Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
Illinois State
EMU Women Fall to Illinois State, 79-61
12/2/2007 4:14:57 PM | Women's Basketball
Sophomore Alyssa Pittman leads the Eagles with 22 points
YPSILANTI, Mich. — The Eastern Michigan University women’s basketball team dropped a 79-61 non-conference decision to a visiting Illinois State University team here Sunday afternoon at the Convocation Center.
Illinois State (5-1) used a fast-breaking offense, some deadly shooting, and a dominating rebounding performance to record the win. The visitors shot 49.3 percent from the field, making 34-of-69 attempts and also held a 48-28 advantage on the boards. EMU made 21-of-56 field goals for 37.5 percent.
Sophomore guard Alyssa Pittman (Elkhart, Ind.Elkhart Memorial) led the Eagles with 22 points, making 7-of-16 field-goal attempts and connecting on 6-of-11 three-point shots. Amber Land (Kulm. N.D.-Kulm) and Canea Williams (Mansfield, Ohio-Mansfield Senior) added 12 apiece for the Eagles and Land had a team-best nine rebounds
Tiffany Hudson was the top ISU scorer with 24 while Kristi Cirone added 20 and Ashleen Bracey had 14. Bracey led the Redbirds with nine rebounds.
The visitors opened the game with a flurry, connecting on three three-point field goals inn the first seven minutes to shoot themselves into a nine-point lead, 19-10, at the 13:33 mark.
The Eagles then came up with some hot shooting of their own with Pittman hitting three consecutive triple tries to cut the lead to seven, 23-16, with 11:24 left in the half.
The Green and White came right back with a surge of their own and used a layup by Canea Williams and a layup by Cassie Schrock (Wadsworth, Ohio-Wadsworth) to cut the ISU lead to five, 25-20, with nine minutes remaining in the half.
The Illinois State offense continued its fast-break offense the rest of the half to take a 13-point lead, 42-29, into halftime intermission.
Pittman led the Eagles in the first half with 17 while Cirone and Hudson paced the Redbirds with 13 and 12 points respectively. ISU shot 59.4 percent (19-of-32) from the field to 39.3 percent (11-of-28) for the Eagles in the first 20 minutes. The Redbirds also held a 21-12 advantage on the boards in the first half.
Illinois State came out of halftime on fire, pushing its lead to 50-34 after just four minutes of action. The Redbird lead stayed in double figures though the second half as the visitors recorded the 18-point win.
