Cage's Career-High 25 Points Lifts Eagles to Victory, 56-52

Postgame Audio.

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – In the first Mid-American Conference game of the season, the Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team left Kalamazoo with an exciting 56-52 victory over the Western Michigan Broncos Thursday Jan. 10.

Bianca Cage (Memphis, Tenn.–Southwind) scored a career-high 25 points, all coming in the second half, to lead the Eagles. The freshman guard scored 25 of the team's final 33 points in the win. Cage finished 10-of-16 shooting from the floor including 5-of-10 from beyond the arc. Prior to tonight's breakout performance, her career high in scoring was six points against Michigan.

With 25 points from Cage off of the bench, Eastern outscored Western, 33-17, in bench points. The Eagles also turned defense into offense, scoring 21 points off of 28 WMU turnovers. The victorious Eagles (3-11, 1-0 MAC) shot 23-of-60 from the floor for 38.3 percent including 6-of-14 from three-point range.

On the other side of the court, Western Michigan finished 20-of-49 for a 40.8 shooting percentage from the floor. Like EMU, the Broncos made six threes, going 6-of-19 from beyond the arc. WMU was led in scoring by Marquisha Harris and Aurielle Anderson who both chipped in 12 points for the Broncos, who drop to 4-10 on the season and 0-1 in MAC play.

The Eagles started off the scoring with a basket from the block by India Hairston (Flint, Mich.–Hamady). Following a missed three by the Broncos, EMU orchestrated a fast-break ending in a Sara Stone (Plymouth, Mich.–Salem) layup courtesy of a crisp pass from Denaya Brazzle (Portland, Ore.–Jefferson). Stone later added an offensive put-back, and Amber Bogard (Cleveland, Ohio–Beachwood) drained a jumper from the foul line to give Eastern an early 10-4 lead at the 15:09 mark of the first half.

With the Green and White leading 14-7, Corie Buchanan scored seven straight points, part of a 14-0 WMU run to give the Broncos a 21-14 lead and prompting EMU Head Coach Tory Verdi to call timeout with 6:02 remaining in the first half.

Chelsea Hite (Ligonier, Ind.–West Noble) ended the scoring Eagles' scoring drought, cutting the deficit to five. However, both teams played tight defense, allowing one basket each in the last six minutes. Going into the locker room, the Eagles trailed by four, 23-19.

Turnovers plagued both teams in the first half as Eastern committed 11 turnovers while Western turned the ball over 15 times, most of them coming via traveling violations.

Each team made nine shots from the floor in the first half. After starting off making 7-of-14 baskets, EMU finished the half 2-of-15 shooting to go 9-of-29 for a 31.0 shooting percentage in the opening twenty minutes. The Broncos shot 9-of-22 for 40.9 percent, making 6-of-10 shots to end the half.

Just as she did in the first half, Hairston started the second half scoring with a jumper from the elbow to cut the WMU lead in half, 23-21. After a Broncos' three, Bogard answered on the other end with a deuce. Cage started her scoring tear, taking a steal to the hoop and forcing former EMU assistant coach and WMU Head Coach Shane Clipfell to call a timeout with his team leading 26-25 at the 16:32 mark of the second half.

Cage continued to be on fire as the freshman from Memphis, Tenn. scored the Eagles' next 12 points to give Eastern the lead back, 35-33, with 12:13 left in the game. Four minutes later, back-to-back breakaway layups by Cage, including one from a slick pass by Iesha Collins (Chicago, Ill.–Bogan),increased the EMU lead to 41-35 at 7:55 remaining. Through a nine minute stretch, Cage scored 19 of 21 points for Eastern Michigan.

Western Michigan would not go away as three consecutive threes were made between the two teams. Going into the final media timeout, the Eagles held a one point advantage, 49-48. Coming out of the break, the Broncos regained the lead on a runner in the lane by Anderson with 2:48 to go in the game.

After both teams failed to score on their next two possessions, Cage once again found the hoop from long range to give Eastern a 52-50 lead. However, the Broncos countered with a jumper to tie the game at 52 with only 56 seconds left on the clock, prompting Coach Verdi to take a full timeout to draw up a play.

The timeout paid off, as Natachia Watkins (South Euclid, Ohio–Brush) found an open look to give the lead back to the Green and White with only 34 seconds to go. Following WMU's final timeout, the Eagles defense held strong to force a missed jumper and causing the Broncos to foul Bogard.

Bogard missed the front-end of the one-and-one, giving WMU life. However, the Eastern defense once again played tight defense without fouling, forcing a tough shot that didn't find iron. With just two seconds left, a deep inbounds pass landed into the hands of Desyree Thomas (Waterford, Mich.–Mott), who put in the game's final bucket, giving the Eagles the 56-52 victory and a win in their first conference game of the season.

Although the Eagles will stay on the road in the MAC, they will stay in-state, traveling north to face Central Michigan, Sunday, Jan. 13, at 2 p.m.

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Team Stats

Bianca Cage

Amber Bogard

Sara Stone

India Hairston

Eastern Michigan Athletics