Bucknor and Morton Pace Eagles to 88-68 Win Over Madonna

Postgame Highlights.

YPSILANTI, MIch. (EMUEagles.com) — Eastern Michigan University's women's basketball team kept its home record for the 2014-15 season at the Convocation Center unblemished with an 88-68 victory over Madonna University Tuesday, Dec. 9. With the victory, the Eagles advance to 6-3 on the season, while the Crusaders fall to 6-4.

Eastern was paced by a career night from senior Jamaica Bucknor (Brooklyn, N.Y.-Weaver (ASA College), who went 10-of-11 from the field and a perfect 3-for-3 from three-point range for 25 points while also pulling down a team-high eight rebounds. Her 90.9 percent clip ranks third-best in EMU Convocation Center history. Also scoring more than 20 points was Janay Morton (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) with 22 to her credit. Cha Sweeney (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers) chipped in nine points while dishing out a game-high seven assists and snatching two steals from the Crusaders.

Eastern shot 35-of-72 as a team for 48.6 percent, but struggled from the charity stripe after sinking just 11-of-17 attempts for 64.7 percent. The Green and White dominated in the paint, scoring 44 points compared to 18 from Madonna. The Eagles also showcased their speed down court with 17 fastbreak points. The team committed just eight turnovers, while grabbing six steals and forcing an additional nine turnovers. EMU also had the heavy rebounding advantage, grabbing 47 boards compared to Madonna's 33.

Madonna was paced by Lindsey Hernden with 24 points, helped in large part by draining seven three-pointers, while Michele Hayes added 16 points. Herndon's seven threes tied the fourth most in a single game in the history of the Convocation Center. The Crusaders were held to 40.7 percent shooting, hitting 24-of-59 shots from the field. Rachel Melcher paced the team on rebounding, pulling down a game-high 10 boards.

Eastern was quick to act on the first possession of the contest, with Morton draining a three from the top of the arc 15 seconds after the tip, but the Crusaders answered back with a Michele Hayes three-pointer to knot the score early on. The two teams went basket-for-basket with Morton and Heady pacing the Green and White offense through the 12-minute mark, with the score standing at 14-14.

Madonna claimed its first lead of the game at 10:23 when another long shot by Hayes bolstered the Crusaders' count to 17-16. Another triple from Hernden would extend the lead to 22-18. The Green and White chipped away at the deficit, but hot shooting from beyond the arc by the Crusaders kept Eastern's opponent in the lead. With 7:36 remaining in the first half, the Eagles trailed by a 29-22 margin.

Following a timeout called by Head Coach Tory Verdi to gather his troops, the Eagles quickly put up a pair of points off a Rachel Kehoe (St. Clair, Mich.-St. Clair (St. Clair County)) shot off the glass. The team forced a turnover on the other side of the court, and used the possession to find Sera Ozelci (Ankra, Turkey-TED Ankara (Odessa)) open for a three to equalize the score at 29 apiece. Kehoe sank another shot to give the Eagles their first lead in nearly five minutes, but the command of the board was short-lived as Hayes retorted with a jumper of her own to equalize the score once more.

Eastern went through a phase of shooting woes, during which time the Crusaders built back up to a four-point lead fueled by Hayes's third three-pointer of the game, but a layup and-one from Bucknor at 2:36 left the Eagles just one point behind their opponents, 39-38. Bucknor scored the next pair of points for the team inside the paint, flopping the lead once more in favor of the Eagles before Phillis Webb (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) sank a sideline jumper to give EMU a 42-39 advantage with 1:11 remaining.

The Eagles hit one more shot to close out the half as Sweeney rose up for a jumper at the top of the key to give Eastern its largest lead of the contest to that point, 44-39, to close out the first half.

EMU was led by Morton in the first 20 minutes of play. The sophomore guard was the only Eagle to score double-digit points with 11 while Sweeney chipped in nine. Bucknor and Kabria Walker (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers) led the team on the glass with four rebounds each, while Heady dished out three assists for the Green and White. As a team, the Eagles mustered a 42.5 shooting percentage on 17-of-40 from the field. The Green and White was more successful in the key and off turnovers, forcing 11 Crusader miscues wile turning over the ball just four times in the half.

Madonna was led by the hot hands of Hernden and Hayes, who scored 15 and 11 points, respectively, after combining for seven three-pointers with just two misses between them. Melcher paced all players on rebounding, pulling down seven boards for the Crusaders. Overall, Madonna went 14-of-29 from the field for 48.3 percent, including a blazing 66.7 percent from beyond the arc.

The Eagles opened up the second half with another three-pointer, this time courtesy of a sideline swish by Bucknor. But also like the first half, the two teams traded blows as the Crusaders kept their deficit at five points before Morton and Webb attacked the paint on consecutive possessions to give the team a more comfortable edge, 53-44, with 16:56 remaining in the contest.

Eastern held on to its lead, and extended the scoring margin to 13 after Heady drove in to the rim for a layup and then found Bucknor open under the hoop for a short jumper, giving the Eagles a 64-51 lead. Bucknor and Heady continued to provide offensive pressure, drawing in defenders and leaving Walker wide open under the basket for an uncontested layup.

Bucknor extended the lead even further, matching her career-high in points after sinking back-to-back three pointers to give the Eagles a 79-61 advantage with 5:13 remaining. Morton joined in on the three-point party with a triple of her own, pushing the Eagles into more than a 20-point advantage over the Crusaders.

With the commanding lead over Madonna, Coach Verdi proceeded to send his reserves in for the remainder of the contest. The Eagles closed out the contest on the winning side of an 88-68 advantage as the clock ran down.

Eastern will take a 13-day hiatus before making the short trip down Washtenaw Ave. to square off with the University of Michigan Monday, Dec. 22, inside the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Mich. Tipoff is slated for noon.

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Team Stats

Jamaica Bucknor

Janay Morton

Cha Sweeney

Phillis Webb

Players Mentioned

Jamaica Bucknor

Rachel Kehoe

Janay Morton

Sera Ozelci

Cha Sweeney

Phillis Webb

Players Mentioned

Jamaica Bucknor

Rachel Kehoe

Janay Morton

Sera Ozelci

Cha Sweeney

Phillis Webb

Eastern Michigan Athletics