Eagles Look to Spoil Rockets' Title Hopes

EAGLES LOOK TO SPOIL ROCKETS' TITLE HOPES: The Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team makes the short trek down US-23 Sunday afternoon, March 3, for a Mid-American Conference tilt versus the University of Toledo. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Savage Arena.
The Eagles (8-19, 6-8 MAC) hopes of repeating as the MAC's West Division Champions have been extinguished, but now the ideas of playing the spoiler and getting a better seed in the upcoming FirstEnergy MAC Tournament have taken root. EMU has won back-to-back contests for the first time this season when it topped Northern Illinois, 54-45, in DeKalb, Ill., Feb. 28.
Meanwhile, the Rockets (25-2, 13-1) are riding a 13-game winning streak of their own that saw them pick up a 75-42 road victory at Western Michigan University, Feb. 28. Toledo, which has already clinched at least a share of MAC West Division title and the MAC Championship, closes out the regular season with Ball State Wednesday, March 6, in the Glass City.

A SPOTLIGHT ON THE ROCKETS: The March 3 contest marks the 70th meeting between Toledo and Eastern Michigan, who first met during the 1977-1978 season. The Rockets lead the overall series, 42-27, including winning the earlier match up this season at the Convocation Center, Jan. 16.
In that contest, EMU struggled out of the gate, falling, 56-40, to Toledo. The Eagles were led offensively by Natachia Watkins who tallied a game-high 16 points and eight rebounds. India Hairston scored seven points, and Iesha Collins added five points including the first three-pointer of her career.
Toledo was led in scoring by starting guard Andola Dortch who recorded 14 points on the evening. Yolanda Richardson secured eight caroms for the Rockets while also scoring seven points of her own. Toledo shot 19-of-42 (45.2 percent) in its field goal attempts.

ALL ROADS LEAD TO CLEVELAND: With two games remaining in the regular season, the Eagles would currently be the eight-seed in the upcoming MAC Tournament, March 9-16. For a complete look at the tournament picture, turn to page 13 of these notes.
The victory at NIU improved the Eagles' chances of hosting a first round game in the MAC Tournament, March 9, at 2:30 p.m. against a team to be determined. EMU is now one game up and holds the tie-breaker on Western Michigan for the eighth-seed with two games remaining in the regular-season.

SAVAGE ARENA A TOUGH PLACE TO WIN: Despite being the Eagles' closest conference opponent at just 49 miles, the Rockets have dominated the all-time series with a 23-9 record inside Savage Arena.
Last year in a battle of Mid-American Conference West Division powers, Eastern Michigan used strong shooting and aggressive defense to disrupt the potent Toledo offense, en route to a 70-66 victory in front of a raucous crowd of 3,710 at Savage Arena, Jan. 11, 2012. The loss snapped Toledo's 17-game conference winning streak on their home court.
The Green and White were led by Tavelyn James with a game-high 30 points on 10-of-21 shooting in 39 minutes of work. Natachia Watkins followed with 13 points and Paige Redditt chipped in 12. Taylor Bird turned in her best game as an Eagle as well with eight points on 3-of-5 shooting.
Yolanda Richardson and Andola Dortch each had 11 points to pace Toledo. Brianna Jones was the only other Rocket to reach double figures with 10 points off the bench.

THOMAS BECOMING AN OFFENSIVE THREAT: Mostly known for her defensive and passing abilities, junior Desyree Thomas has become more a part of the Eagles' offensive arsenal. Over the past 10 games, the Waterford, Mich. native has totaled 110 points (11.0 points per game), including a career-best 17-point output against Northern Illinois, Feb. 28. In the team's first 17 contests, Thomas totaled just 59 points (3.5 ppg).

HITE CONTINUES TO GROW: Senior Chelsea Hite continues her development on the court, as the senior center turned in arguably her best career game against Northern Illinois, Feb. 28. The 6-foot-4 Hite set a career-high with 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting, while grabbing five rebounds in 21 minutes of action. She also collected a steal and a block as the Eagles' held the Huskies to just 18-of-57 shooting from the field and 16 turnovers.

JUST ONE HOME GAME LEFT: The Eagles return to the Convocation Center just once more in the 2012-13 regular season. Eastern travels to Toledo, Ohio for a rematch with the Rockets of Toledo, March 3, before wrapping up the home schedule Wednesday, March 6, against Central Michigan. EMU will honor seniors Taylor Bird, India Hairston and Chelsea Hite as they close out their careers in Ypsilanti.

THE 700 CLUB: With her six point performance at Northern Illinois, Feb. 28, junior Natachia Watkins became just the 34th player in EMU women's basketball history to score more than 700 points in a career.

ALLOWING 50 OR LESS: Eastern Michigan is 97-0 all time when allowing 50 points-or-less. Since 2003-04, the Green and White has accomplished the feat 52 times with 27 of those coming against Mid-American Conference foes.

CLIMBING THE ASSIST CHARTS: Junior Desyree Thomas is currently eighth in the EMU record book with 319 career assists. Stephanie Smiley (1998-02) holds the EMU standard with 577 helpers.

BETTER THAN OUR RECORD: The Eagles are better than their record as they have been tied or leading with less than six minutes to play in four losses this season.
Opponent Difference Time Left Final Score
at Butler (Nov. 28) Tied 50-50 5:38 - 2nd L, 59-65
at South Dakota St. (Dec. 4) Lead 61-56 4:33 - 2nd L, 65-66
vs. Ole Miss (Dec. 30) Tied 53-53 5:23 - 2nd L, 58-61
at Akron (Feb. 6) Tied 70-70 4:55 - 2nd L, 81-82

CAGE AMONG THE MAC's BEST FRESHMAN SCORERS: Freshman Bianca Cage has found Mid-American Conference play to her liking. Through 14 games the Memphis, Tenn. native is averaging a team-best 11.5 points per game and a 39.5 percent shooting clip. She is one of only four freshmen to average double figure points in MAC-only contests, joining Ball State's Nathalie Fontaine (14.1), Buffalo's Mackenzie Loesing (13.4) and Western Michigan's Marquisha Harris (12.1).

INTERESTING STATS ABOUT EMU: In its eight victories this season, EMU has scored 62.8 points while the opposition has posted 55.3 points. In those games, opponents shot 38.9 percent from the field compared to 40.9 percent for the Eagles. In defeats, the Eagles have only posted 53.7 points, while giving up 65.6. Another factor in the Eagles' success was the ability to control the glass. EMU has grabbed 36.2 rebounds in the wins, while in setbacks EMU has been out-rebounded by its opponents (37.7 to 38.8).

A LOOK INSIDE THE SPECIALTY STATS: The Eagles are averaging 28.8 points per game in the paint, 16.3 points off the bench, 16.6 points per game off turnovers, 12.0 second-chance points and 6.1 fast break points per game.

SHOOTING BLUES: The Eagles have struggled mightily shooting the basketball in 2012-13. The Green and White has averaged just a 36.9 percent clip from the floor and shot less than 30.0 percent against Northeastern (29.8), Ball State (27.6), Michigan (27.0) and Ball State (25.4). EMU's best performance occurred at Akron, when the squad made 37-of-74 shots for a 50.0 percentage.
The three-point shot has also been an issue, with EMU making more than the opposition in just two contests (Northeastern and Harvard).

Eastern Michigan Athletics

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