EMU Wins Sole Possession of First Place in MAC West

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YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) — There was plenty at stake here Tuesday, Feb. 21, in the Convocation Center and the Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team was up to the challenge, using a fast-paced offense and a smothering defense to record a 54-33 win over the University of Toledo Rockets in a battle for sole possession of first place in the Mid-American Conference West Division.

The Eagles and Rockets entered the game with identical 11-2 MAC marks and the host team forced a whopping 28 turnovers with 16 steals to get the offense rolling in the 21-point win to stand alone at the top of the West Division. The Rockets season-low point total was also the fewest ever scored against Eastern by UT, and it marked the lowest output for Toledo since a 28 point showing at Marquette, Nov. 24, 2004.

Eastern, now 20-7 overall and 12-2 in the MAC, was once again led by senior guard Tavelyn James (Detroit, Mich.-Mumford) who scored 20 with senior forward Paige Redditt (Kansas City, Mo.-Belton) adding 11 points and nine rebounds. Sophomore forward Natachia Watkins (Euclid, Ohio-Brush) added 10 points.

The Eagles have now won 20 games in six out of the last nine seasons. Prior to 2003-04, EMU had never won more than 18 games in a single season.

Toledo, now 18-8 overall and 11-3 in the MAC, was paced by Yolanda Richardson with 18 points and nine rebounds.

Eastern shot 38.7 percent from the field, making 24-of-62 attempts and held a big 39-27 edge on the boards. Toledo, meanwhile, was shooting 35.1 percent, making just 13-of-37 field-goal attempts.

Both teams struggled in the early going, and after Toledo scored the first bucket, the Eagles ran off six unanswered points to take a 6-2 lead at the 16:27 mark.

Toledo would come back to tie it at 6-all before Eastern would answer with eight straight points to built a 14-6 lead with 7:32 left.

The Rockets would keep the deficit at four over the next three minutes, but Eastern would gradually build its lead to 24-16 on a layup by Redditt with two minutes remaining.

James would close out the half with a layup to give Eastern's its biggest lead of the half at 10, 28-18.

Redditt would lead all first-half scorers with 11 while Yolanda Richardson scored 10 for the Rockets.

The teams were pretty equal in first-half shooting with Eastern making 13-of-32 field goals for 40.6 percent while the Rockets shot 38.9 percent, making 7-of-18. Eastern held an 18-12 edge on the boards in the first 20 minutes.

Toledo opened the second half with a quick four points, but James settled the Eagles down with a breakaway layup at the 15:34 mark to boost EMU's lead back to eight, 30-22.

The EMU defense would help the offense with several key steals to help the home squad build a 15-point lead, 44-29, with 10:46 left and the Green and White would keep building that advantage all the way to the final buzzer.

The Eagles will stay home Saturday, Feb. 25, for their final home regular-season game of the season, a 2 p.m. battle with the Ball State Cardinals.

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Team Stats

Tavelyn James

Paige Redditt

Natachia Watkins

India Hairston

Eastern Michigan Athletics