EMU Looks to Build on the Momentum Sunday at Ohio

EMU LOOKS TO BUILD ON THE MOMENTUM SUNDAY AT OHIO: Fresh off a 65-57 victory over Kent State University, the Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team hits the road for a stop in Athens, Ohio, to face the Bobcats of Ohio University, Feb. 9. Tip-off for the Mid-American Conference cross-divisional tilt at the Convocation Center is scheduled for 2 p.m.
Eastern Michigan enters the game with a 13-8 (3-7 MAC) record, while Ohio is 8-13 (3-7 MAC) on the season having dropped their sixth consecutive game Thursday, Feb. 6, to the University at Buffalo, 55-43.
Veteran broadcaster Chad Bush will have the call on WEMU (89.1 FM) beginning at 1:50 p.m. Live video and statistics of the game can also be found on OhioBobcats.com. The game will also be televised on Time Warner Cable Sports with Mike Cairns providing the play-by play and Jacki Windon serving as the analyst.

ALL-TIME AGAINST OHIO: The Feb. 9 contest marks the 54th meeting between the Ohio Bobcats and Eastern Michigan Eagles, who first met during the 1980-81 season. Ohio leads the series, 30-23, with EMU posting a 64-57 victory in the team's only meeting last season back in Ypsilanti, Feb. 9, 2013.
EMU is currently riding a program-best four-game winning streak in the series. In the Jan. 27, 2010, contest that began the streak, the Eagles had to rally back from a 10-point deficit to escape with a 56-53 victory in Athens.

EMU AT THE CONVO: Historically, Ohio University's Convocation Center has been a building that Eastern Michigan teams have struggled in over the years. Eastern has an all-time record of 8-16 in the 46-year old building. However, in the team's last meeting at the Convo, EMU picked up a 65-53 victory Feb. 1, 2012, by outlasting Ohio.

EAGLES SNAP THE SKID VERSUS KENT STATE: EMU picked up its third MAC victory as it took down Kent State University, 65-57, and broke through a five-game losing streak Thursday, Feb. 6, inside the EMU Convocation Center. Natachia Watkins led the EMU offense as she notched 13 points on the night, seven of which came from the free throw line as the senior shot 7-for-10 the charity stripe. The South Euclid, Ohio native's seven free throws was one shy of her career-high as she also grabbed her third double-double of the 2013-14 season with a team-high 11 rebounds. Sara Stone and Cha Sweeney contributed 12 points apiece and Olivia Fouty pulled down five rebounds.

WATKINS CLEANING THE GLASS: Over the past three contests, senior Natachia Watkins has made her presence known with an average of 12.3 rebounds a contest. At Central Michigan, Jan. 30, Watkins tied her career-high with 15 caroms. She then posted 11 boards against both Miami, Feb. 2, and Kent State, Feb. 6.

EAGLES GET DEFENSIVE: The 57-point output by Kent State, Feb. 6, was the fewest points the Eagles had allowed since Dec. 22, 2013, against Monmouth. It also marked the first time in Mid-American Conference play that the Eagles had gone to the free throw line more than the opposition.

CHA CLIMBING THE CHARTS: Leading the team in scoring at 15.8 points per game, freshman Cha Sweeney is making her mark in her first season as an Eagle. With 332 points thus far in 2013-14, the EMU guard is ranked eighth in the EMU record books for most points scored by a freshman. She is just three points away from surpassing Nikki Knapp for seventh on the all-time list, while only five from Sarah Van Metre's mark of 337 points. The two Eagles recorded their totals in back-to-back seasons as Knapp tallied 334 points in the 2002-03 season and Van Metre notched her freshman points during the 2003-04 campaign.
EMU great Tavelyn James scored 426 points throughout the 2008-09 season to top that freshman scoring chart. However, at her current pace, Sweeney will de-throne James' freshman total. If she remains averaging 15.8 points per game for the rest of the season, the Toledo, Ohio native will have at least 470 points by season's end, flying past the record-setting mark set by James.

THE COUNTDOWN TO 1,000: Senior Natachia Watkins has scored 945 points in her career and is 20th all time for EMU. There are currently 17 players in the 1,000-point club for EMU women's basketball.

MAC FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR CANDIDATES: Freshmen Cha Sweeney and Janay Morton are both making a strong candidacy for the MAC Freshman of the Year award. The two are the only freshmen ranked inside the league's top-20 in scoring; Sweeney is seventh in the MAC averaging a team-best 15.8 points a game while ranking eighth in both steals (2.0) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.2). Meanwhile, Morton cracks the rankings in three-pointers made (3rd - 2.3), scoring (8th - 14.6 ppg), free-throw percentage (14th - 75.9) and steals (15th - 1.5 spg).
No EMU student-athlete has won the award since Alyssa Pittman claimed the honor following the 2006-07 campaign.

TOP FRESHMEN SCORERS: Cha Sweeney and Janay Morton are two of just 18 freshmen ranked nationally in the NCAA's top 250 scorers. The first-year players include: Chrishae Rowe, Oregon (22.3), Kelsey Plum, Washington (19.8), Malia Tate-DeFreitas, Hampton (19.4), Raven Bankston, Delaware St. (18.9), Sara Dickey, Evansville (18.3), Kaela Davis, Georgia Tech (18.2), Kaylah Keys, High Point (17.2), Larryn Brooks, Indiana (16.8), Jessica Jackson, Arkansas (16.8), Diamond DeShields, North Carolina (16.6), Sweeney (15.8), Jasmine Nwajei, Wagner (15.7), Fanni Szabo, Dartmouth (15.5), Nia Coffey, Northwestern (15.4), Erica Williams, Winthrop (15.4), Natalie Butler, Georgetown (14.8), Amanda Zahui B., Minnesota (14.7) and Morton (14.6).

MAC TOURNAMENT OUTLOOK: With the 2014 MAC Basketball Tournament just over a month away, it is time to gaze into the crystal ball to see where the Eagles could possibly end up to begin conference tournament play. If the regular season ended today, Eastern would be the No. 11 seed for the tournament, traveling to No. 6-seeded Toledo for a first round contest set to take place March 10. For a complete MAC Tournament outlook, please check page 14 of these notes.

YOUTH BEING SERVED: Heading into the 2013-14 campaign, Head Coach Tory Verdi knew he would be leading a very young team this season as the Eagles welcomed eight newcomers to the roster. In 21 games, the newcomers have combined for 55.3 percent (917 points) of the squad's offense.

TOO SHORT?: Standing at just 5-foot-2, Cha Sweeney might have been labeled coming out of high school as someone too short to play Division I basketball. The Toledo, Ohio product has so far proved those critics wrong, as she ranks 174th nationally in scoring and is the shortest player ranked nationally inside the top 250 scorers.
Sweeney joins Longwood's Daeisha Brown (16.4 ppg), Ole Miss' Valencia McFarland (16.3 ppg) and Nicholls State's Emani White (18.7 ppg) as the only four players nationwide to average 15-or-more points a contest and be 5-foot-4 or shorter.

NORTHWEST OHIO COMES TO YPSI: Eastern Michigan has long had a history of pulling student-athletes from Northwest Ohio, but Head Coach Tory Verdi has taken it to a whole new level. The Eagles feature three products from the Toledo area including Olivia Fouty (Sylvania Northview), KaBria Walker (Toledo Rogers) and Cha Sweeney (Toledo Rogers). The three have combined for 27.9 percent of the team's rebounds and 34.4 percent of its offense.

SEEKING 20/20 VISION: One of Head Coach Tory Verdi's goals with the team's uptempo offense is to create more possessions and to put up 20-or-more shots than the opposition. The Eagles have accomplished that feat on five occasions, including taking a season-best 33 more shots than Marygrove, Nov. 30. The Eagles have been close to the goal in three other games, most recently taking 18 more field goal attempts than Buffalo, Jan. 18.

STOP, THIEF!: With her three steals at Buffalo, Jan. 18, senior Desyree Thomas became the EMU all-time leader in steals in a career with 267. Thomas passed Ryan Coleman's previous standard of 265 swipes which has stood since the 2006 campaign. The Mid-American Conference's active leader in steals, Thomas, ranks eighth nationally among current players in steals. Toledo's Kim Knuth (1995-99) holds the MAC standard with 368 steals.

'GET A T-O BABY!': Unlike Dick Vitale's famous catchphrase where he lets coaches know they need a timeout during ESPN broadcasts, EMU Head Coach Tory Verdi and his team need to force more turnovers than they give away; so far this season, the Eagles have done a great job buying into this system. EMU has had fewer turnovers than its opposition in 20 of its 21 games this season. The only time Eastern coughed up the basketball more than its competition was in a setback to Northern Illinois, Jan. 12. Moreover, the Green and White has forced 30 or more turnovers three times throughout the 2013-14 campaign in wins versus Marygrove (Nov. 30), Wagner (Dec. 21) and Monmouth (Dec. 22).

LAST TIME WE MET: An early noon start time did not deter Eastern Michigan from rolling past Ohio University, 64-57, Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013, inside the EMU Convocation Center. The Eagles led the entire second half and held off a Bobcats squad which nearly came back from an 18-point deficit.
EMU took an 18-point advantage into the final nine minutes of play Saturday, but a rash of three-point buckets resulted in a 15-0 OU run and turned a sure victory into a close, two-point contest with under a minute to play. India Hairston put the dagger through the side of the Bobcats with 28 ticks left, and Desyree Thomas added an insurance free throw and layup in the waning seconds.
Hairston (12 points) and Thomas (11 points) were just two-of-four Eastern Michigan players to reach double figures as Bianca Cage used a 4-of-9 showing from downtown (6-of-13 overall) to record a team-high 16 points. Natachia Watkins added 12 points of her own while contributing seven boards and four steals.
Thomas also recorded eight assists and four takeaways on the afternoon, while Hairston and Sara Stone hauled in seven caroms apiece. As a team, the Eagles shot 47.5 percent (28-of-59) from the field and were 4-of-11 (36.4 percent) from beyond the arc.
Outside shooting was the theme of the day for the Bobcats, who drained 10-of-26 (38.5 percent) three-point attempts. OU made just 10 two-point field goals on the day and finished 20-of-51 (39.2 percent) overall. Erin Bailes (19 points) and Byard Mariah (14 points) were the two OU players to reach double figures. They also accounted for nine of the 10 Bobcats' three-pointers.

BOWLING GREEN ON THE HORIZON: The Feb. 15 contest marks the 63rd meeting between the Bowling Green Falcons and the Eastern Michigan Eagles, who first met during the 1976-1977 season. BGSU has dominated the all-time series, 48-14, including winning the last 12 meetings between the two schools. Earlier this season, the Falcons captured a 71-57 victory at the Stroh Center, Jan. 23. EMU's last victory in the series occurred Feb. 19, 2005, when the Eagles notched a 57-52 win at the Convocation Center.

Eastern Michigan Athletics

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