Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
Buffalo
Eagles Charge Past Buffalo
1/28/2006 9:14:53 PM | Women's Basketball
Eagles uses stellar defense to claim ninth consecutive victory
Box score.
BUFFALO, N.Y.- The Eastern Michigan University women’s basketball team turned in a stellar defensive performance to extended its winning streak to a school-record nine games, as it defeated the University at Buffalo, 56-41, here at Alumni Arena Saturday night. The Eagles outscored the Bulls 22-11 over the contest’s final 12 minutes to claim the hard fought victory.
Junior Sarah VanMetre paced the Eagle attack with 14 points and five rebounds. With the decision EMU improves to 13-5 (7-0 MAC). The 7-0 start to the conference season marks the program’s best start in school history. Senior Ryan Coleman contributed to the attack by scoring 12 points and pulling down eight rebounds, while Nikki Knapp added 11 points.
The Bulls were led by Heather Turner with 14 points as Buffalo drops to 7-10 (2-5 MAC). Jamie Schiebner also added six points and pulled down a team-high six rebounds.
Eastern rolled off a quick five points as VanMetre and Annie Malatinsky each connected on their first shot of the contest. After being held scoreless for the four minutes, UB got on the board via a pair of free throws by Brooke Meunier which was promtly followed up by a Heather Turner layup to cut the Eagles lead to just one.
Coleman and Patrice McKinney responded with layups of their own to push the EMU edge to six, 10-4, but the Bulls used a 9-2 run to pull back to within a possession at 15-13 with 8:29 left in the period. Buffalo tied the score at 15 with 5:41 to go, but EMU went on an 13-3 run of its of its own over the final five minutes to take a 28-18 lead into the lockerroom at the half.
The Eagle defense did its part holding the Bulls to just 31.8 percent shooting (7-of-22) while on the other end of the floor connecting on 11-of-26 shots for a 42.3 percent clip. Coleman led all scorers with nine points in the first 20 minutes, as Malatinsky added six for the Green and White on 2-of-4 shooting from beyond the arc. Turner’s eight points and five boards paced Buffalo in the period.
Following the intermission Buffalo outscored the Eastern Michigan 12-6 over the first nine minutes to cut the deficit to four, 34-30. Three consecutive baskets by VanMetre over a two minutes stretch pushed the advantage back up to nine, 41-32, with 9:07 left in the contest.
The defense clamped down holding UB without a field goal for more than eight minutes as the Eastern edge ballooned to 17, 50-33, as Coleman converted on the fastbreak layup and the free throw. UB would never threaten the rest of the way as the Eagles captured the 15 victory.
The Eagles are next in action Wednesday, Feb. 1, when they battle the MAC East Division leading Bowling Green State University Falcons at Anderson Arena in Bowling Green, Ohio. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
