Eagles' Regular Season Finale Spoiled by the Chippewas

MAC Tournament Bracket.

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) — Senior Tavelyn James (Detroit, Mich.-Mumford) poured in a game-high 22 points but it was not enough for the Eastern Michigan University women's basketball in its bid to clinch at least a share of the Mid-American Conference regular-season championship. In-state rival Central Michigan University was able to pull off the 61-46 upset Tuesday, Feb. 28, in McGuirk Arena to snap the Eagles' nine-game winning streak.

Bowling Green State University, which defeated Kent State University, 91-48, captured the outright title and the No. 1 overall seed in the upcoming tournament. EMU (21-8, 13-3 MAC) still holds onto a share of the MAC West Division championship, as the University of Toledo notched a 70-65 win at Ball State University to earn its portion of the title.

Due to the postseason format change, EMU will not play another game for the next 10 days, the longest in-season break of the year. The Eagles will now take the No. 2 seed into the MAC Tournament in Cleveland, Ohio, which starts at campus sites on Saturday, March 3. EMU has a bye until the semifinal round and will play the winner of No. 3 seed Toledo versus a yet to be determined opponent Friday, March 9, at approximately 2:30 p.m. in Quicken Loans Arena.

James posted her 107th career double-digit scoring contest and finished with at least 20 points for the 53rd time in her career. Paige Redditt (Kansas City, Mo.-Belton) added six points with eight rebounds and Amber Bogard (Cleveland, Ohio-Beachwood) contributed a career-best six points with four rebounds.

Jessica Green lead all Chippewa (16-14, 8-8 MAC) players with 12 points. Taylor Johnson notched 10 points followed by 10 points from Crystal Bradford.

Eastern Michigan shot 32.7 percent (16-of-49) for the game to go along with 28.6 percent (4-of-14) from the free throw line. Meanwhile, Central Michigan managed a 40.6 percent (26-of-64) clip. The Chips also controlled the glass (38 to 34) and forced 27 Eagle turnovers that led to 30 points.

Jessica Green got the Chips off the a quick 5-0 cushion with less than a minute played. The CMU margin would grow to 12, 16-4, as the Eagles turned the ball over seven times while making just two of their first six shots in the opening five minutes.

After a five minute field goal drought, Natachia Watkins (South Euclid, Ohio-Brush) finally knocked down a jumper with 13:21 showing to pull EMU within eight at 16-8.

EMU continued to score to make it a five point contest, as CMU was experiancing some offensive woes with a nearly six minute scoring hiatus. Then with 4:00 to play, James laid one off the glass on the fastbreak run-out to slice it to 26-22 and force the quick CMU timeout.

The EMU run continued as James knocked down a pair of free throw tosses to give EMU its first lead of the contest, 29-28, with 49 seconds remaining. Bogard then kissed one off the glass to give EMU a 31-30 edge as the teams headed to the break. EMU shot 43.5 percent (10-of-23) for the half and turned the ball over 16 times, compared to seven giveaways for CMU and a 32.5 (13-of-40) shooting clip.

The teams exchanged scores following the intermission with neither side able to put any distance between the other. James connected on her fourth three-pointer of the contest to knot the score at 40-all with 13:50 showing on the second half clock, but CMU found a score of its own to re-take the lead.

The scoring would slow considerably but three consecutive buckets by Bradford pushed the advantage back to four, 48-44, as the clock headed under nine minutes to play. A Bradford assist setup a laser three point field goal shot by Jordan LaDuke to push it to 51-44 in favor of CMU.

Another long-range bomb by Johnson expanded the deficit to 10 points and forced EMU to burn a timeout to regroup.

With turnovers mounting and EMU needing a late rally, the Eagles were unable to match the Chippewas offensive fire-power in the 15-point setback.

MAC Women's Basketball Tournament Schedule

Saturday, March 3, 2012 - First Round (High Seed Campus Sites)
Game 1: No. 12 Ball State at No. 5 Central Michigan, 2 p.m.
Game 2: No. 9 Kent State at No. 8 Ohio, 12 p.m.
Game 3: No. 10 Western Michigan at No. 7 Northern Illinois, 3:05 p.m.
Game 4: No. 11 Buffalo at No. 6 Akron, 2 p.m.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012 - Second Round - Qucken Loans Arena
Game 5: Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner, 12 p.m.
Game 6: Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Winner, 2:30 p.m. *
[*-30 minutes following the completion of the previous game]

Thursday, March 8, 2012 - Quarterfinals - Quicken Loans Arena
Game 7: Game 5 Winner vs. No. 4 Miami, 12 p.m.
Game 8: Game 6 Winner vs. No. 3 Toledo, 2:30 p.m. *

Friday, March 9, 2012 -Semifinals - Quicken Loans Arena
Game 9: Game 7 Winner vs. No. 1 Bowling Green, 12 p.m.
Game 10: Game 8 Winner vs. No. 2 Eastern Michigan, 2:30 p.m. *

Saturday, March 10, 2012 - MAC Championship - Quicken Loans Arena
Game 11: Game 9 Winner vs. Game 10 Winner, 1 p.m.

Next Event

Team Stats

Tavelyn James

Natachia Watkins

Amber Bogard

Paige Redditt

Eastern Michigan Athletics