Women's Basketball Hosts Senior Day Saturday Versus CMU

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IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS: With 17 Mid-American Conference games played, it all boils down to Saturday's, March 8, regular-season finale for the Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team. In-state rival Central Michigan University invades the Convocation Center for a 2:06 p.m. contest.
Coming off an 88-52 setback at Toledo, March 5, the Eagles enter the game with a mark of 16-12 (6-11 MAC) and are still looking to lock up the No. 8 seed in the upcoming MAC Tournament, March 10-15. Meanwhile, CMU is 20-9 (16-1 MAC) having secured a bye to the semifinals and the MAC West Division title.

A LOOK AT THE MAC TOURNAMENT POSSIBILITIES: EMU will either be the eighth or ninth seed in the upcoming MAC Tournament pitted against the Huskies of Northern Illinois University in a first-round contest Monday, March 10. Plenty of scenarios still need to play out before the location will be decided though.
With either a win over CMU or an NIU loss at home against Western Michigan, EMU will claim the No. 8 seed and host a 5 p.m. contest at the Convocation Center in Ypsilanti. However, the picture gets much murkier if the Eagles were to lose to the Chippewas and the Huskies win at home on senior day. If that happens, then all eyes will be on the game in Muncie, Ind. between Toledo and Ball State. If BSU wins, Eastern Michigan is still the eighth seed based on numerous tiebreakers. Meanwhile, if the Rockets were to win, then Northern Illinois would claim the eighth spot and EMU would instead head to DeKalb, Ill. for the opening round.

Eastern Michigan – will be either the No. 8 or No. 9 seed
With a win (7-11): EMU claims No. 8 seed OR NIU loss (5-13)
With a loss (6-12): NIU loss (5-13) – EMU claims No. 8, NIU claims No. 9
With a loss (6-12): NIU win (6-12), BSU win (9-9) – EMU claims No. 8, NIU claims No. 9
With a loss (6-12): NIU win (6-12), UT win (10-8) – NIU claims No. 8, EMU claims No. 9

A LOOK AT THE MAC TOURNAMENT SEEDS: With one game remaining in the regular season plenty of things are still undecided for the upcoming MAC Tournament presented by Barbasol. Per the final regular-season conference standings, the top four seeds will receive multiple byes in 2014. The third and fourth seeds will earn berths in the quarterfinals, with seeds one and two being placed directly into the semifinal round.
Bowling Green and Central Michigan have already penciled themselves into the top spots by virtue of their identical 16-1 league records. However, should both squads come up with victories on Saturday their seeds will be based on a coin flip late Saturday afternoon. Akron has also earned a bye and will go directly to Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena with either Toledo or Buffalo still in the mix for the direct trip to the quarterfinals.
If the remaining seeds stay the same then Toledo would be the fifth seed hosting No. 12 Miami, No. 6 Ball State would tangle with No. 11 Kent State and No. 7 Western Michigan would play No. 10 Ohio.

DOUBLE THE #MACtion MONDAY: For the first time the first round of both the men's and women's tournament will take place on the same day, as campus site contests are scheduled to begin Monday, March 10. The EMU men's team has already secured a first round game at home and the women's team is still in search of making it a doubleheader.
If both teams play at home, the women's game would tip off at 5 p.m. followed by the men's contest at 7:30 p.m. Game tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students with a valid ID. The winners of both games will advance to the second round action Wednesday, March 12, at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
If EMU hosts just one game Monday, the men would play inside the Convocation Center at 7 p.m. against a yet to be determined opponent.

ALL-TIME VERSUS CENTRAL MICHIGAN: The Saturday, March 8, contest marks the 74th meeting between the Chippewas and Eagles, who first met during the 1976-77 season. CMU leads the overall series, 41-32, but EMU has won 19 of the last 28 meetings dating back to the 2000-01 campaign.
Central Michigan got the better of EMU with an 82-67 victory in Mount Pleasant, Jan. 30. Freshmen Janay Morton and Cha Sweeney led all scorers with 26 points apiece. The freshmen duo combined for 77.6 percent of the Green and White's total points, while Natachia Watkins contributed seven points to the Eagle effort and Olivia Fouty dropped in five. Watkins pulled down a team-high and matched a career-high 15 rebounds on the night, while Morton grabbed six for EMU.
Eastern went 26-for-82 from the floor for a 31.7 shooting percentage, while Central used just a 37.2 shooting percentage to propel them to victory. Two Central players notched double-doubles on the night as Jas'Mine Bracey scored a team-high 25 points and pulled down 16 rebounds, while Crystal Bradford had 16 points and 17 boards for the Chippewas.

FINDING THE GAME ON YOUR RADIO DIAL: With the EMU men's basketball team on the road Saturday at Toledo, the women's contest will only be broadcast on Eagle All-Access rather than WEMU (89.1 FM). Greg Steiner will have the call beginning at 1:50 p.m. on EMUEagles.com/showcase.

SENIOR SNAPSHOTS: On Saturday, March 8, the EMU women's basketball program honors four seniors who have helped transform the Eagles in their time on campus. During their tenure at EMU, the team has posted 71 victories, a Mid-American Conference West Division title, a MAC Tournament championship, a NCAA appearance as well as a WNIT appearance!
#11 - Desyree Thomas: The speedy point guard has established herself as one of the top point guards in the Mid-American Conference as well as Eastern Michigan history. Already the EMU leader in steals with 292, the Waterford, Michigan native also ranks fourth in career assists with 462. A vastly improved shooter over these last two seasons, Thomas is averaging a personal-best 9.4 points a contest including doubling her career amount of three-point field goals made.
# 14 - Sara Stone: Having played in 69 career games for EMU, she has been known for her inside presence while donning the Green and White uniform. In her career, she has accumulated 212 points, 262 rebounds and 43 steals. This season, she has played in every game for EMU after starting 17 last season. Nearing career-highs in nearly every statistical category, Stone's best game occurred last season against Loyola-Chicago when she recorded a career-best 15 points.
#33 - Olivia Fouty: A force around the basket during her career, the Toledo, Ohio native returned this season after missing most of last season with an injury. Having already pulled down the 11th most rebouds in school history with 647 caroms, Fouty is just the 13th player to reach 600 rebounds in their EMU career. This season, she has posted nine double-doubles and matched the school-record with 17 in her career. A high-energy player, Fouty has added the long range shot this season en route to a personal-high 11 points a game.
#50 - Natachia Watkins: The newest member of the 1,000-point club at Eastern Michigan, she is the 18th Eagle in program history to reach the milestone scoring number and the 14th to reach the 600 rebound total. The South Euclid, Ohio native is also just the fifth player in EMU history to record more than 1,000 points, 600 rebounds, 150 assists and 125 steals in their careers. A third team All-MAC selection, she was named a 2012 MAC All-Tournament honoree during the Eagles 2012 MAC Tournament Championship run.

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 ninth among first-year players in Mid-American Conference history with 468 points. At her current pace of 16.7 points a game, she could still surpass Jackie Motycka, BGSU (472) and Caroline Mast, Ohio (488) for seventh place.

DOUBLE VISION: In just 28 games during her brief career, freshman Cha Sweeney has reached double figures in points on 25 occasions. The Toledo, Ohio, native has scored 20 or more in nine of those contests. Sweeney has notched at least 10 points in each of the last 18 games, as Monmouth was the last team to hold her in check with just four points, Dec. 11, 2013.

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 fifth in the MAC, averaging a team-best 16.7 points a game while ranking 10th in steals (1.7), 11th in three-pointers made (1.8) and 13th in assists (2.8). Meanwhile, Morton cracks the rankings in three-pointers made (5th - 2.0), free-throw percentage (13th - 76.4) and scoring (15th - 13.0 ppg). No EMU student-athlete has won the award since Alyssa Pittman claimed the honor following the 2006-07 campaign.

TOP FRESHMEN SCORERS: Cha Sweeney is one of just 16 freshmen ranked nationally in the NCAA's top 250 scorers. The first-year players include: Chrishae Rowe, Oregon (21.7), Raven Bankston, Delaware St. (21.0), Kelsey Plum, Washington (20.9), Malia Tate-DeFreitas, Hampton (19.1), Kaela Davis, Georgia Tech (18.4), Sara Dickey, Evansville (18.2), Jasmine Nwajei, Wagner (18.0), Kaylah Keys, High Point (17.9), Diamond DeShields, North Carolina (17.7), Sweeney (16.5), Jessica Jackson, Arkansas (16.0), Larryn Brooks, Indiana (15.9), Lizzy Wendell, Drake (15.7), Erica Williams, Winthrop (15.4), Nia Coffey, Northwestern (15.2) and Amanda Zahui B., Minnesota (15.1).

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, 32nd in fewest turnovers and 39th in assist-to-turnover.

CLOSE BUT NOT QUITE: Central Michigan and Bowling Green have proved to be the class of the Mid-American Conference since moving into conference play. The Eagles showed they were able to hang with both programs, holding 13-point first half leads against both opponents. Eastern Michigan led the Chippewas by a score of 16-3 early in the Jan. 30 contest at McGuirk Arena. CMU would eventually take the contest by a score of 82-67. The Eagles also raced out to a quick 21-8 edge to begin the Feb. 15 contest against Bowling Green; however, EMU was unable to hold on as the Falcons claimed a 61-56 victory at the Convocation Center.

HOLDING ON TO THE ROCK: Eastern has forced opponents to turn the ball over 211 more times (572 to 361) for a turnover margin of +7.5. If this stands, EMU will shatter its previous best of +6.00 during the 2011-12 campaign.

LIMITING CHANCES: The Eagles committed a season-low six turnovers in the contest against Toledo, March 5. EMU has produced seven games this season that it has turned the ball over less than 10 times.

DOUBLING LAST YEAR'S WIN TOTAL: After posting just eight wins a season ago, the Eagles have doubled their output in 2013-14 with 16 victories.

WATKINS' COUNTDOWN COMPLETE: During the opening moments of the March 2 contest against Northern Illinois, senior Natachia Watkins became the newest member of the 1,000-point club at Eastern Michigan. She is just the 18th Eagle in program history to reach the milestone scoring number. Watkins already became the 13th member of the 600 rebound club when she collected 12 boards at Ball State, Feb. 23.

ALLOWING 50 OR LESS: Eastern Michigan is 99-1 all-time when allowing 50 points-or-less. Since 2003-04, the Green and White has accomplished the feat 55 times with 29 of those coming against Mid-American Conference foes. The only loss came against Toledo last season in a 48-38 defeat, March 3, 2013.

WATKINS PART OF SOME RAREFIED COMPANY: Senior Natachia Waktins continues to accumulate statistics that will place her among some elite company when her playing days are complete. The South Euclid, Ohio native has racked up 1,008 points, 626 rebounds, 175 steals and 145 assists in 111 career games. Against Northern Illinois, March 2, she became the fifth player in Eastern Michigan history to record more than 1,000 points, 600 rebounds, 150 assists and 125 steals. The others to reach the rarefied total include: Ryan Coleman (1,793/747/376/265), Cassie Schrock (1,506/761/537/224), Stephanie Smiley (1401/784/577/243) and Sarah VanMetre (1,361/770/166/145).

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 28.8 percent of the team's rebounds and 37.3 percent of its 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 145th nationally in scoring and is the shortest player ranked nationally inside the top 250 scorers.

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE: The Eagles have won 47 of the last 71 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 67.7 percent of the contests played in the building, piling up a 141-68 all-time mark.

INTERESTING STATS ABOUT EMU: In its 16 victories this season, EMU has scored 82.7 points while the opposition has posted 63.3 points. In those games, opponents shot 37.4 percent from the field compared to 41.5 percent for the Eagles. In the defeats, the Eagles have only posted 66.6 points, while giving up 79.6. Another factor in the Eagles' success has been the ability to control the glass. EMU has grabbed 46.5 rebounds in the wins while forcing opponents to turn the ball over 23 times. In the losses, the Green and White are -13.0 on the glass (39.2 to 52.2).

PASSING 2,000: Against Northern Illinois, March 2, the Eagles passed the 2,000-point plateau for the eighth time in program history.

IN THE CLUTCH: The Eagles have been solid this season as the clock has headed under five minutes to play in games. Eastern Michigan is 14-0 when leading below five minutes, while picking up a victory at Ball State, Feb. 23, when the teams were tied.
In the last five minutes of action, the Eagles have made 73.6 percent (109-of-148) of its free throw attempts. Freshman Cha Sweeney has been called upon the most in clutch situations, going 29-of-36 from the charity stripe during this span. Recently, Sweeney rolled in 14 points in the final five minutes at Western Michigan, Feb. 26. Freshman Janay Morton has also made just as much of an impact, making 9-of-17 three-point attempts, including a triple to force overtime against Butler, Nov. 13.

THREE-BALLS, TRIPLES OR TRI-LIGHTERS: No matter what you call it, the three-point shot has proven to be either a hindrance or a help to the Eagles in 2013-14. Eastern Michigan has notched a 7-3 record when it connects on eight-or-more threes in a contest, and conversely just 9-9 when it does not. When the three pointers are falling, the offense is clicking to the tune of 85.8 points per game and a 32.3 percent (92-of-285) clip. However, when struggling from long range, Eastern is only averaging 71.7 points per contest and a dismal 25.3 percent (95-of-375) from the long line.

FOR THREE!: The Eagles are on a torrid pace from the outside this season. EMU has already posted 660 three-point attempts in 2013-14, making 187 of them. The Green and White tossed out a season-high 37 three-point tries against UMKC, Dec. 7, the second-most in program history. EMU is on pace for 721 attempts and has already shattered the single-season record of 630 set during the 1999-2000 campaign.

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 28 games, the newcomers have combined for 55.1 percent (1,154 points) of the squad's offense.

Eastern Michigan Athletics

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