Eastern Michigan Athletics
Sunday, February 23
Muncie, Ind.
2 p.m.
Eastern Michigan University
15-10 (5-9MAC)
62
at
60
Ball State
11-14 (6-8MAC)
1
2
F
Eastern Michigan
36
26
62
Ball State
33
27
60
Photo by: Scott W. Grau/Icon SMI
Eagles Rally Past Cardinals, 62-60, to Earn a MAC Road Victory
2/23/2014 5:21:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Freshman Cha Sweeney reaches 20 points for the seventh time this season to lead EMU in the win
Complete Game Audio
Postgame Interview
MUNCIE, Ind. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team rallied from seven points down in the second half to claim a 62-60 Mid-American Conference road victory over the Ball State University Cardinals Sunday afternoon, Feb. 23, from John E. Worthen Arena. The narrow win was the Eagles' first in Muncie, Ind. since Feb. 16, 2011.
The victory snaps a two-game losing streak for the Green and White and propels them to 15-10 on the season, including 5-9 in conference play. The final regular season outcome between the two programs drops Ball State to 11-14, 6-8 MAC on the 2013-14 campaign.
Freshman guard Cha Sweeney (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers) led all scorers with 20 points, reaching that total for the seventh time this season and passing Holly Mitchell for third on the EMU all-time freshman scoring list. The starting point guard made 8-of-17 from the floor while also making a key free throw with just three second left in the contest. Natachia Watkins (South Euclid, Ohio-Brush) continued her dominance on the glass with a team-best 12 rebounds, etching her name in the 600 career rebound club at Eastern. Fellow senior Desyree Thomas (Waterford, Mich.-Mott) notched eight points to go along with six assists and four rebounds.
As a team, the Eagles shot 26-of-60 (43.3 percent) from the field as well as going 6-of-19 from beyond the arc. EMU only made it to the foul line five times, but took advantage of its slim opportunities with four conversions. The Green and White held the slight rebound advantage, 41-40, and scored 30 of its 62 points in the painted area. Forcing 18 turnovers, Eastern was able to turn the Ball State miscues into 19 points.
Ball State was led by reigning MAC Freshman of the Year Nathalie Fontaine, who recorded a double-double in the loss for the Cardinals, collecting 16 points and 10 rebounds. Shelbie Justice followed with 13 points, and freshman center Renee Bennett added 10 off the bench. BSU shot 35.5 percent from the field (22-of-62), including only 17.4 percent (4-of-23) from long range. At the charity stripe, the Cardinals made 12 baskets in 21 trips for a 57.1 conversion rate.
The Eagles got off to a fast start, making five of their first six shots to take an early 12-4 lead. The active 2-3 zone defense caused problems for the Cardinals, forcing two turnovers and just 2-of-8 shooting from the field. Watkins started the scoring by taking a turnover coast-to-coast for the easy layup. Sweeney and Thomas followed with a pair of threes as well as buckets by both Phillis Webb (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) and Olivia Fouty (Toledo, Ohio-Sylvania Northview) to bring the EMU lead to eight with 15:17 remaining in the opening half.
Ball State got within three, 22-19, before the Eagles used an 11-3 run over a five-minute span to take their largest lead of the game, 33-22, at the 4:41 mark of the first half, forcing the Cardinals to call a timeout. The thirty-second breather proved to pay off as BSU scored nine straight to cut the difference to two. Sweeney ended the run with a triple before a Ball State basket brought the game to a 36-33 score at the half.
EMU made half of its shots from the floor in the first half, sinking 15-of-30 for a 50 percent clip. Eastern made 3-of-7 from long range while also draining all three of its free throw attempts. The Eagles also held the slight rebounding advantage in the first 20 minutes, 20-18. The Green and White forced 10 first half turnovers from Ball State that turned into 14 points on the other end of the floor. Sweeney paced the EMU scoring with 10 points while Thomas added three points and five assists.
The Cardinals shot 37.5 percent from the floor (12-of-32) in the opening half, but struggled from beyond the arc and at the free throw line. Ball State converted just 2-of-9 from three point land while making 7-of-13 from the charity stripe. Fontaine and Justice recorded nine points each to lead the Cardinals, and Bennett added eight points off the bench. BSU found most of its success down low in the post, scoring 20 points in the paint, including eight second chance points.
Eastern came out of the locker room at a slow pace while BSU took its first lead of the game, 40-38, with 16:39 left in the contest. The Eagles mustered just six points through the first 10 minutes of the second half as the Cardinals built a 49-42 advantage.
With 9:39 showing on the clock, EMU began its run with a baseline jumper from Thomas. Following a Fouty block on the defensive end of the court, the redshirt-junior ran the floor for a bucket down low to cut the difference to three points. Watkins added a layup before Sweeney hit a three from the wing to give the Eagles the lead back, 51-49. However, Shelby Merder answered with a three of her own, pushing BSU ahead by one with just 6:37 to go in the game.
Janay Morton (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) countered with a three, her only basket of the game, to make it 54-52 in favor of the Green and White. Two free throws from Brandy Woody knotted the contest at 54 before Thomas drilled a long range jumper from the corner to make it a three point game.
The margin remained at three until a Woody layup brought the score to 61-60 with just 39 seconds left. Thomas missed a three on the other end, and Ball State corralled the rebound in an attempt to regain the lead. After BSU took a timeout to set up its offense, Sweeney forced Woody to drive baseline and step out-of-bounds before passing the ball to her teammate. With the Eagles getting possession of the basketball, Fouty inbounded to Sweeney, and Woody committed her fifth foul to send the EMU freshman to the line. Sweeney hit the first free throw, but missed the second as Ball State grabbed the miss and called timeout with just three seconds remaining and trailing by two. On the ensuing possession, the EMU defense held strong as Fontaine was forced to put up a half court heave that missed short and to the right, keeping the Eagles on top for the 62-60 victory.
The Eagles continue life on the MAC West road, heading to Kalamazoo Wednesday, Feb. 26, to try and sweep the series against the Western Michigan University Broncos. Tip-off from University Arena is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Postgame Interview
MUNCIE, Ind. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team rallied from seven points down in the second half to claim a 62-60 Mid-American Conference road victory over the Ball State University Cardinals Sunday afternoon, Feb. 23, from John E. Worthen Arena. The narrow win was the Eagles' first in Muncie, Ind. since Feb. 16, 2011.
The victory snaps a two-game losing streak for the Green and White and propels them to 15-10 on the season, including 5-9 in conference play. The final regular season outcome between the two programs drops Ball State to 11-14, 6-8 MAC on the 2013-14 campaign.
Freshman guard Cha Sweeney (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers) led all scorers with 20 points, reaching that total for the seventh time this season and passing Holly Mitchell for third on the EMU all-time freshman scoring list. The starting point guard made 8-of-17 from the floor while also making a key free throw with just three second left in the contest. Natachia Watkins (South Euclid, Ohio-Brush) continued her dominance on the glass with a team-best 12 rebounds, etching her name in the 600 career rebound club at Eastern. Fellow senior Desyree Thomas (Waterford, Mich.-Mott) notched eight points to go along with six assists and four rebounds.
As a team, the Eagles shot 26-of-60 (43.3 percent) from the field as well as going 6-of-19 from beyond the arc. EMU only made it to the foul line five times, but took advantage of its slim opportunities with four conversions. The Green and White held the slight rebound advantage, 41-40, and scored 30 of its 62 points in the painted area. Forcing 18 turnovers, Eastern was able to turn the Ball State miscues into 19 points.
Ball State was led by reigning MAC Freshman of the Year Nathalie Fontaine, who recorded a double-double in the loss for the Cardinals, collecting 16 points and 10 rebounds. Shelbie Justice followed with 13 points, and freshman center Renee Bennett added 10 off the bench. BSU shot 35.5 percent from the field (22-of-62), including only 17.4 percent (4-of-23) from long range. At the charity stripe, the Cardinals made 12 baskets in 21 trips for a 57.1 conversion rate.
The Eagles got off to a fast start, making five of their first six shots to take an early 12-4 lead. The active 2-3 zone defense caused problems for the Cardinals, forcing two turnovers and just 2-of-8 shooting from the field. Watkins started the scoring by taking a turnover coast-to-coast for the easy layup. Sweeney and Thomas followed with a pair of threes as well as buckets by both Phillis Webb (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) and Olivia Fouty (Toledo, Ohio-Sylvania Northview) to bring the EMU lead to eight with 15:17 remaining in the opening half.
Ball State got within three, 22-19, before the Eagles used an 11-3 run over a five-minute span to take their largest lead of the game, 33-22, at the 4:41 mark of the first half, forcing the Cardinals to call a timeout. The thirty-second breather proved to pay off as BSU scored nine straight to cut the difference to two. Sweeney ended the run with a triple before a Ball State basket brought the game to a 36-33 score at the half.
EMU made half of its shots from the floor in the first half, sinking 15-of-30 for a 50 percent clip. Eastern made 3-of-7 from long range while also draining all three of its free throw attempts. The Eagles also held the slight rebounding advantage in the first 20 minutes, 20-18. The Green and White forced 10 first half turnovers from Ball State that turned into 14 points on the other end of the floor. Sweeney paced the EMU scoring with 10 points while Thomas added three points and five assists.
The Cardinals shot 37.5 percent from the floor (12-of-32) in the opening half, but struggled from beyond the arc and at the free throw line. Ball State converted just 2-of-9 from three point land while making 7-of-13 from the charity stripe. Fontaine and Justice recorded nine points each to lead the Cardinals, and Bennett added eight points off the bench. BSU found most of its success down low in the post, scoring 20 points in the paint, including eight second chance points.
Eastern came out of the locker room at a slow pace while BSU took its first lead of the game, 40-38, with 16:39 left in the contest. The Eagles mustered just six points through the first 10 minutes of the second half as the Cardinals built a 49-42 advantage.
With 9:39 showing on the clock, EMU began its run with a baseline jumper from Thomas. Following a Fouty block on the defensive end of the court, the redshirt-junior ran the floor for a bucket down low to cut the difference to three points. Watkins added a layup before Sweeney hit a three from the wing to give the Eagles the lead back, 51-49. However, Shelby Merder answered with a three of her own, pushing BSU ahead by one with just 6:37 to go in the game.
Janay Morton (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) countered with a three, her only basket of the game, to make it 54-52 in favor of the Green and White. Two free throws from Brandy Woody knotted the contest at 54 before Thomas drilled a long range jumper from the corner to make it a three point game.
The margin remained at three until a Woody layup brought the score to 61-60 with just 39 seconds left. Thomas missed a three on the other end, and Ball State corralled the rebound in an attempt to regain the lead. After BSU took a timeout to set up its offense, Sweeney forced Woody to drive baseline and step out-of-bounds before passing the ball to her teammate. With the Eagles getting possession of the basketball, Fouty inbounded to Sweeney, and Woody committed her fifth foul to send the EMU freshman to the line. Sweeney hit the first free throw, but missed the second as Ball State grabbed the miss and called timeout with just three seconds remaining and trailing by two. On the ensuing possession, the EMU defense held strong as Fontaine was forced to put up a half court heave that missed short and to the right, keeping the Eagles on top for the 62-60 victory.
The Eagles continue life on the MAC West road, heading to Kalamazoo Wednesday, Feb. 26, to try and sweep the series against the Western Michigan University Broncos. Tip-off from University Arena is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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Team Stats
EMU
BALLST
FG%
.433
.355
3FG%
.316
.174
FT%
.800
.571
RB
41
40
TO
23
18
STL
9
9
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
20
FGM
8
3FGM
3
FTM
1
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
6
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
0
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