Eastern Michigan Falls at Southern Miss in WNIT 3rd Round
Courtesy of Eastern Michigan Athletic Communications
Southern Miss 76, Eastern Michigan 65
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (EMUEagles.com) — Eastern Michigan University's women's basketball team fell in the Sweet 16 of the Women's National Invitational (WNIT) to the University of Southern Mississippi, 76-65, Wednesday, March 25 at Reed Green Coliseum. The Eagles led for the first 30 minutes of the contest, but the Lady Eagles strung together a 39-18 run in the final part of the second half to secure the win and advance to the Elite Eight. With the setback, the Eagles' 2014-15 campaign comes to a close as one of the most memorable seasons in EMU history. The Green and White tied the school record for wins, holding a 24-13 record, while Southern Miss now sports a 25-10 record on the season.
The Eagles were led by Janay Morton (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) and Cha Sweeney (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers) with 14 and 13 points, respectively, fueled by a combined six three-pointers. Sweeney additionally led the team in steals, assists, and rebounds, with six on each stat line, which was a career high in swipes and just one off her season high in rebounds. Phillis Webb (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) also chipped in a season-high 13 points, while Jamaica Bucknor (Brooklyn, N.Y.-Weaver-ASA College) was the final Eagle to notch double-digit points with 10.
Eastern Michigan had won its previous two WNIT games on the road at Drake and Tulsa and entered the third round contest with the 11th-longest road winning streak in the nation at seven,
As a team, EMU shot at a 38.2 percent clip from the field (26-of-68), while going 28.6 percent from three-point land (8-of-28). Though the Green and White forced the Lady Eagles into 20 turnovers, the team also committed 18 of their own. Southern Miss was able to go 29-of-61 from the field for a 47.5 percent efficiency rate, and hit 40 percent of their three-point attempts, going 8-of-20 from beyond the arc. The Lady Eagles also out-rebounded the Eagles, 42-36, and held a 23-18 advantage on assists. Southern Miss was led by Tamara Jones, who paced all players with 23 points and 10 rebounds, while Alex Coyne and Brittany Dinkins added 11 and 10, respectively.
Eastern got out of the gates quickly, as Sera Ozelci (Ankara, Turkey-TED Ankara College-Odessa College) drained a long jumper to open up scoring and the Green and White forced a Golden Eagle turnover within the first 30 minutes of play. A short jumper from Rachel Kehoe (St. Clair, Mich.-St. Clair-St. Clair CC) gave the Eagles a 4-0 lead, but Jones quickly scored the first five points for the Lady Eagles. The two teams continued to run the floor quickly and put up shots, with makes from Webb and Sweeney giving the Green and White a 9-5 edge with 16:33 to play.
The Eagles continued to post points on their two-minute, 8-0 run highlighted by a triple from Webb to give the squad a 14-5 advantage while forcing four turnovers within four minutes. The Lady Eagles were not silenced, going on a seven-point run of their own sparked by a triple from Dinkins to get Southern Miss within three points, 15-12, with 11:49 remaining.
Sweeney got the Eagles back on track with a steal and fastbreak dish to Bucknor for an easy layup, and Morton followed it up with a corner three-pointer for a 20-12 advantage. Southern Miss made three baskets in a row going into the final five minutes of the first half, coming within two points of the Eagles, but Webb got the gears moving for the Green and White with back-to-back jumpers, extending the lead to 30-24 with 4:31 remaining.
Webb continued to shine for the Green and White, notching her 10th points of the night with an elbow jumper to give the Eagles a 34-28 advantage. In the final minute of play, Southern Miss mustered four more points while the Eagles closed out their scoring with a layup from Bucknor, with Eastern holding on to a 36-32 lead going into the locker rooms.
At the half, Webb led the Eagles with 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field, while also pulling down three rebounds. Morton and Sweeney chipped in six points apiece courtesy of a pair of triples for the two sophomores, and Sweeney also led the team in rebounds (4) and steals (5). As a team, Eastern shot 15-of-37 from the field for a 40.5 percent clip, but struggled from three-point range after hitting just 26.7 percent of its shots. The Lady Eagles shot more effectively on the floor, hitting 48.3 percent of their field goals (14-of-29) and 44.4 percent of their triples (4-of-9). However, Southern Miss was plagued by turnovers, with 15, and was outrebounded 21-17 in the opening 20 minutes.
Southern Miss quickly scored in the opening seconds of the second half, as Brooke Rhodes hit a triple to bring the Lady Eagles within one point, 36-35. The Eagles retaliated with buckets from Sweeney, Webb, and two treys by Morton to string together an 11-point run for a 47-35 advantage in just over three minutes on the court.
The squads went basket-for-basket over the next three minutes before Southern Miss would come within three points after a three-pointer by Coyne and two jumpers by Jones, though the Eagles still held on to the 51-48 lead with 12:40 on the clock. Sweeney was quick to silence the Lady Eagles' run with a long jumper on a quick trip down the court, but Coyne marked up two assists on jumpers to Voche' Martin and Jones to bring Southern Miss within one point, trailing 53-52 with 10:52 remaining in the contest.
After leading for the entirety of the contest up until the 10:18 mark, Eastern relinquished the advantage to the Lady Eagles on a quintet of points from Martin, trailing 57-53. Southern Miss did not hold on to the lead for long after Sweeney sank a free throw and Bucknor drilled a three-pointer to knot the score, 57-57.
The Lady Eagles then took back a seven-point advantage, as the Eagles trailed 64-57 with 4:58 to play in the half. Eastern found its first basket in nearly four minutes off a Buknor jumper, but a layup by Jerontay Clemens would give Southern Miss their seven-point lead back with 4:05 remaining.
From there, the Eagles were unable to gain back the lead, falling in a final count of 76-65. With the setback, the Green and White closes out one of the most successful campaigns in program laurels, and will look to repeat and improve in 2015-16.
