Eagles Give Nationally-Ranked Spartans a Scare in East Lansing

Post Audio: Coach_Verdi. Janay_Morton.

EAST LANSING, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team dropped its first road contest of the 2014-15 campaign, falling to No. 14/15 Michigan State University (1-0) at the Breslin Center, Nov. 16. The Eagles (1-1) cut the deficit to just four points with 2:27 to play, but the Spartans (1-0) closed the contest with seven of the game's final 11 points run to take the non-conference affair.

Sophomore Janay Morton (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) powered the EMU offense scoring a team-best 13 points, while Shannise Heady (Hazel Crest, Ill.-Seton Hall) added 10 points for the Eagles. Sophomore offensive catalyst Cha Sweeney (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers) notched nine points before fouling out of the contest with just over 10 minutes to play. Transfer Rachel Kehoe (St. Clair, Mich.-St Clair-St. Clair CC) led the Eagles at the basket, pulling down six rebounds, while Sweeney and Heady each grabbed five rebounds for the Green and White.

The Eagles shot just 35.4 percent from the floor for the entire contest, powered behind 43.8 percent shooting from the floor in the second half. EMU notched 12 team steals with Sasha Dailey (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers) leading the way for the second-straight contest with four. Eastern Michigan forced the Spartans to turnover the ball 21 times, while EMU had 19 miscues. The Green and White found some power in the paint despite being undersized, scoring 30 points compared to MSU's 28.

Michigan State saw an impressive showing from Aerial Powers who capped off her afternoon with 20 points, 15 rebounds, three assists, and three steals. Senior Tori Jankoska matched Powers' points with 20 and grabbed eight rebounds for MSU. The Spartans out-rebounded Eastern Michigan, 55-39, in the 40-minute contest, while scoring 17 points off of turnovers and shooting 33.3 percent from the floor. Michigan State converted on 22-of-32 shooting from the charity stripe.

The Spartans got out to a quick 7-1 lead over EMU, but the Eagle fought their way back to just a two-point deficit going on a 5-0 run in large part due of two steals from Dailey in the backcourt. After holding MSU to a 6:35 scoring drought, Eastern took its first lead of the contest at the 13:23 mark in the first half when Morton sunk a three-pointer from the top of the arc to give the Eagles a 9-8 advantage over Michigan State.

The Green and White kept up its quick pace, taking a seven-point lead when Morton made an easy jumper to give the Eagles a 21-14 lead, but the Spartans answered back with a 5-0 run of their own to come within two. The contest continued to go back-and-forth between the two teams, tying the game on three separate occasions before Michigan State took the narrow three-point lead, 27-24, heading into the final media timeout.

EMU could only get two final shots to fall in the remaining three minutes of the first half, allowing the Spartans to take a 34-28 advantage into the locker room. The Eagles were led by Morton who tallied eight points in the first half, while Sweeney added seven points, four rebounds, two steals, two assists, and one block. Kehoe and Heady matched Sweeney's team-best four rebounds in the first half of action, while Dailey continued to be a force on defense, swiping three balls.

The Eagles shot just 27.3 percent from the floor in the first half, but made up for it from three-point range as Morton drained two from beyond the arc. EMU continued to prove their defensive power, grabbing seven steals compared to MSU's four and forcing the Spartans to turn the ball over 13 times.

Michigan State's Aerial Powers propelled the Spartan offense reaching a double-double in the first half with 12 points and 10 rebounds while also dishing out two assists and notching two steals. Tori Jankoska added nine points to the Spartan scoring effort, while Michigan State pulled down 34 rebounds in the first half compared to EMU's 22.

Eastern Michigan had a 4-0 run coming out of the locker room in the second half to come within two of the Spartans, but Michigan State quickly extended its lead to 42-34 with six-consecutive points, forcing Head Coach Tori Verdi to call a timeout.

Michigan State found a groove, while the Eagles suffered a 3:12 scoring drought, allowing the Spartans to match its largest lead of the contest at 14. Following a stoppage in play, EMU found two quick baskets, including a trey from Bucknor, to cut the lead to 10. The Eagles found some momentum on a fastbreak rebound from freshman Micah Robinson (Ann Arbor, Mich.-Huron) and a turnover by the Spartans under the EMU basket. After a made free throw from Morton, EMU forced a second-straight turnover as Morton swiped the ball, making an easy layup bringing the Eagles within six, 58-52, with less than seven minutes to play. The two teams started to match basket-for-basket with the Green and White still trailing by six. With 3:48 left to play, Eastern Michigan's aggressive defense forced a 10-second violation, but EMU was unable to convert getting the ball back into MSU's hands.

The Green and White continued to put the pressure on the MSU offense when Bucknor forced a turnover before Heady made an easy jumper from the left wing, but a three-pointer with just three seconds on the shot clock from Anna Morrissey extended the Michigan State lead to seven before the senior sunk two free throws to give MSU the 67-58 advantage with less than a minute left to play.

Robinson rushed the ball down the court with less than 30 seconds to play, laying up an easy shot and draining the and-one for her first points of the contest. The Eagles were unable to find any final baskets in the remaining seconds, falling 69-61 to the nationally-ranked Spartans.

Eastern was powered behind 43.8 percent shooting in the second half to keep pace with the Spartans, while holding MSU to just 39.3 percent shooting from the floor. Heady led the Eagles in the second half with six of her 10 points, while Morton and Bucknor added five apiece.

The Eagles will stay on the road traveling to Edinburg, Texas to go up against Texas-Pan American Saturday, Nov. 22. Tip off is slated for 1 p.m. CT.

Eagles Give Nationally-Ranked Spartans a Scare in East Lansing

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Team Stats

Janay Morton

Shannise Heady

Cha Sweeney

Phillis Webb

Players Mentioned

Sasha Dailey

Shannise Heady

Rachel Kehoe

Janay Morton

Micah Robinson

Cha Sweeney

Players Mentioned

Sasha Dailey

Shannise Heady

Rachel Kehoe

Janay Morton

Micah Robinson

Cha Sweeney

Eastern Michigan Athletics