 minutes left in the half. Miami's lead would peak at five before the Broncos' Kelly Koerber rallied WMU back to within a point at 19-18.

Merrill stalled the Bronco run with a long 3-pointer from the top of the key, and Miami pushed its edge to six points with under seven minutes to play. WMU responded again, getting eight straight points from Carrie Moore to knot the score at 26-26 with 5:02 to play and going ahead with a Koerber bucket at 4:51. Miami would knot the score with Kim Smith's (Gary, IN/West Side) first bucket of the game and finished with a flourish, building its halftime edge to 38-31 with a late Jackson steal and layup.

Merrill and Jackson paced the RedHawks with 15 and 12 points, respectively, while both grabbed six rebounds in the half. WMU, which was led by Koerber's 11 points, hit 56.5 of its shots, compared to 39.0 percent for Miami, but the RedHawks forced 12 Bronco turnovers while committing only one of their own.

After Western Michigan got the first bucket of the second half, Miami responded with an 8-1 run and pushed its edge to double digits for the first time at 46-34, forcing a Bronco timeout with 17:20 to play. While Western Michigan refused to go away, Miami kept the heat on the Broncos and led by a game-high 13 points after a Smith bucket with 14:31 to play.

With 9:13 to play, Sarah Hull (Greenfield, OH/McClain) buried a short jumper to cap a 6-0 run that gave the RedHawks their largest lead at 62-45, but WMU was not finished. The Broncos responded with a 7-0 run that was capped by a three-point play and closed the gap to 64-54 with under seven minutes to play, and forced a RedHawk timeout with two more buckets and Miami's edge trimmed to 64-58 with 5:50 to play. A Laura Markwood (Perrysburg, OH/Perrysburg) free throw finally ended the 11-0 run, but the momentum had shifted in WMU's favor.

With Miami going more than five minutes without a bucket, WMU closed to within 65-62 on a Moore layup with under five minutes remaining. Miami was saved by the bell, as it came out of a media timeout with two Jackson free throws and a Motto 3-point field goal with 3:17 to play, boosting its edge to eight points. Miami got a late bucket from Markwood and two key free throws from Jackson to secure the win.

Merrill, who missed Miami's last game with an ankle injury, led all scorers with 25 points and nine rebounds. Jackson contributed a double-double of 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Markwood was solid in contributing nine points, six rebounds and four steals.

Miami advances to play top-seeded Bowling Green at 1 p.m. Wednesday.

Freshman Simone Redd (Warrensville Heights) led all scorers with 17 points, while coming up with two steals and pulling down four rebounds. Erin Isbell (Gahanna) recorded her fifth double-double of the season and second in as many games, netting 10 points and grabbing a game-high 11 points.

"I thought we played with intensity the entire game on both ends of the floor," Ohio Head Coach Lynn Bria said. "I thought it was our best team effort of the season. Mentally our focus was very good and I thought we shared and moved the ball well."

Central Michigan took an early 7-3 lead at 16:33, the only advantage the Chippewas would hold, as Ohio took the lead for good with 11:30 remaining in the opening frame. The Bobcats took their largest lead of the half, 27-18, heading into the locker room.

"Defensively I thought we did a good job for 40 minutes," Bria notes. "I thought we disrupted about everything they wanted to do."

Ohio took a commanding 20-point lead, 42-22, with a 15-4 run through the first five minutes of the second stanza with buckets from Redd, Andrea Johnson (Columbus), Kristian Kirkpatrick (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Ciara Iglehart (Mission Viejo, Calif.).

"The first five minutes were huge, I felt that if we could increase the lead and get them out of the game it would be huge for us," commented Bria on the second half.

Central Michigan cut the deficit to as few as 15, 42-27, at 12:26, but the Bobcats heated back up. Over the next six minutes Ohio put the game out of reach for the Chippewas, gaining a 31-point advantage, 67-36, at the five minute mark. Central Michigan would outscore the Bobcats 7-4 through the remainder of the game, but Ohio would roll to a 71-43 victory.

The 28-point margin of victory for the Bobcats is their largest all season, earning the win on 34.2 percent shooting from the field and 72.7 percent from the free throw line. Isbell and Angel Hornsburger (Columbus) dished out a game-high three assists and came up with four steals.

Seniors Kirkpatrick and Johnson added 12 and 10 points, respectively, in their final outing in the Convocation Center. Iglehart chipped in eight points, Tiffany Byrd (Columbus) added six, Hornsburger contributed four, and Liz Brown (Thermopolis, Wyo.) and Lauren Revesz (Bridgeville, Pa.) each put in two points, to round out the scoring.

Seventh-seeded Ohio will match-up with nemesis No. 2 Kent State in the quarterfinal round of the MAC Tournament in Gund Arena, in Cleveland with tip-off set for 5:30 p.m. Single session tickets are $10 and can be purchased through the Ohio Athletic Ticket Office at 800-575-CATS or through Gund Arena.