Women’s Basketball Comes Up Short Against Bowling Green in MAC Semifinals

Box score.

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Eastern Michigan University women’s basketball team gave a valiant effort, but it was not enough as the Eagles bowed out of the 2007 Kraft Mid-American Conference Tournament with a 71-57 setback to No. 18/20 Bowling Green State University in the semifinal round here at Quicken Loans Arena.

Bowling Green will move on to face Ball State University Saturday, March 10, in the MAC Championship game at 1 p.m. The Cardinals advanced with an 83-72 decision over Northern Illinois earlier in the afternoon.

Senior Sarah VanMetre closed out an exceptional career with her 10^th double-double of the season, grabbing a career-high 16 rebounds and pouring in 14 points. Freshman of the Year Alyssa Pittman stroked 12 points while junior Patrice McKinney added nine points. The game also marked the close of an era, as John C. Fountain signed off the air for the final time after 44 years as the play-by-play voice of EMU radio.

Four BGSU players reached double-figures include Carin Horne with 18 points and seven boards. Ali Mann turned in 13 points while Kate Achter and Lindsay Goldsberry added 12 and 11, respectively.

The Eagles jumped on the board first with a three-ball from Pittman but two scores by Achter quickly gave BGSU the 4-3 edge. Pittman would counter with another trey combined with layup and free throw by McKinney to expand the EMU margin to five points, 9-4, with 16:22 on the clock.

Bowling Green was struggling to find its rhythm, connecting on just three of its first 10 shots compared to 4-of-7 for Eastern. That all would change as after trailing by as many as eight, 14-6, the Falcons used an 11-2 run to take the lead while holding the Eagles scoreless for more than three minutes until a Kelly Watts bucket ended the streak with 11 minutes left.

The advantage would stay on the BGSU side of the ledger, as a Goldsberry score at the 7:35 mark gave the Orange and Brown the edge at four, 22-18. After making 4-of-7 shots to start the game, the Eagles would connect on just three of the next 13 shots, including a scoring drought of nearly five minutes.

With the momentum in its favor, Bowling Green saw its advantage grow to eight, 26-18, on a three-pointer from the arms of Horne. EMU would reduce it back to four, 28-24, on a Pittman runner with 2:55 showing on the clock, however that would be all the close it could get as BG would close the period on a 7-0 run to head to the locker room up 35-24.

During the first 20 minutes of action, EMU shot just 33.3 percent (10-of-30) from the field including 3-of-15 from beyond the arc. On the flipside, the tournament’s top-seed shot 34.2 percent (14-of-31) from the field including 3-of-9 from long-range. Goldsberry led all scorers with nine points in the stanza while EMU was keyed by Pittman with eight.

Following the break the Bowling Green cushion would grow to 16, 46-30, via an 11-6 run that featured consecutive scores from Horne and Amber Flynn with 15:40. EMU would answer with a 7-0 run of its own over the 1:30 to pull within nine, 46-37, forcing BGSU to call a timeout with 14:15 to go.

However, McKinney, the MAC’s Defensive Player of the Year, would pick up her fourth personal foul at the 13:31 mark forcing her to the bench in the midst of the EMU streak. That allowed Liz Honegger to halt the BG skid with a three at 11:51 to make it 49-37. Yet the Green and White continued to hold tight, getting within nine, 56-47, on an Emily Hanley fast break layup at the 8:19 mark.

A pair of Brittany Tyson charity tosses made it 59-53 as the Eastern defense held tough holding BGSU without a score for more than three minutes. That skid came to a end when Horne connected on a three along with McKinney’s fifth foul of the contest to expand the margin back to 11, 64-53, with 3:04 remaining.

Eastern would claw within nine points on a pair of Colleen Russell free-throw tosses, but each time the Falcons would answer with a score of their own as Bowling Green captured the hard-fought 71-57 decision.

Eastern Michigan Athletics

Women’s Basketball Comes Up Short Against Bowling Green in MAC Semifinals

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