EMU Continues Postseason Run Monday Versus UIC

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EMU CONTINUES POSTSEASON RUN BY HOSTING UIC MONDAY: With the program's third postseason victory under its belt, the Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team remains at home for the second round of the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) Monday, March 24, against No. 4 seeded University of Illinois-Chicago. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the EMU Convocation Center.
Coming off a 78-65 victory over the University of Evansville in the opening game of the WBI, March 20, the Eagles enter the game with a mark of 18-13 (7-11 Mid-American Conference). Meanwhile, UIC sports a 23-9 (10-6 Horizon League) mark after knocking out IPFW with an 84-71 victory, March 19.
The winner of Monday's game will advance to the semifinal round of the East Region to face the winner of the game between No. 6 Fairfield and No. 7 Maine, which will be played on Sunday. All WBI games will be played on campus sites.
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).

EMU VERSUS THE HORIZON LEAGUE: Eastern is 51-39 all-time versus the Indianapolis, Ind. based conference, having played against all nine member institutions. EMU has faced the University of Detroit Mercy more times than any other league member, with the Titans holding a 14-9 lead in the series. EMU is 2-0 this season after knocking off Cleveland State, 84-70, and Detroit, 104-96.

A BULLSEYE ON UIC: The Eagles and Flames are squaring off for the 11th time with Eastern Michigan holding an 8-2 advantage in the all-time series. The meeting will be the just the third in the past decade and the first since the 2010-11 campaign. EMU won the first four meetings in the series before UIC notched back-to-back wins in 1991 and 1992.
In the last meeting, Cassie Schrock notched an 18-point, eight-rebound performance to lead the Eagles to a 74-54 victory over the Flames at the Convocation Center, Dec. 23, 2010. Schrock got to the line early and often for the Eagles, connecting on a career-high 14-of-18 from the free throw line. The Green and White, as a team, hit on 29-of-46 from the charity stripe, while the Flames only managed 13-of-22.

COMMON BONDS: Illinois-Chicago and Eastern Michigan have played seven common opponents in Butler, Cleveland State, Detroit, Miami, Northern Illinois, Ohio and Western Michigan. The Flames went 10-1 against those opponents with their only loss coming at Cleveland State, March 1. Conversely, Eastern Michigan was 6-4 with victories over Butler, Cleveland State, Detroit, Ohio, Northern Illinois and Western Michigan.
EMU is 2-2 against teams from the state of Illinois this season, including posting an 82-64 win at Loyola, Dec. 4, and 54-45 victory at home against NIU, March 2.

SWEENEY NEEDS 26 TO BECOME THE MAC'S ALL-TIME FRESHMAN SCORING LEADER: Freshman guard Cha Sweeney now ranks third among first-year players in Mid-American Conference history with 534 points. She will surpass Kent State's Tracey Lynn for second place with just six more points while she needs 26 to move past Western Michigan's Kristen Koestier for the top spot.

POSTSEASON RECORDS: The Eagles set plenty of postseason records in the 13-point victory over Evansville in the opening round of the WBI, March 20. The Eagles established new highs in points (78), field goals made (33), field goal percentage (45.8%), rebounds (51), and blocks (5). Meanwhile, Jamaica Bucknor's 13 rebounds were also a postseason record, passing Paige Redditt's 12 caroms from the 2010 WNIT contest against Purdue, March 17.

STARTERS TURN IN AN OUTSTANDING EFFORT VERSUS EVANSVILLE: The Eagles played just seven players in the WBI First Round victory over Evansville, March 20, with the five starters each playing at least 34 minutes. The starting five poured in 77 of the team's 78 points, making 33-of-67 field goal attempts.
It marked just the first time this season that all the starters had reached double figures in points and the first since Feb. 25, 2005 – a streak of 281games.
The last time it occurred was Feb. 26, 2005 when the Eagles knocked off then-MAC foe Marshall, 93-73, at the Convocation Center. Ryan Coleman led the way with 27 points while Nikki Knapp added 19, Melis Ulker recorded 12, Erika Ford had 11 and Sarah VanMetre posted 11 points.

YOUTH MOVEMENT: The Eagles played just seven players in the 78-65 victory over Evansville, March 20, at the Convocation Center. Every player who saw action in the contest is in her first season at Eastern Michigan. The seven student-athletes included four freshman, two sophomores and a junior.
Not only did all five starters reach double figures, but they also accounted for 77 of the Eagles' 78 points. That scoring total is the most since the Green and White's starting five put up 80 of the team's 83 points in an 84-83 overtime loss to Buffalo earlier this season, Jan. 18, 2014. In that contest, four EMU starters collected double digit scoring days, led by a career-high 34 points from All-MAC Freshman Janay Morton.

DOUBLE THE TROUBLE AGAINST EVANSVILLE: Jamaica Bucknor and Phillis Webb each turned in a double-double performance in the team's 13-point victory over the Purple Aces of Evansville, March 20, at the Convocation Center. Bucknor poured in 11 points and a career-best 13 rebounds and Webb managed 14 points and 10 boards. The pair of double-doubles is thought be to the 23rd occurrence in program history as detailed records of the feat only date back to the 1999-2000 campaign. The last time it happened was Feb. 25, 2012, when Natachia Watkins (12 p/13 r) and Paige Redditt (10 p/10 r) accomplished it against Ball State. For the complete list of multiple double-double games, turn to page 13 of these notes.

THIRD HOME POSTSEASON TILT: For the third time in EMU history, the Eagles will host a game in the postseason Monday, March 24, when the University of Illinois-Chicago 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.
The Eagles then recorded a 78-65 victory over the University of Evansville in the first round of the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI), March 20, 2014. Eastern Michigan was the first MAC team to host a game in the WBI after earning the No. 1 seed in the East Region.

#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 only other school to have both men's and women's teams in the postseason from the MAC was Akron.

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 1-2 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. EMU picked up the league's first WBI win with its 78-65 decision over No. 8 Evansville, March 20, 2014.

DOUBLE VISION: In just 31 games during her brief career, freshman Cha Sweeney has reached double figures in points on 28 occasions. The Toledo, Ohio, native has scored 20 or more in 11 of those contests. Sweeney has notched at least 10 points in each of the last 21 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. 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.

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.

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 17.2 points a game, while ranking 11th in steals (1.7), 11th in three-pointers made (1.7) and 13th in assists (2.8).

HANGING TIGHT IN THE TOP 40: The Eagles continue to rank inside the top-40 nationally in four different categories. Eastern Michigan is ranked fifth in turnover margin, seventh in steals, 27th in fewest turnovers and 38th in scoring offense.

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 31 games, the newcomers have combined for 56.5 percent (1,325 points) of the squad's offense.

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE: The Eagles have won 49 of the last 74 home games dating back to the 2008-09 campaign. Eastern Michigan has racked up a solid home court advantage inside the friendly confines of the Convocation Center since the doors opened during the 1998-99 campaign. The Green and White has won 67.5 percent of the contests played in the building, piling up a 143-69 all-time mark.

INTERESTING STATS ABOUT EMU: In its 18 victories this season, EMU has scored 81.8 points while the opposition has posted 63.5 points. In those games, opponents shot 37.3 percent from the field compared to 41.6 percent for the Eagles. In the defeats, the Eagles have only posted 67.3 points, while giving up 79.7. Another factor in the Eagles' success has been the ability to control the glass. EMU has grabbed 46.1 rebounds in the wins while forcing opponents to turn the ball over 23 times. In the losses, the Green and White are -12.1 on the glass (38.8 to 50.8).

Eastern Michigan Athletics

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