Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
Ohio (MAC Tournament Quarterfinals $)
EMU Women Bow Out of MAC Tournament with Loss to Ohio
3/11/2008 5:54:27 PM | Women's Basketball
Second-half rally falls short for Eagles
Box score.
CLEVELAND, Ohio — A furious second-half rally fell short for the Eastern Michigan University women’s basketball team here Tuesday (March 11) in a quarterfinal game of the Kraft Mid-American Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament against the Ohio University Bobcats in Quicken Loans Arena.
The Eagles, trailing by 16 at the half and by as many as 18 with 16 minutes left in the game, came all the way back to a five-point deficit, 53-48, with 9:10 left in the game, but Ohio held off the challenge to record a 76-62 win.
The loss ends EMU’s tournament run and 2007-08 season at 17-12. Ohio advances to the semifinals with a 19-12 record.
Senior center Colleen Russell (Windsor, Ontario-Brennan) closed out her EMU career with a double-double, scoring 20 points and hauling down 10 rebounds. Teammate Amanda Compton (Ypsilanti, Mich.-Ann Arbor, Mich.-Huron) matched Russell with 20 points. Jennifer Poff led four Ohio players in double figures with 15.
Eastern shot just 35.1 percent (20-of-57) from the field for the game and the Eagles hit 7-of-22 3-point shots (31.8 percent). Ohio made 27-of-57 field goals (47.4 percent) and the Bobcats held a 40-32 rebound advantage.
The Bobcats opened the game with a flurry of threes, with their first five field goals of the game triples, to stake a 17-8 lead at the 12:24 mark of the first half.
Ohio would built its advantage to as much as 19, 36-17, with 1:08 left before Russell connected on two field goals and a free throw over the final minute to trim Ohio’s lead to 16, 38-22, at the half.
The Eagles would suffer from poor shooting in the first 20 minutes, hitting just 7-of-30 field goals for 23.3 percent. EMU made just 2-of-12 (.16.7) 3-point attempts in the first half. The Bobcats on the other hand shot 48.3 percent (14-of-29) from the field and 42.9 percent (6-of-14) beyond the 3-point arc. Ohio also held a 23-18 rebound edge.
Russell paced the Eagles with nine points and five boards in the first half while Ohio was led by Poff’s 12 points.
Russell attempted to jump-start the Eagles at the beginning of the second half, scoring six straight points to keep Eastern within striking distance. Compton then found the range from the 3-point line, bombing two long triples to cut Ohio’s lead to just 12, 45-34, with 15:02 left in the game.
The Eagles kept the offense rolling, cutting the Bobcat lead all the way to five, 51-46, by out-scoring Ohio, 9-2, from 12:44 to the 10:24 mark.
The Eagles would hang around from that point until Ohio began to pull away over the next eight minutes, building the margin back to 15 and closing out with the 14-point victory.
