MAC Women's Tournament First Round Results
MAC Tournament First Round Games ResultsBall State 67, Western Michigan 43
Miami 67, Northern Illinois 66
Eastern Michigan 66, Buffalo 56
Stories Courtesy of MAC Media Relations Offices
Miami 67, Northern Illinois 66
OXFORD, Ohio - Some timely shots and great defense down the stretch helped Miami overcome a pesky Northern Illinois squad 67-66 in the first round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament Saturday afternoon. Maggie Boyer led the RedHawks with 18 points. Miami improves to 9-21 overall, while the Huskies finish the season at 10-19.
The eighth seeded RedHawks advance to the quarterfinals of the MAC Tournament Wednesday at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Miami will take on top-seeded Bowling Green at 4 p.m.
Trailing 61-60 with only 2:27 remaining Courtney Osborn drove to the lane and was fouled. She sank both free throws to give the RedHawks the lead. On the next possession Ashleigh Brown came up with a steal and a key jumper to bring the advantage up to three. Two free throws by the Huskies cut it down to one at 64-63, but on the next possession Boyer was able to sneak the ball into Kirsten Olowinski for the layup to regain the three point lead.
Solid defense by Miami forced Northern Illinois into a turnover with eight seconds remaining. After being fouled Osborn converted one of two free throws to put the RedHawks up four at 67-66. Marke Freeman hit a three-pointer to cut the lead to one at 67-66 with two seconds left. Olowinski was fouled with under a second remaining, but intentionally missed both free throws to force Northern Illinois into a desperation play that came up short.
The beginning of the game bore no resemblance to the earlier meeting between the two schools, a 96-51 Miami victory on Jan. 27. The RedHawks jumped to a 13-6 lead off eight points from Boyer and a layup from Olowinski. Senior Kylie York led a three-point barrage from the Huskies that helped them go on a 22-6 run that gave them a 28-19 advantage with eight minutes remaining in the first half. It would be their largest lead of the game.
A layup from Olowinski and three-pointers from Boyer and Osborn were part of a 10-0 run that gave Miami the advantage back at 29-28. After a Northern Illinois layup, another trey from Boyer along with one from Briana Dunlap and a jumper by Lillian Pitts helped the RedHawks close the half on a 10-4 run and take a 39-34 lead into the break.
The Huskies opened the second half on a 6-2 run to close within one. But two more baskets by Pitts along with a jumper from Brown put Miami up 49-42 with 14:19 to go. Miami would not score again for the next five minutes as a 9-0 run put Northern Illinois in front, 51-49. The lead would change six times over the next six minutes until a huge steal and fastbreak layup by Olowinski with the Huskies about to go up three instead gave Miami a 61-60 advantage. Northern Illinois would regain the lead one more time on two free throws before the RedHawks' defensive heroics took over to secure the victory.
In addition to Boyer's 18 points, Olowinski finished with 17 and Osborn 10. Osborn now has 503 points on the year. She is only the fifth player in school history to surpass 500 points in a single season. Brown led the RedHawks with eight rebounds. Mauvolyene Adams led Northern Illinois with 18 points and 18 rebounds.
Miami shot 49 percent (25-for-51) for the game, compared to 39 percent (23-for-59) for the Huskies. The RedHawks forced 12 steals and had 15 assists on their 25 baskets. Osborn was one assist off her career-high with seven.
Eastern Michigan 66, Buffalo 56
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) - A career-high 27-point effort by junior guard Cassie Schrock (Wadsworth, Ohio- Wadsworth) led the Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team to a 66-56 victory over the University at Buffalo in the first-round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament here Saturday, March 6.at the Convocation Center.
With the game tied, 53-53, and six minutes remaining in the contest, Schrock scored five straight points for Eastern (22-7, 11-5 MAC) to give the team the lead, and the Eagles' defense was able to hold the Bulls to just three points in that time span to secure the win.
Tavelyn James (Detroit, Mich.-Mumford) added 14 points for the Eagles, despite shooting just 3-of-14 from the field, and Lindsey Mahone (Corpus Christi, Texas-Mary Carroll) had a spectacular all-around performance with nine points, 10 rebounds, four assists and four steals.
The Bulls (7-23, 3-13) were led by junior forward Kourtney Brown, as she totaled 19 points and 15 rebounds with five blocked shots. Brittany Hedderson added 15 points for UB.
Buffalo took its first lead since the 18:56 mark in the first half when Brown made a layup with 17:35 left in the game to put her team back ahead, 34-33. After exchanging the next four baskets, Brown would pad the Bulls' lead with back-to-back takes, pushing UB's lead to seven.
After falling behind 46-39, Schrock put the team on her back and went to work. As she was fouled, she converted on a layup and added the free throw to make it a four-point game, 46-42. She added another and-one after a UB triple, and a third old-fashioned three-point play two minutes later to push the Eagles ahead, 53-50.
In the first half, the Eagles were able to take a 13-10 advantage early in the game before Schrock got her scoring started. She reeled off 11 of the Eagles next 13 points, including a pair of by three pointers. The barrage gave Eastern a 26-19 lead with 4:35 remaining in the first half.
The Bulls recovered to pull within five, 30-25, going into intermission.
James did not make her first basket of the game until 56 seconds into the second half as she connected on a fast break layup following a Mahone steal. The teams battled back and fourth exchanging buckets before Buffalo would take its largest lead following the Brown layup.
For the game, EMU shot 31.8 percent from the field (21-of-66), while UB shot 32.3 percent (21-of-65). The Eagles held a decisive advantage from the free throw line, going 22-of-28 (78.6 percent), while the Bulls shot 10-of-16 (62.5 percent) from the line.
The Eagles now advance to the quarterfinals of the MAC Tournament to face fourth seeded University of Akron, Wednesday, March 20, at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. The game will start at 6 p.m.
Ball State 67, Western Michigan 43
MUNCIE, Ind. - The No. 7 seeded Ball State women's basketball team (14-16) advanced to the Mid-American Conference quarterfinals in Cleveland after its 67-43 first round defeat over 10th-seeded Western Michigan (9-21) Saturday afternoon at Worthen Arena.
The Cardinals shot 50 percent for the game, while holding Western Michigan to 27.1 percent from the field. Senior guard Audrey McDonald, along with teammate and fellow guard Ty'Ronda Benning, led the Cardinals with 13 points. Freshman guard Shanee' Jackson tied her personal best with a 10-point performance.
McDonald opened the second half with a back-to-back three pointers allowing Ball State to build a 33-16 cushion over WMU.
With 7:06 remaining in the contest, Ball State increased its lead to 44-28 after Jackson hit two from the charity stripe.
The Cardinals strong first half showing carried over to the second half and was too much for the Broncos to overcome.
Jackson's fastbreak layup at the 15:23 mark in the first half sparked a 6-0 run for the Cardinals given them an 11-6 advantage over the Broncos.
Western Michigan made it a 14-13 ball game under the eight minute mark, but the Cardinals defense held the Broncos to only a basket after that, Ball State would then end the half up 27-15.
The Ball State women's basketball team will take on MAC West Division Champions and No. 2 seed Toledo in Cleveland Wednesday at noon. The remainder of the tournament is being played at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, the home of the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association. Tickets for the tournament can be purchased at www.ballstatesports.com or by calling the Ball State Athletics Ticket Office at 1.888.BSU.TICKET.
