Courtesy of Eastern Michigan Athletic Communications
Eastern Michigan 69, Tulsa 57
TULSA, Okla. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team tied a program-best with 24-wins, defeating the University of Tulsa, 69-57, on the road in the second round of the Women's National Invitational Tournament Sunday, March 22, at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
With the win, Eastern tied the 2010-11 school record for victories, improving to 24-12 overall in the 2014-15 campaign, while the Golden Hurricane conclude their season with an 18-13 overall record. Not only did the win tie the most in program history, but also marked the first time in program history that the Eagles have won back-to-back postseason road games. Furthermore, EMU is the only road team so far to have won twice in the 2015 Postseason WNIT.
The Green and White shot 42.6 percent from the floor, making 26-of-61 shots, while they made eight three-pointers for a 66.7 shooting percentage. Sophomore Janay Morton (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) paced EMU with 18 points, going 8-for-18 from the floor and 2-for-5 from three-point land, while Cha Sweeney (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers) also scored 18 points, including making six shots from the free throw line. All of Sweeney's points came in the second half as the sophomore stepped up to contribute to the Eagle victory after going 0-for-6 in the first half, while Morton added four assists and three steals to her stat line. Jamaica Bucknor (Brooklyn, N.Y.-Weaver (ASA College)) was the final Eastern player to notch double-digit scoring, notching 12 points for EMU, while matching a team-high nine rebounds. Also pulling down nine boards for the Green and White was senior Brianna Puni (St. Charles, Mo.-Incarnate Word (Illinois State)) who added six points toward the Eagle offense and Sera Ozelci (Ankara, Turkey-TED Ankara (Odessa College)) who dropped two three-pointers for Eastern Michigan.
EMU forced Tulsa into 15 turnovers, which turned into 21 points, while the Eagle bench outscored the Golden Hurricane 24-0. Moreover, the Green and White swiped 10 balls compared to TU's six and dished out 14 assists, including six from Sweeney.
Tulsa shot 22-for-57 from the floor for a 38.6 shooting percentage, while its offensive output was distributed amongst just five players, two of which reached double-digits. Ashley Clark and Mariah Turner were the only UT players to notch double-digit scoring, tallying 18 and 16 points, respectively, while Erika Wakefield had nine points for the Golden Hurricane. Kelsee Grovey had three of the TU's six steals and added eight points and five rebounds as Tulsa outrebounded EMU 39-37. Overall, Tulsa fell to 0-10 on the year when shooting less than 40.0 percent from the field.
Just like the first game of the tournament, the Eagles scored the first lead of the game when Morton knocked down a three-pointer on the second possession of the game but Tulsa quickly responded on its next trip down the floor. The two teams exchanged baskets before the Golden Hurricane missed four-straight shots and the Green and White forced two turnovers to take the 16-9 lead with 12:11 remaining in the first half of action.
Eastern used a 9-0 run and a five-minute scoring drought from Tulsa to maintain a seven-point advantage with 10:35 left to play in the half. The Eagles started to struggle to find the basket, but quickly found a 5-0 run with a Bucknor trey and a Morton jumper to go up 23-13 over TU. Eastern continued to threaten the Golden Hurricane from beyond the arc finding back-to-back treys to extend its lead to 16, 29-13, with less than four minutes to play in the first half.
Tulsa closed out the half with a 5-1 run, but it was the Eagles who carried a 12-point lead into the locker room, leading the Golden Hurricane 30-18 after shooting 45.5 percent from downtown. The Eagles made five threes in the first half and went 12-for-34 from the floor for a 35.3 shooting percentage. Bucknor and Morton paced EMU offensively with nine points apiece, while Puni added four points and four rebounds. The Green and White dominated the boards with Bucknor, Puni and Webb all grabbing four rebounds apiece and Rachel Kehoe (St. Clair, Mich.-St. Clair (St. Clair County C.C.)) nabbed three boards for Eastern Michigan.
The Eagles stellar defense in the first half not only allowed them to take a 12-point lead at the half, but also was the second-fewest points Tulsa has scored in the first half the entire 2014-15 season as the Golden Hurricane scored just 17 points vs. Tulane, Jan. 20.
Tulsa shot 34.8 percent from the floor in the first half with Kadan Brady scoring a team-best seven points in the first 20 minutes of action, while Clark nabbed seven points for the Golden Hurricane.
TU came out with the momentum to start the second half of play, cutting the Green and White lead to seven before Sweeney made a short jumper to give EMU the 36-27 lead. The Golden Hurricane responded with five points of their own to work their way back within four of Eastern, forcing Head Coach Tory Verdi to call a timeout to slow the tempo of the Tulsa offense.
The timeout was not in vain as Sweeney and Bucknor combined for five points to give EMU the 41-32 advantage with 12:42 left to play. Tulsa threated to take the lead for the first time in the contest draining back-to-back three-pointers to come within two of the Green and White, 44-42. The Eagles followed up the Tulsa threes with an 11-2 run not only shutting down the Golden Hurricane offense but also taking the nine-point, 55-47, lead with 7:08 remaining.
Sweeney stepped up in the final seven minutes of action, nabbing five-straight points for the Eagles that would allow Eastern to take a 61-51 lead with 5:11 left to play. The two teams started to exchange points per possession with the Green and White maintaining a double-digit lead, 65-53, with less than three minutes remaining inside the Reynolds Center.
The Eagles used three free throws to close out the game to earn the 69-57 second round WNIT victory over Tulsa after leading the entire contest.
Eastern Michigan will advance to the "Sweet 16" round of the WNIT where it will travel to Hattiesburg, Miss. to take on the University of Southern Mississippi Wednesday, March 25, at 8 p.m. ET inside the Reed Green Coliseum.
