EMU Evens MAC Mark at 1-1 With Win Over Northern Illinois

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YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) — The Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team evened its Mid-American Conference record at 1-1 on the season with a 64-52 victory over the visiting Northern Illinois University Huskies here Sunday, Jan. 8, afternoon in a game televised by SportsTime Ohio.

Head Coach AnnMarie Gilbert's Eagles, now 9-6 overall, raced out to a 28-12 halftime lead and kept the pressure on the rest of the way to record the 12-point victory.

Senior forward Paige Redditt (Kansas City, Mo.-Belton) scored a game-high 17 points with eight rebounds and two blocked shots, moving her into second place on the EMU career blocks list with 105. Senior guard Tavelyn James (Detroit, Mich.-Mumford) scored 16, sophomore Natachia Watkins (South Euclid, Ohio-Brush) added 13 points and nine rebounds and sophomore Olivia Fouty (Toledo, Ohio-Sylvania Northview) chipped in 11 points with eight boards.

Northern Illinois, now 6-8 overall and 0-2 in MAC play was led by Satavia Taylor with 14 and Courtney Shelton with 12.

Eastern connected on 24-of-56 shots from the field for 42.9 percent while NIU was making 22-of-54 attempts for 40.7 percent. Northern would also hit 7-of-14 three-point field goals while EMU was 0-for-6 from beyond the arc. The Eagles held a convincing 41-29 advantage on the boards.

The Eagles opened the game with a flurry, scoring the game's first eight points and building up a 13-2 lead in the first seven minutes of the game.

After EMU went up 19-5 on a Redditt layup at the 10:54 mark, the visitors went on a mini-run to cut the deficit to nine, 19-10, on two free throws by Shelton.

The Eagles would respond to that NIU rush with a quick 7-0 run of its own to post a 26-10 lead. Eastern would finish the half on a fast-break layup with just six seconds left for a 28-12 lead at intermission.

Turnovers were the story of the first half as NIU had 16 and EMU 14. EMU would shoot 37.5 percent from the field in the first half, making 9-of-24 while holding the visitors to just 20.8 percent on 5-of-24. Eastern also held a 20-15 edge on the boards.

The Eagles would come out of halftime on a mission, building the lead to 38-17 at the 15:40 mark and would increase that advantage to as much as 25, 48-23, with 12:47 left before closing out the 12-point victory.

Eastern will remain in Mid-American Conference West Division action Wednesday, Jan. 11, with a 7 p.m. game at Toledo.

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Team Stats

Paige Redditt

Tavelyn James

Natachia Watkins

Olivia Fouty

Eastern Michigan Athletics