Eastern Michigan 80, Drake 70
Toledo 72, Wright State 64
Courtesy of MAC Athletic Communications Departments
Eastern Michigan 80, Drake 70
DES MOINES, Iowa (EMUEagles.com) — Eastern Michigan University's women's basketball team won on the road in the postseason for just the second time in program history, advancing to the second round of the Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) with an 80-70 victory over Drake University, March 20, at the Knapp Center. Additionally, the Green and White is in elite company, as just 11 teams in this year's 32 first round WNIT matchups notched a road victory. With the win, the Eagles advance to 23-12 on the 2014-15 campaign and tie the school record for the most wins in a season, while the Bulldogs end their season with a 20-11 record.
Drake University entered the contest touted as the best rebounding team in the Missouri Valley Conference, but the Eagles came away with a 53-49 edge on the glass paced by a career day by Brianna Puni (St. Charles, Mo.–Incarnate Word-Illinois State). The senior grabbed 20 rebounds, which is the second-most in EMU laurels and is the best rebounding performance since the record of 21 was set by Kristin Staples on Jan. 2, 1991. The Green and White's senior class truly shone in the postseason, as Jamaica Bucknor (Brooklyn, N.Y.-Weaver-ASA College) also notched double-digit rebounds with 10 boards and swatted two shots to match her career high. Offensively, Cha Sweeney (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers) posted 28 points to go with five assists, while Janay Morton (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) added 15 points and Phillis Webb (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) posted 10 points.
Eastern shot 38.3 percent from the field, hitting 31-of-81 shots, but struggled from beyond the arc at a 17.6 percent clip with just three triples on 17 attempts. The Bulldogs also put up more than 80 shots, going 25-of-82 from the field, with more than half their attempts coming from the long ball, of which the team connected on 12 three-pointers. Countering Drake's presence from downtown, the Green and White dominated inside the paint with a 40-20 advantage. The Eagles had 13 steals in the game and forced an additional four turnovers, which were converted into 15 points for the team off fastbreak points.
The Bulldogs were led by Lizzy Wendell and Caitlin Ingle with 19 and 17 points, respectively. Wendell's buckets were thanks in large part to four three-pointers, while Maddy Dean also posted four triples for her 12 points of the contest to go along with 12 rebounds. The Bulldogs were also a formidable opponent defensively with eight rejections, led by Cara Lutes' three blocks while Dean added two.
Sweeney fired off immediately to start the contest with a jumper in the paint to give the Eagles a 2-0 advantage off the first possession, but Drake would advance to an 11-4 advantage within four and a half minutes fueled by a pair of treys by Wendell.
Down seven points, the Eagles rattled off an 11-0 run in just over threes minute of play thanks to a strong presence in the paint while Morton capped off the run with a triple to bring the EMU lead to 15-11 with 12:44 remaining. Becca Jonas mustered another pair of points with a layup for Drake, but the Green and White continued to press on with another eight points while the Bulldogs faltered at their own basket going into the 8:00 media timeout.
The trend of Eastern stringing together six to eight points for every two points the Bulldogs scored continued through the next run until the Bulldogs drained back-to-back triples fro Maddy Dean and Wendell, bringing Drake within seven points, 33-26 with 1:34 remaining.
The Bulldogs attempted to rely more on their long game after gaining confidence from beyond the arc in the previous plays, but were unable to hit any more shots for the remainder of the half. The Eagles closed out the half with nearly identical pull-up jumpers just off the top of the key from Sweeney, as she scored the final two points of the half to give the Green and White a 37-28 advantage going into the locker room.
Sweeney paced the offense with 13 points in the first half of action, while Morton added eight and Bucknor, Sasha Dailey (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers), and Webb each chipped in four points apiece. Puni had a dominant presence on the boards, pulling down 11 rebounds while also rejecting one shot.
As a team, the Eagles shot at a 41.5 percent clip from the field on 17-of-41 shooting, but struggled from three-point range after hitting just two treys on 11 attempts. The Bulldogs were held to 11-of-43 from the field for a 25.6 percent rate, and the two teams were nearly identical in rebounds, steals, and turnovers at 28-28, 6-5, and 10-10 in the first 20 minutes of play. The Green and White had a strong defensive effort after posting five blocks, led by Rachel Kehoe (St. Clair, Mich.-St. Clair-St. Clair CC) with a career-tying two while Puni, Morton, and Bucknor each added one.
Drake had a dynamic start to the second half, with xx rejecting a Morton shot and sprinting downcourt for a fastbreak layup and was quickly followed up by another Wendell three-pointer, but Morton attempted to stymie the Bulldog enthusiasm with a long ball of her own, but Drake posted four more points to cut the deficit to five points. With the Bulldogs gaining on the Green and White, Head Coach Tory Verdi called for the first time out of the half just two minutes into the contest as the Eagles held on to the 42-37 lead.
Sweeney made an aggressive play coming back onto the court, rising up for a jumper in the paint and grabbing her own offensive board amidst the tall-framed Drake rebounders for a putback to draw the foul. Though the Eagles went up three points, Dean was found downtown to make up for lost ground, and pair of free throws from Wendell got the Bulldogs within three of the Eagles, 45-42.
The Bulldogs continued to create energy among the team as Ingle drove in for a layup and-one, and quickly knotted the score at 47-47 off a layup by Carly Grenfell. The Eagles did not back down, as Puni and Webb knocked down two baskets off the glass to gain a four-point edge once more.
The two teams exchanged baskets, with the Eagles fighting to maintain their four-point advantage, but a quartet of free throws by Sweeney and a pair from Puni gave the Green and White a 10-point cushion, 65-55 with 7:34 remaining. Coming out of the media timeout, the Bulldogs back-to-back-to-back triples within a minute of play to quickly cut the deficit to just two points, 66-64.
Sweeney retailed with a pair of buckets, but the Bulldogs continued to ramp up their pace as Dean drilled another triple. Once again, the two teams danced around the four-point margin going into the final two minutes of regulation play until fouling by the Bulldogs put the Eagles on the line to close out the contest. The Green and White was able to extend the final count to 80-70.
Eastern will take on Tulsa in the second round of the WNIT, which recently bested Missouri State, 78-72. The Eagles will flock to Tulsa, Okla. for a 5 p.m. CT tipoff Sunday, March 22. The game will be broadcast on WEMU 89.1 FM with Chad Bush and Greg Steiner on the call.
Toledo 72, Wright State 64
TOLEDO, OH – Junior Brenae Harris recorded the first triple-double in school history to lead Toledo to a 72-64 victory over Wright State on Friday in the first round of the 2015 Postseason WNIT before 1,709 fans in Savage Arena. With the win, UT improves to 19-13 on the season.
The 2011 Postseason WNIT champion Rockets will now host Big Ten member Michigan (17-14) in a second-round match-up on Monday, March 23 at 7:00 p.m. The Wolverines defeated Cleveland State, 72-50, in the first round on Wednesday, March 18 in Ann Arbor.
A former Wolverine, Harris finished with 16 points, a career-high 11 assists and a collegiate-best 11 rebounds to propel the Midnight Blue & Gold to the second round of the post-season tourney for the fifth-straight time. The first-year Rocket connected on 5-of-14 shots from the field, including 2-of-5 from three-point land, and a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe to break out of a three-game shooting slump. The Marion, OH native had totaled 16 points on 7-of-33 shooting from the floor over the previous three contests.
Freshman Jay-Ann Bravo-Harriott also remained dialed-in offensively and contributed a game-high five triples and a contest-best 19 points. Bravo-Harriott has now made at least three treys on a team-high nine occasions this season.
Senior Inma Zanoguera nearly added another triple-double for the victors, posting 12 points, eight boards and five helpers, while sophomore Janice Monakana had 10 points and seven caroms off the bench.
Toledo was extremely efficient offensively all evening and recorded a whopping 20 assists on 25 field goals and also finished with a commanding 54-42 edge on the glass. Junior Ana Capotosto fueled the effort on the boards, finishing with a career-best 14, followed by Harris, Zanoguera and Monakana. In total, the Rockets had five players with at least five rebounds.
Horizon League Player of the Year Tay’ler Mingo led the Raiders (25-9) with 18 points, followed by Courtney Boyd with 14.
Toledo came out of the gates firing and took advantage of an early 11-2 run to assume a 14-11 lead at the 12:07 mark. Freshman Michaela Rasmussen sparked the burst with six points to give the home team a three-point advantage.
The contest remained close as the first half wore on, before the Rockets went out a game-changing 12-2 burst to open up a 31-24 lead with 3:52 showing on the clock. Bravo-Harriott started the rally with back-to-back three-point field goals, while freshman Nancy Kessler capped it with a pair of layups to force Wright State into a timeout.
UT continued to pour it on as the opening 20 minutes came to an end, benefitting from triples by Monakana and Harris to take a 41-33 advantage into the intermission. The Rockets shot a sizzling 46.2 percent (6-of-13) from beyond the arc in the first stanza to help them build an eight-point cushion.
Wright State started to chip away at the deficit to begin the second half, utilizing a mini 9-3 run to set the score at 50-45 with 12:23 left in regulation. Symone Denham scored five points in the burst, while Mingo was responsible for the other four to make it a two-possession difference.
The Raiders would get as close as three points on three occasions in the waning moments of regulation, but each time UT responded admirably to preserve the lead. On the first occasion, Harris delivered back-to-back field goals to extend the margin. Zanoguera then stepped up on the second rally attempt by scoring six-straight points to keep WSU at bay, before Bravo-Harriott delivered the knockout blow on the third occasion with her fifth three-point field goal of the contest to close out the home triumph.
Tickets for Monday’s second-round game are on sale now and will be $15.00 for adults and $7.50 for children for reserved seats (all seats in the lower bowl) and $12.00 for adults and $6.00 for children for general admission (all seats in the upper level). UT students will once again receive FREE admission with a valid ID. Tickets will go on sale at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow in the UT Ticket Office or by calling (419) 530-GOLD (4653).
Elite, suite, loge, club and courtside seat holders’ tickets will be placed on hold within their ticket account. Elite season ticket holders have until tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. to purchase their tickets before they are released for general sales. Season-ticket holders may purchase their normal seats in one of the following ways:
1. Logging into your account at UTRocketstix.com using your username and password.
2. Calling 419.530.GOLD (4653) and providing your account information.
3. Visiting the UT Ticket Office located in the Sullivan Athletic Complex during business hours.
UT employees may purchase up to two half-price tickets at the UT Ticket Office with a valid UT employee I.D. or UT employees that had season tickets may call the ticket office at (419) 530-GOLD (4653). Additional tickets may be purchased at full-price.
