Women's Basketball Faces Western Michigan Wednesday

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EAGLES AND BRONCOS LOOK FOR FIRST MAC WIN WEDNESDAY: The Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team looks to snap a five-game losing skid Wednesday evening, Jan. 21, versus Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Mich. The Mid-American Conference West Division tilt is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. inside University Arena. Eastern Michigan enters the game still in search of its first league win of the year, following a 69-62 overtime setback to Northern Illinois, Jan. 17, that dropped the Eagles to 4-12 (0-4 MAC). The Broncos have lost six straight and are 4-13 (0-4 MAC) after a 98-87 loss at Central Michigan.

ALL-TIME VERSUS WESTERN MICHIGAN: Wednesday's contest marks the 64th meeting between the Broncos and Eagles, who first played during the 1976-77 season. EMU leads the all-time series, 34-29, and has won five of the last six meetings. Last year, the Eagles posted a 67-61 victory at University Arena in Kalamazoo, Mich., Feb. 19, 2008. Meanwhile the Broncos notched an 83-72 victory at the Convocation Center, Jan. 23, 2008. Eastern has won three straight in Kalamazoo with the last loss occurring during the 2004-05 season, when Western captured a hard-fought 85-80 decision, Jan. 15.

EASTERN LOOKS TO GET BACK ON TRACK: Eastern Michigan's 0-4 start to the Mid-American Conference schedule marks the team's slowest start to a league schedule since the 1997-98 campaign. That season head coach Paulette Stein's crew dropped five straight en route to a 5-14 MAC finish.

MINUTES COMING FROM THE UNDERCLASSMEN: To further illustrate the point that Eastern Michigan is a young team growing before our eyes, 76 percent of the minutes played this season have come from underclassmen who have at least two more years of eligibility remaining. Twenty-nine (29) percent is coming from freshmen.

BOWLING GREEN ON THE HORIZON: Saturday (Jan. 24) afternoon's contest marks the 56th meeting between the Falcons and Eagles, who first met during the 1976-1977 season. BGSU has dominated the all-time series, 41-14, including winning the last five meetings between the two schools. Last season, the Falcons captured a 57-43 victory at venerable Anderson Arena in Bowling Green, Ohio, Feb. 16, 2008. The Eagles held the lead throughout most of the contest, but the Falcons used a 22-3 run over the final 8:09 to claim the victory. Colleen Russell paced the EMU attack with a game-high 18 points and eight rebounds in 24 minutes of work.

EAGLES VERSUS THE EAST DIVISION: Eastern Michigan has posted a 19-12 record versus MAC East Division opponents since the 2004-05 campaign. Eastern finished 4-3 last season and was 4-4 in cross-divisional games in 2006-07, 6-2 in 2005-06 and 5-3 in 2004-05.

SOMETIMES 40 MINUTES ISN'T ENOUGH: The Eagles have played in three overtime games this season which is tied for the most during a season in the program's 33-year history. During the 1979-80 campaign, Eastern went to overtime versus Northern Michigan, Pittsburgh and Western Michigan. For EMU's complete overtime history, turn to page five of these notes.

THE ROAD WARRIORS ARE COMING BACK: The Eagles have been a good road team under head coach AnnMarie Gilbert. In two years under Gilbert, EMU is 9-11 in road contests. This trend continues in the MAC, as the Eagles are 6-4 in conference road games.

VOTE JAMES, TAVELYN JAMES: The presidential election might be over but another race is just heating up – the battle for the Mid-American Conference's Freshman of the Year honor. Tavelyn James has already shown that she deserves heavy consideration for the award. In 16 games, the Detroit native is averaging 13.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.4 steals and 2.0 assists in 30.6 minutes per game. She leads the Eagles in both field goals made (80) and steals (38) and is ranked second in threes made (26) field goals attempted (195) and free throws made (35).
James is ranked 10th in the MAC in scoring and is the leader in points per game among the five first-year student-athletes that crack the league's top 30. James also cracks the league's ranks in steals (fourth), free-throw percentage (eighth) and minutes played (18th).

ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO AN END SOONER OR LATER: EMU's 16-game winning streak over Central Michigan came to an end Saturday, Jan. 10, with a 77-56 setback at the Convocation Center. The Eagles' dominance over the Chippewas dated back to the 2000-01 season and included six different coaches (EMU – Suzy Merchant, Shane Clipfell, AnnMarie Gilbert; CMU – Ina Nicosia, Eileen Kleinfelter and Sue Guevara). During the seven-year span, the Eagles won by an average of 13 points (68.4 to 55.5) including posting a 37-point victory, 87-50, at the Convocation Center, Jan. 10, 2004. The Green and White have lost six straight to open the conference slate just one time in the program's history. During the 1993-94 campaign, the Eagles finished 0-18 in the Mid-American Conference and 1-24 overall.

Eastern Michigan Athletics

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