Eagles Stay Perfect at Home, Top Hillsdale, 73-56

Postgame Highlights.

Photo Gallery.

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team grabbed its second victory of the season, defeating Hillsdale College, 73-56, in a mid-week non-conference contest Tuesday, Nov. 25, inside the Convocation Center. The Eagles improved to 2-2, while the Chargers dropped to 2-1.

Sophomore Janay Morton (Brooklyn, Minn.-Osseo) led the EMU scoring effort with a season-best 20 points, going 7-for-14 from the field and 4-for-11 from three-point range, while three other Eagles notched double-digit points. Sophomore Cha Sweeney (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers) matched a season-best 15 points, while Phillis Webb (Brooklyn, Minn.-Osseo) and Jamaica Bucknor (New Haven, Conn.-Weaver) scored 12 and 11 points, respectively. As a team, the Green and White shot 40.3 from the floor, making 31 shots. Bucknor recorded her second career double-double, adding a team-best 10 rebounds to her 11-point night. Webb notched seven rebounds for EMU.

For Hillsdale, Kayla Geffert drained 20 points on 6-for-13 shooting from the floor and 7-for-7 from the charity stripe. Kelsey Cromer added nine points and Borowski had eight for the Chargers. The Eagles kept HC All-American Megan Fogt to her lowest point total of the season with seven. The Chargers shot just 31.3 percent from the floor and 26.3 percent from beyond the arc. Fogt and Allie Dittmer led the Chargers on the boards, grabbing eight apiece, while Geffert had six.

On defense, the Eagles forced Hillsdale to turn the ball over on 30 occasions, while also stealing 16 balls. In comparison, he Green and White had just 18 turnovers. EMU also added a season-best seven blocks, with 17 points off of fastbreaks and 34 points off of Charger miscues.

Neither team was able to find a basket until two minutes into the first half when Fogt made a move to the hoop to give the Chargers the first points of the contest. The Eagles answered back a minute later when Morton made two free throws and Webb followed them up with a jump shot on the Green and White's next trip down the floor. Eastern made four straight baskets when Sweeney made a layup before dishing a pass to Bucknor for a trey to put EMU up, 15-12. Eastern capped off the 8-0 run with a Sweeney steal and layup in the backcourt before Morton drained a shot from beyond the arc, again off a pass from Sweeney.

Hillsdale surged to within five until Geffert notched a layup and made her free throw after a foul to knot the score, 34-34, with 2:28 remaining in the first half. The teams continued to exchange baskets to close out the half with Morton draining a trey at the buzzer to give the Eagles a slight 39-35 advantage heading into the locker room.
EMU was led by Morton, who notched 15 points in the first half, while Webb added six and Shannise Heady (Hazel Crest, Ill.-Hillcrest), Sweeney, and KaBria Walker (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers) each contributed four points to the Eagles' scoring effort. On the defensive side of the ball, Webb pulled down a team-best four rebounds in the first half, while the Eagles were out-rebounded, 23-21, by HC.

As a team, EMU shot 37.5 percent from the floor, while Hillsdale shot 41.7 percent. The Eagles grabbed seven steals and had four blocks, while the Chargers turned the ball over 14 times. Geffert led the Hillsdale scoring effort with 14 points, with Cromer adding seven points for the Chargers. Both Allie Dittmer and Fogt pulling down five rebounds apiece.

Coming out of the locker room to start the second half, EMU went on an 11-3 run to take a 50-38 lead with just over 14 minutes to play. After a quick start to the half, the Eagles saw a three minute scoring drought, while Hillsdale cut the EMU lead to four points going on an eight-point run of its own. A Bucknor jumper from the elbow ended the drought, bringing the score to 52-46 in favor of Eastern with 11:13 left to play.

A second jumper from Bucknor, a steal in the backcourt from Sweeney with a layup, and a fastbreak layup from Morton quickly put the Eagles up, 58-46, forcing Hillsdale Head Coach Claudette Charney to call a timeout. Despite the Chargers attempt at a comeback, with each basket Hillsdale made, the Eagles answered right back with a basket of their own to keep at least a 10-point lead.

Eastern continued its fast pace game, notching six-straight points to extend its lead to 69-52 heading into the final four minutes of action, while its tight defense kept Hillsdale from finding any easy shots inside the arc. With time dwindling on the clock, each team tacked on four final points as Eastern secured its second win of the season with a 73-56 victory over Hillsdale.

The Eagles will be back in action Friday, Nov. 28, when they head to La Cruces, N.M. for the Hotel Encanto Thanksgiving Classic. The Green and White will take on Cal State Fullerton in a Friday in an 11 a.m. MT contest.

Next Event

Team Stats

Janay Morton

Cha Sweeney

Phillis Webb

Jamaica Bucknor

Players Mentioned

Jamaica Bucknor

Shannise Heady

Janay Morton

Cha Sweeney

KaBria Walker

Phillis Webb

Players Mentioned

Jamaica Bucknor

Shannise Heady

Janay Morton

Cha Sweeney

KaBria Walker

Phillis Webb

Eastern Michigan Athletics