EMU Records 20th Win to Advance to the MAC Quarterfinals

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CLEVELAND, Ohio (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team notched a decisive 74-57 over the University of Toledo in the second round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament Wednesday, March 11. The victory sends Eastern Michigan to the quarterfinal of the MAC Tournament for the first time since the 2011-12.

The Eagles (20-11) nabbed their first 20-win season since the 2011-12 campaign when they were crowned the MAC Tournament Champions. Furthermore, the win marks the first time both the men's and the women's program have both notched 20 wins in the same season.

EMU shot 45.9 percent from the floor, going 28-for-61, while making seven three-pointers and knocking down 11 free throws on 15 attempts. Sophomore Cha Sweeney (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers) continued to plague her hometown team, scoring a team-high 29 points with 10 field goals, three three-pointers and six free throws, while Janay Morton (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) netted 19 points for the Green and White. Senior Brianna Puni (St. Charles, Mo.-Incarnate Word (Illinois State)) was the final Eagle to notch double-digit scoring with 10 points and Jamaica Bucknor (Brooklyn, N.Y.-Weaver (ASA College)) added seven points for the Green and White. Morton added four assists to her stat line, while Sweeney dished out three as the team had 10 total helpers in the game.

Eastern kept Toledo to a 28.6 shooting percentage, despite Jay-Ann Bravo-Harriott's 30-point output for the Rockets. The freshmen guard made an impressive seven three-pointers accounting for 52.6 percent of UT's scoring. Imna Zanoguera and Sophie Reecher notched eight points apiece for the Rockets, while Reecher pulled down 16 rebounds, 10 of which were offensive.

After the two teams matched baskets to start the game, the Eagles found their offensive rhythm, scoring nine-straight points to take a 12-3 lead over the Rockets and force Toledo Head Coach Tricia Cullop to call a timeout to try and slow the Green and White offense. However, it did not stop the Eastern offense as the Eagles scored on back-to-back trips down the court with a layup from Sweeney and a jumper from Sasha Dailey (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers), while the defense forced a shot clock violation on Toledo.

The EMU defense forced Toledo into unwanted shots, holding it to just six points for the first six minutes of the contest until Bravo-Harriott dropped three-straight treys to cut the Green and White lead to six, 21-15, with 9:50 led in the opening half.

Toledo used a small 6-0 run to come within one of the Green and White, 29-28, with 1:22 remaining, including a four-point play from Ana Capotosto, who made a three from the corner before capitalizing on the free throw.

Eastern maintained its lead for the remainder of the half as Puni closed out the final minute with four points to take a 33-28 advantage into the locker room.

In the first half, the Eagles shot 37.1 percent from the floor with Morton scoring a team-best nine points and Puni added eight to the EMU scoring effort. The Green and White forced the Rockets to turn the ball over on seven occasions, while grabbing three steals. On the boards, Sera Ozelci (Ankara, Turkey-Ankara TED (Odessa College)) pulled down five rebounds and Phillis Webb (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) had four rebounds.

Toledo was led by Bravo-Harriott who went 5-for-6 from downtown for a team-best 15 points in the opening 20 minutes, while Capotosto and Inma Zanoguera were the next highest scorers for the Rockets with four points apiece. As a team, UT shot 30 percent from the floor making just nine shots, but made an impressive seven three-pointers in the opening half for a 46.7 shooting percentage.

The Eagles started the second half strong, extending its lead to 11, 47-36, when Sweeney knocked down back-to-back threes with just over 15 minutes to play in the game. The Green and White used four more points to extend its lead to 15, while holding Toledo scoreless for just over four minutes before Bravo-Harriott drained her sixth three-pointer of the game.

EMU continued to shut down the Toledo offense, matching baskets and keeping its double-digit lead as Sweeney made an easy jumper just outside of the paint to extend the Eagles lead to 61-48 with 6:59 left to play. The Eagles continued to fight on offense as Sweeney nabbed the ball from Bravo-Harriott to score an easy fastbreak layup, allowing Eastern to take a 70-52 lead with just over two minutes in the game. Sweeney closed out the contest with four final points that would allow EMU to take a 74-57 victory and earn a spot in the conference quarterfinal game.

Eastern will match up with No. 3 Akron Thursday, March 12. Tip off from Quicken Loans Arena is slated for approximately 2:30 p.m.

Head Coach Tory Verdi

Opening Statement
"With our program, our players and everything that we've been through, we've been resilient and tough. I thought that tonight we outworked them. We outworked them, we out toughed them, we executed both offensively and defensively. I'm thrilled for our program, but it's another day for us. We don't know what the future holds and that's how we approach what we've been doing. We'll take it day-
by-day and see what tomorrow brings us."

On losing to Toledo during the regular season
"The last time we lost to them was very disappointing. We controlled that game for 34 minutes, and it was the last six minutes that we allowed it to get away from us. It became a half-court game. They do a really good job at executing at half-court and they took advantage of their size and pointed the ball inside. We knew coming into this game that was probably going to be their ammo offensively and we spent a lot of time preparing for that. But as far as winning nine of our last 10 and playing well, it doesn't surprise me."

"These kids in our program are talented offensively and they're starting to realize that and play both sides of the ball. When you play really good defense, you put yourself into the position to win basketball games, and that's what we've done."

Janay Morton - Guard

On the young team
"I think a lot of us are used to playing on a big stage, coming from our backgrounds. There's a transition coming from high school to college, but all of us have had great high school careers. Our coaches have taught us very well how to handle certain situations, and how to not play like a freshman or sophomore, because we are so young. We've got to be a little more advanced than other teams our age, I guess."

On contributing to the success of the team
"Being disciplined, which is something our coaches have been preaching all year. Post play has helped, but holding a discipline on defense; we've been good."

Next Event

Team Stats

Cha Sweeney

Janay Morton

Brianna Puni

Jamaica Bucknor

Players Mentioned

Jamaica Bucknor

Sasha Dailey

Janay Morton

Sera Ozelci

Brianna Puni

Cha Sweeney

Phillis Webb

Players Mentioned

Jamaica Bucknor

Sasha Dailey

Janay Morton

Sera Ozelci

Brianna Puni

Cha Sweeney

Phillis Webb

Eastern Michigan Athletics