Women's Basketball Preps For Evansville in the First Round of the WBI

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EAGLES EARN SEVENTH POSTSEASON BID: The Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team makes its inaugural appearance in the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) Thursday, March 20, against the University of Evansville. Game time is scheduled for 5:06 p.m. at the Convocation Center. The winner of Thursday's game will advance to the second round to face the winner of the game between IPFW and Illinois-Chicago, which will be played on Wednesday, March 19. Second-round games are scheduled for March 22-23. All WBI games will be played on campus sites.
Coming off an 81-76 overtime setback to Northern Illinois University in the opening round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament, March 10, the Eagles enter the game with a mark of 17-13 (7-11 MAC). Meanwhile, Evansville sports a 15-15 (10-8 MVC) mark after bowing out in the quarterfinal round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament with a 71-61 loss to Drake, March 14.
Tickets are now available by calling 734.487.2282 or visiting EMUTix.com. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for all youth 12 and younger and students (EMU students included).

ALL-TIME VERSUS THE PURPLE ACES: The two schools will be meeting for just the third time with the series tied at 1-1. Evansville notched at 74-70 win in the first game of the Western Illinois Classic, Dec. 9, 1988, while EMU returned the favor with a 72-66 victory in the opening round of the UWGB Tournament, Dec. 2 , 1994.

COMMON BONDS: Evansville and Eastern Michigan have played two common opponents in Ball State and Loyola (Ill.). The Aces defeated the Cardinals, 80-69, in non-conference play on Nov. 20 and swept the Ramblers in a pair of Valley contests, 75-57 and 77-63. The Eagles split a pair of MAC matchups with Ball State, falling to the Cardinals, 70-66, in Ypsilanti, before avenging the defeat with a 62-60 win in Muncie, Ind. Against Loyola, EMU traveled to Gentile Arena in Chicago and came away with an 82-64 triumph.

#MACtion IN THE POSTSEASON: After seeing the men's side place five teams in postseason, this is the third year that a MAC team will play in the WBI following Akron (2010) and Buffalo (2011). EMU is also the fifth team in the conference to play in the postseason this year joining Akron (NCAA), Bowling Green (WNIT), Central Michigan (WNIT) and Ball State (WNIT).
This year marks the first time that both the men's and women's basketball teams have earned a postseason berth. The EMU men learned on Sunday, March 16, that it would host Norfolk State as part of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT).

THE MAC IN THE WBI: This is the third year that a Mid-American Conference team will play in the WBI following Akron (2010) and Buffalo (2011). The MAC is 0-2 all-time with the No. 5 seeded Zips dropping a 67-61 decision at No. 4 Wichita State, March 18, 2010, while the No. 8 seeded Bulls fell to top-seed Wright State, 82-79, in Dayton, Ohio, March 16, 2011.

EASTERN VERSUS 2014 POSTSEASON TEAMS: When examining the brackets for the 2014 NCAA, WNIT and WBI tournaments, EMU recognizes nine teams that it met during the 2013-14 regular season. Out of the NCAA bracket, the Eagles played just Akron. Out of the WNIT, Eastern played Ball State, Bowling Green, Butler, Central Michigan and Michigan. The Eagles' recorded a 3-6 record against those teams.

SECOND HOME POSTSEASON TILT: For the second time in EMU history, the Eagles will host a game in the postseason Thursday, March 20, when the University of Evansville makes the trek to Washtenaw County. The Eagles notched a thrilling 67-59 win over the University of Michigan in the first round of the WNIT at the Convocation Center, March 17, 2011,
Eastern Michigan is the first MAC team to host a game in the WBI after earning the No. 1 seed in the East Region.

EMU ALL-TIME AGAINST THE MISSOURI VALLEY: The Missouri Valley Conference welcomed Loyola University to the mix for the 2013-14 campaign following the departure of Creighton University to the "new" Big East Conference. Despite all the conference shuffling, Eastern has still struggled against the MVC, going 8-14 all time versus the St. Louis, Mo.-based conference. Having played against seven of the 10 member institutions. EMU is 6-2 versus Loyola, 1-1 against Evansville, 0-1 with Bradley, 0-1 versus Southern Illinois, 0-4 against Illinois State, and 0-5 versus Indiana State.
Prior to the Eagles' 82-64 victory at Loyola earlier this year, EMU's last win over a Missouri Valley team came during the 2000-01 campaign. That season Eastern dominated then-member Creighton, 50-35, in the finale of the Nassau Sun Splash Shootout in Nassau, Bahamas, Dec. 21.

FOR THE SECOND-STRAIGHT YEAR: The EMU women's hoops squad fell in the opening round of the MAC Women's Basketball Tournament for the second season in-a-row in an overtime loss to Northern Illinois, March 10. The game was decided in NIU's favor in large part to Alexis Lindstrom's record performance for the Huskies. Lindstrom tied a MAC Tournament record with nine three-pointers and finished the game with 31 points.

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE: Despite dropping the opening round contest with Northern Illinois, there were multiple bright spots for EMU. Sophomore Shannise Heady recorded a career-best with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting. In addition to Heady's career-night, 2014 MAC Freshman of the Year Cha Sweeney notched 26 points, marking her 11th game scoring 20-or-more points in her first year as an Eagle. It was also the fifth time that Sweeney converted nine-or-more field goals this season.

HOT SHOT SHOOTING: The Green and White finished its contest with NIU shooting 45.9 percent from the floor on 28-of-61 shooting. This was the best clip for EMU since Jan. 04 when the Eagles opened up MAC play with a 46.5 percent in an 88-70 win over Kent State. In addition to its hot shooting from the floor, Eastern knocked down 50 percent of its three-point attempts, which is the best of the season.

SWEEENEY SELECTED THE MAC FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Cha Sweeney has been named the 2013-14 Mid-American Conference Freshman of the Year, announced Tuesday, March 11, by the league office. The award was voted on by the league's head coaches and members of the media.
Sweeney is the fourth player in EMU history to win the Freshman of the Year honors, joining Holly Mitchell (1998), Stephanie Smiley (1999) and Alyssa Pittman (2007). The Toledo, Ohio native ranks fourth in the MAC in scoring, averaging a team-best 16.8 points a game, while ranking 11th in steals (1.7), 11th in three-pointers made (1.7) and 13th in assists (2.8).

SWEENEY AND MORTON EARN ALL-MAC HONORS: Cha Sweeney and Janay Morton have been named to 2014 All-Mid-American Conference teams. Sweeney was selected second team All-MAC along with earning All-Freshman team accolades; meanwhile, Morton also earned a spot on the All-Freshman squad. The All-MAC squads are the result of voting by the league's head coaches.
Sweeney is the first EMU women's basketball player to earn both an all-conference selection and an all-freshman team nod in the same season. The two freshman team selections mark the second time in program history that the Eagles have multiple honorees. During the 1988-89 campaign, Kerry Porter and LaTonya Watson each were tabbed to the first-year honor roll.

DOUBLE VISION: In just 30 games during her brief career, freshman Cha Sweeney has reached double figures in points on 27 occasions. The Toledo, Ohio, native has scored 20 or more in 11of those contests. Sweeney has notched at least 10 points in each of the last 20 games, as Monmouth was the last team to hold her in check with just four points, Dec. 11, 2013.

FRESHMAN SCORING QUEEN: On Feb. 26 at Western Michigan University, Cha Sweeney made a free throw with just 34 seconds left in the game to become the all-time freshman scoring leader in Eastern Michigan University women's basketball history. The Toledo, Ohio native passed the program's all-time points leader, Tavelyn James, who recorded 426 points during her 2008-09 freshman season. Sweeney finished with a career-best 33 points against the Broncos, and she now tops the freshman scoring list. She is just the third EMU freshman to surpass the 400-point scoring margin as she joins James and Ryan Coleman on the coveted list.
Sweeney now ranks fourth among first-year players in Mid-American Conference history with 515 points. At her current pace of 17.2 points a game, she could still surpass WMU's Kina Brown for third place.

Eastern Michigan Athletics

Women's Basketball Preps For Evansville in the First Round of the WBI

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