Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
Indiana State (Postseason WNIT)
Women's Hoops Falls at Indiana State
3/16/2006 9:21:19 PM | Women's Basketball
Eagles eliminated in first round of WNIT for second straight season
Box score.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — The Eastern Michigan University women’s basketball team fell to a host Indiana State squad, 79-57, in the first round of the 2006 Postseason WNIT here Thursday night at the Hulman Center. The Eagles, who were making their third consecutive postseason appearance, could not match the up-tempo pace of the Sycamores who jumped off to an early nine point lead, to which EMU could never recover from.
The game was the final contest played in a Green and White uniform by seniors Ryan Coleman, Nikki Knapp and Melis Ulker. With the loss, EMU finishes the season with a 22-8 overall record and 15-1 in league play. ISU improves to 27-5 and will face the winner of the Rice-Indiana game in WNIT action.
A pair of Eagles scored season-highs with junior Sarah VanMetre leading the Eagle attack with 20 points, while Ulker scored 11, tying her season best. Coleman finished the game with 10 points. She reached double figures in scoring in every game this season, however today’s contest marked a season-low.
The Sycamores were led by Melanie Boeglin who netted 20 points. The win improves ISU to 32-5 over the last four years in the Hulman Center, including a 12-1 mark this season.
EMU saw a nine point halftime deficit balloon to a 20 point ISU lead in the second half. Eastern was able to cut the advantage to 13, but a pair of ISU three pointers put the Eagles away. The Sycamores lead by as many as 25 in the contest.
The Eagles, the second stingiest defense in the conference, could not control the 11th ranked nationally Sycamore offense which averages 76.5 points per game. The 79 point ISU output were the most allowed by Eastern this season.
Turnovers plagued the Eagles early on with the Sycamores pressing every possession. ISU built a 14-6 lead with 12 points off nine EMU turnovers. The lead was cut to five, 14-9, after a three point basket by freshman Amanda Compton at the 11:40 mark. The Eagles reduced the lead to three on two separate occasions, but ISU built its lead to nine, 24-15 after a three pointer in the corner near the eight minute mark.
The Eagles rallied off six straight points over the next two minutes forcing the Sycamores to burn their second timeout with the score 24-21 with 6:52 left in the half. ISU returned with a 9-2 run of its own to take a ten point advantage. The Sycamores held a 38-27 lead into halftime, thanks enlarge part to nine points from the charity stripe compared to just two for the Eagles in the period.
EMU was paced by VanMetre with 10 first half points. The Eagles finished the half with 15 turnovers leading to 21 ISU points. The Sycamores shot 14-of-30 (46.7%) from the field compared to Eastern’s 12-of-29 (41.4%).
