Eastern Michigan Athletics
Wednesday, November 25
Lexington, Ky.
12 p.m.
Eastern Michigan University
2-1
67
at
89
Kentucky
5-0
1
2
3
4
F
Eastern Michigan
22
13
12
20
67
#11/12 Kentucky
19
18
29
23
89
Photo by: Walt Middleton Photography
Eagles Fade in 89-67 Loss to No. 11/12 Kentucky
11/25/2015 1:49:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Junior Janay Morton led the Eagles in the loss
Photo Gallery.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (EMUEagles.com) – Hitting the road for the first time this season, the Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team squared off against No. 11/12 Kentucky in Memorial Coliseum. The Eagles (2-1, 0-0 MAC) hung with the nationally ranked Wildcats (5-0, 0-0 SEC) but ultimately could not overcome their hot shooting, falling 89-67 in the non-conference affair.
Junior Janay Morton (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) paced the Eagles, scoring a season-high 21 points while adding nine rebounds, five assists, and three steals. Fellow juniors Cha Sweeney (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers) and Phillis Webb (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) joined Morton in double figures scoring, chipping in 15 and 10, respectively.
Taking on their first ranked opponent this season, the Green and White did not shy away from the tall task that stood in front of them. Fueled by the early play of Sweeney and Morton on both ends of the floor, the Eagles hung with Kentucky basket-for-basket. While the junior duo combined for 11 of Eastern Michigan's first 13 points, their tenacious defensive effort atop the 2-3 zone forced the Wildcats into eight first quarter turnovers.
With the Eagles in front by three, UK called a timeout hoping to break the Green and White's momentum. Returning to the court, sophomore Sasha Dailey (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers) forced a turnover in the backcourt. The extra possession gained by Dailey's high-pressure was capped by a three-pointer by senior Sera Ozelci (Ankara, Turkey-TED Ankara College), lifting the Green and White to a 16-15 lead with 3:30 remaining in the opening frame.
Eastern Michigan went on to outscore the Wildcats, 6-4 en route to a 22-19 lead after 10 minutes of play.
The second quarter was a tale of two runs as UK opened the period with a 10-2 run over the first four and half minutes of the frame. Trailing by as many as 10, the Eagles clawed their way back within two courtesy of an 11-2 run.
Returning to the floor for the second half, trailing by two, the Eagles turned to their captains for production. A buckets by Sweeney, Morton, and Webb allowed the Green and White to regain the lead, 43-42.
EMU's lead did not last long however, as the home team rattled off eight unanswered points to take a 50-43 lead into the media timeout midway through the quarter. The Eagles went on to score the first basket out of the break but it did little to cut UK's momentum. Kentucky outscored the Eagles 24-4 over a seven minute stretch to distance themselves and take a 66-47 lead into the final quarter. Eastern Michigan hit just 2-of-11 shots during the Wildcats' run.
Kentucky increased their lead throughout the fourth quarter despite every effort by the Eagles, eventually handing the Green and White their first setback of the season, 89-67.
Next up for the Green and White is a bout with the Golden Eagles of Oral Roberts Tuesday, Dec. 1, in the Convocation Center. The home contest comes just before the Eagles hit the road for five consecutive road games. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m.
Eastern Michigan Head Coach Tory Verdi Quotes
Opening Statement …
"Real proud of our team here today. They competed for three periods with the 11th or 12th ranked team in the country. That's a very good basketball team. I'm proud with what we did. We kind of let it get away from us. We missed several assignments defensively. Obviously (we) let a couple shooters go base line. (We) didn't do a great job of communicating and gave a couple of 3 balls. I thought we competed. We did attack them at times. I thought we could have done a better job in the second half getting to the rim instead of settling for jumpers. I'm happy with where we are. We have to go back and look at the mistakes we did make. One of our biggest keys to this game was defensively getting back in transition. Obviously (we gave up) 30 points there (and we) can't do that. If you want to beat a really good team you have to play almost perfect. Our players obviously didn't shoot the ball particularly well. The fact that Cha Sweeney and Janay Morton carried the load for us, they didn't have good shooting nights."
On what went wrong in the third quarter when Kentucky went on a 24-4 run …
"We gave them one-legged lay-ups. I think we kind of got gassed a little bit. We took quick shots. Our goal was to come down the floor, execute, get them in rotation, drive and kick. We weren't patient offensively. We were one drive, one kick with shots and long rebounds. They gobbled up every single rebound and then took off and went running. We didn't do a good job getting back and containing the dribble penetration. They got one-legged lay-ups. That was one of the biggest keys to this game. The second one was boxing out and rebounding. I thought we did a really good job there on the boards coming into this game."
On what keyed how well they responded to UK's first run in the first half …
"We have some returners. We've played some tough teams; we've played Michigan State and Michigan so we're used to playing with the BCS level teams. We've played on the big stage at the MAC Tournament in Cleveland. We knew this was going to be a game of runs and we continued to tell our players, 'when you face adversity, you have to come together'. I thought we did a really good job of fighting right back. But then again, we made shots. And when we were making shots we were all of a sudden digging a little bit harder defensively. We got our composure back."
LEXINGTON, Ky. (EMUEagles.com) – Hitting the road for the first time this season, the Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team squared off against No. 11/12 Kentucky in Memorial Coliseum. The Eagles (2-1, 0-0 MAC) hung with the nationally ranked Wildcats (5-0, 0-0 SEC) but ultimately could not overcome their hot shooting, falling 89-67 in the non-conference affair.
Junior Janay Morton (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) paced the Eagles, scoring a season-high 21 points while adding nine rebounds, five assists, and three steals. Fellow juniors Cha Sweeney (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers) and Phillis Webb (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) joined Morton in double figures scoring, chipping in 15 and 10, respectively.
Taking on their first ranked opponent this season, the Green and White did not shy away from the tall task that stood in front of them. Fueled by the early play of Sweeney and Morton on both ends of the floor, the Eagles hung with Kentucky basket-for-basket. While the junior duo combined for 11 of Eastern Michigan's first 13 points, their tenacious defensive effort atop the 2-3 zone forced the Wildcats into eight first quarter turnovers.
With the Eagles in front by three, UK called a timeout hoping to break the Green and White's momentum. Returning to the court, sophomore Sasha Dailey (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers) forced a turnover in the backcourt. The extra possession gained by Dailey's high-pressure was capped by a three-pointer by senior Sera Ozelci (Ankara, Turkey-TED Ankara College), lifting the Green and White to a 16-15 lead with 3:30 remaining in the opening frame.
Eastern Michigan went on to outscore the Wildcats, 6-4 en route to a 22-19 lead after 10 minutes of play.
The second quarter was a tale of two runs as UK opened the period with a 10-2 run over the first four and half minutes of the frame. Trailing by as many as 10, the Eagles clawed their way back within two courtesy of an 11-2 run.
Returning to the floor for the second half, trailing by two, the Eagles turned to their captains for production. A buckets by Sweeney, Morton, and Webb allowed the Green and White to regain the lead, 43-42.
EMU's lead did not last long however, as the home team rattled off eight unanswered points to take a 50-43 lead into the media timeout midway through the quarter. The Eagles went on to score the first basket out of the break but it did little to cut UK's momentum. Kentucky outscored the Eagles 24-4 over a seven minute stretch to distance themselves and take a 66-47 lead into the final quarter. Eastern Michigan hit just 2-of-11 shots during the Wildcats' run.
Kentucky increased their lead throughout the fourth quarter despite every effort by the Eagles, eventually handing the Green and White their first setback of the season, 89-67.
Next up for the Green and White is a bout with the Golden Eagles of Oral Roberts Tuesday, Dec. 1, in the Convocation Center. The home contest comes just before the Eagles hit the road for five consecutive road games. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m.
Eastern Michigan Head Coach Tory Verdi Quotes
Opening Statement …
"Real proud of our team here today. They competed for three periods with the 11th or 12th ranked team in the country. That's a very good basketball team. I'm proud with what we did. We kind of let it get away from us. We missed several assignments defensively. Obviously (we) let a couple shooters go base line. (We) didn't do a great job of communicating and gave a couple of 3 balls. I thought we competed. We did attack them at times. I thought we could have done a better job in the second half getting to the rim instead of settling for jumpers. I'm happy with where we are. We have to go back and look at the mistakes we did make. One of our biggest keys to this game was defensively getting back in transition. Obviously (we gave up) 30 points there (and we) can't do that. If you want to beat a really good team you have to play almost perfect. Our players obviously didn't shoot the ball particularly well. The fact that Cha Sweeney and Janay Morton carried the load for us, they didn't have good shooting nights."
On what went wrong in the third quarter when Kentucky went on a 24-4 run …
"We gave them one-legged lay-ups. I think we kind of got gassed a little bit. We took quick shots. Our goal was to come down the floor, execute, get them in rotation, drive and kick. We weren't patient offensively. We were one drive, one kick with shots and long rebounds. They gobbled up every single rebound and then took off and went running. We didn't do a good job getting back and containing the dribble penetration. They got one-legged lay-ups. That was one of the biggest keys to this game. The second one was boxing out and rebounding. I thought we did a really good job there on the boards coming into this game."
On what keyed how well they responded to UK's first run in the first half …
"We have some returners. We've played some tough teams; we've played Michigan State and Michigan so we're used to playing with the BCS level teams. We've played on the big stage at the MAC Tournament in Cleveland. We knew this was going to be a game of runs and we continued to tell our players, 'when you face adversity, you have to come together'. I thought we did a really good job of fighting right back. But then again, we made shots. And when we were making shots we were all of a sudden digging a little bit harder defensively. We got our composure back."
Team Stats
EMU
UK
FG%
.337
.596
3FG%
.200
.529
FT%
.600
.706
RB
34
46
TO
9
20
STL
8
1
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
21
FGM
8
3FGM
2
FTM
3
Pts
15
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
10
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
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