Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
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Western Michigan
Women's Basketball Improves to 2-0 in the MAC with 61-52 Victory
1/9/2010 4:56:16 PM | Women's Basketball
Kristen Thomas grabbed a career-best 16 rebounds
Box score.
KALAMAZOO, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – A strong second-half effort on both offense and defense by the Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team led the Eagles to a 61-52 win over the Western Michigan University Broncos in a Mid-American Conference matchup here Saturday afternoon, Jan. 9, in University Arena.
The Eagles, now 12-2 overall and 2-0 in league play, turned a three-point halftime lead into the nine-point win, dropping the Broncos to 5-10 overall and 0-2 in the MAC.
Sophomore guard Tavelyn James (Detroit, Mich.-Mumford) led the Eagles with 18 points with junior guard Cassie Schrock (Wadsworth, Ohio-Wadsworth) adding 16. Kristen Thomas (Winter Park, Fla.-Edgewater-Hillsborough C.C.) grabbed a career-best 16 rebounds, her fifth double-figure rebounding game of the season.
Brenna Bankston and Miame Giden paced Western Michigan with 14 points each.
The Eagles made 21-of-55 shots from the field for a percentage of .382. Western shot .386 from the field, hitting 17-of-44 attempts.
The Broncos jumped out to an early 9-3 lead in the first four minutes of the game, relying mostly on outside jumpers. James was able to hit a long-range three for the lone Eagles' points during that stretch. Chenise Miller (Oak Park, Mich.-West Bloomfield) scored on a layup to cut the deficit to one, 15-14, but her subsequent foul shot was off the mark.
The Broncos quickly built their lead back to seven, 21-14, with 8:48 left, but once again the Eagles responded, forging the first tie of the game at 21-all on a Schrock three-point shot with 5:49 on the clock.
James would hit a three pointer with 5:07 left for the first EMU lead of the game, 24-23, and the Eagles would make it 27-23 on a length of the court layup by Schrock at the 4:47 mark.
Schrock would hit a jumper with 8.6 seconds left to give the Eagles a 32-29 lead heading into intermission.
Western opened the second half with a quick 5-0 run, but the Eagles settled down and moved their advantage to three, 37-34, with 16:24 left on a layup by Thomas.
The two teams traded buckets for the next two minutes before the Eagles motored to a 10-point lead, 54-44, with 4:55 left after out-scoring the home team, 17-10, over a 12-minute span.
The Eagles would hold that lead the rest of the way to preserve the victory.
Eastern will now head to Toledo Wednesday, Jan. 13, for a matchup with a University of Toledo team that is also 2-0 in the MAC.
