Women's Basketball to Honor a Pair of Seniors Wednesday Evening

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YPSILANTI, Mich. -- The Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team closes out the home portion of the 2014-15 schedule Wednesday evening, March 4, against in-state rival Western Michigan University. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Convocation Center.
   The Eagles' (16-11, 9-7 MAC) hopes of the Mid-American Conference's West Division Champions still exist, but it will take some help to catch Ball State with just two games remaining. EMU would need to win out against WMU and Central Michigan while the Cardinals would have to lose to both CMU and Toledo. Furthermore, a win over the Broncos would pull the Eagles into a tie with them for seeding in the upcoming MAC Tournament with only a game left in the regular season. Western Michigan (17-10, 10-6 MAC) enters the matchup having most recently posted a 51-50 home victory against BSU, Feb. 28.
   Fans can catch the game on WEMU (89.1 FM) and Eagle All-Access (emueagles.com/watch) beginning at 6:50 p.m. with Chad Bush and Greg Steiner on the call.

MAC TOURNAMENT OUTLOOK: With the 2015 MAC Basketball Tournament set for next week, it is time to gaze into the crystal ball to see where the Eagles could possibly end up to begin conference tournament play. If the regular season ended today, Eastern would be the No. 7 seed for the tournament, hosting No. 10-seeded Miami for a first round contest set to take place March 9. EMU could still finish anywhere between the fourth or ninth seeds. The Eagles can secure no worse than a first round home game with a win or a loss by either Northern Illinois or Central Michigan.

BUCKNOR AND PUNI MAKE FINAL CONVO APPEARANCE: EMU will honor a pair of seniors Wednesday night that have made significant contributions to the Eagles success these past two seasons.
   A transfer from ASA College, Jamaica Bucknor has played in 54 games, starting 20 of those in her two years in Ypsilanti. She has reached double digits in points 17 times in her career, and her best showing occurred on the court earlier this season when she notched a career-best 25 points on 10-of-11 shooting against Madonna, Dec. 9. In total she has poured in 409 career points while grabbing 269 rebounds.
   After becoming eligible at the end of the fall semester following her transfer from Illinois State University, Brianna Puni has been a force in the lane for EMU. She has led the Eagles in rebounding in 11 of the 18 games she has played, including a career-best 16 rebound game against Detroit, Dec. 30. Her scoring presence has also been felt more as of late, with back-to-back 14 point efforts against Ball State, Feb. 25, and Northern Illinois, Feb. 28.

PUNI NOTCHES HER BEST WEEK IN AN EMU UNIFORM: Senior Brianna Puni was instrumental in the team's 2-0 week as they avenged previous losses to Ball State and Northern Illinois. In the two games, she averaged 14 points and 7.5 rebounds while posting an off-the-charts shooting percentage of .800 (12-of-15) in 29 minutes off the bench. She led EMU on the week with 15 rebounds and field goal percentage and was second in scoring.
   In the victory at MAC West Division leader Ball State, Puni had a season-best 14 points and a team-best seven rebounds. In the finale, Puni notched an EMU career-best seven field goals en route to again finishing with 14 points and was only a pair of rebounds shy of her second career double-double. In the contest, she helped hold All-MAC candidate Amanda Corral scoreless for only the second time in her career.

CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT: Each season under Head Coach Tory Verdi the Eagles have taken steps to return to the programs's previous championship form. The 2014-15 squad is no different as the Green and White surpassed nine Mid-American Conference wins for the first time in three seasons under Verdi. His 2012-13 team went 6-10 in the league while last year the club was 7-11 in MAC play.
   EMU has posted at least 10 victories in Mid-American Conference play on eight different occasions. Prior to the 2001-02 season, the Eagles had never won more than nine games in league action.

STANDING TALL AGAINST THE LEADERS: After weathering an extremely emotional month, the Eagles have come closer together as a group and its paid massive dividends on the hardwood.
   The Eagles are the only team in the Mid-American Conference to have defeated both East Division champion Ohio University and West Division frontrunner Ball State this year on the road. Both of EMU's triumphs over the two leaders occurred on their hostile home courts, as the Eagles downed the Bobcats, 73-61, in Athens, Ohio, Feb. 18, and exactly one week later shutdown the Cardinals, 56-41, in Muncie, Ind., Feb. 25.
   Western Michigan is the only other team able to boast it has defeated both BSU and Ohio, but the Broncos lost to the Cardinals in their only trip into Muncie.

THE COUNTDOWN TO 1,000: Sophomore Cha Sweeney has scored 961 points in her career and is 22nd all time for EMU. There are currently 18 players in the 1,000-point club for EMU women's basketball.
   Sweeney is on pace to become the second fastest player in school-history to reach the grand total. EMU's all-time leading scorer Tavelyn James (2008-12) was also a sophomore when she joined the elusive club, needing just 57 career games to eclipse 1,000. James ended with 2,470 points in her disinguished career.

DEFENSE LEADING TO EASY OFFENSE: Over the previous 13 games, the ultra-athletic Eagles have forced 18.9 turnovers a game while snagging 11.2 steals. The 246 turnovers by the opposition led to 246 points-off-turnovers or 29.4 percent of the EMU's offense.

ALL-TIME VERSUS THE BRONCOS: Wednesday's contest marks the 78th meeting between the Western Michigan Broncos and Eastern Michigan Eagles, who first played during the 1976-77 season. EMU leads the all-time series, 44-33, and has won 16 of the last 21 meetings.
   The Eagles were dealing with a heavy heart in the first meeting this season as the team returned to the court for the first time following the accident. Eastern shot 32.4 percent from the floor as it fell 83-56 at University Arena, Jan. 28. Freshman Sasha Dailey recorded her second-straight double-digit scoring effort with 15 points, 12 of which came in the second half of action.

INTERESTING STATS ABOUT EMU: In its 16 victories this season, EMU is averaging 72.6 points while the opposition is posting just 55.8 points. In those games, opponents are shooting 34.3 percent from the field compared to 41.3 percent for the Eagles. In defeats, the Eagles are only scoring 58.9 points, while giving up 73.3. Another factor in the Eagles' success has been the ability to control the glass. EMU is grabbing 43.9 rebounds to just 38.7 for the opponents in the wins, while in setbacks the rebounding edge tracks in the opponents favor (EMU 39.2, OPP 45.9).

TOP OF THE MAC: Despite not leading any conference statistics, the Eagles rank in the top-five in nine different statistical categories, including being second in steals with 10.3 per game and offensive rebounds with 15.3 per games. EMU also ranks second in rebounding offense at 42.0 and third in scoring offense at 67.0 ppg.
   Individually, Janay Morton is second in steals at 2.1 swipes a contest, while Cha Sweeney is third with 2.1 takeaways. Sweeney is also eighth in scoring with Morton following closely in 16th and Jamaica Bucknor in 21st.

CLIPPING THE CARDS: EMU picked up a road win over MAC West Division leader Ball State, as the Eagles downed the Cardinals, 56-41, at John E. Worthen Arena, Feb. 25. The Cards' 41 points were tied for the lowest offensive output ever by Ball State against Eastern Michigan. Coincidently, the then-Hurons notched an identical 56-41 decision in Munice in the only other time BSU has managed the point total, Jan. 23, 1993.
   EMU shot 34.5 percent from the floor, making 20 shots, while make 12-of-19 free throws for a 63.2 percent clip. Sophomore Cha Sweeney notched a game-best 17 points, while Brianna Puni had a season-best 14 points and tied for a team-best seven rebounds. Also pulling down seven rebounds in the game were Jamaica Bucknor and Phillis Webb. Webb pulled down all seven of her boards in the second half, four of which were offensive.

MUDDY'S BUDDIES: Cha Sweeney's left shoulder has a tattoo with a Toledo Mud Hens logo and an inscription that reads "Never Forget Where You Came From." It's safe to say Sweeney has remembered just fine when taking on her hometown team. In four career games versus Toledo, Sweeney has averaged 21.3 points while connecting on at least seven field goals in each of the contests. The Rogers High School product also has 13 career three-pointers versus the Midnight Blue and Gold to go along with 10 assists and eight thefts.

ON THE HORIZON: Following the WMU contest, EMU hits the road for the final time in the regular season with a trip to Central Michigan University Saturday, March 7. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. inside McGuirk Arena.
   The contest marks the 76th meeting between the Chippewas and Eagles, who first met during the 1976-77 season. CMU leads the overall series, 41-34, but EMU has won 21 of the last 30 meetings dating back to the 2000-01 campaign. In the earlier meeting this year EMU posted a decisive 85-64 win over Central Michigan, Feb. 14, at the Convocation Center. The 21-point victory over the rival Chippewas was the largest since the 2003-04 campaign when the Eagles cruised to an 89-68 decision in Mount Pleasant, March 2, 2004.
    The Eagles topped their season-best by knocking down 13 three-pointers for a 52.0 shooting percentage. Meanwhile, CMU was playing without MAC Player of the Year candidate Crystal Bradford who missed the game due to an injury.
   Eastern got the best of Central Michigan last year in overtime on Senior Day, March 8, 2014. CMU held the lead until the final three seconds of regulation time, when a layup from Desyree Thomas sent the contest into overtime at 77-77. The Eagles took the lead right out of the gates in the overtime period and never looked back, as the team went on to outscore the Chippewas 22-7 in OT.

Women's Basketball to Honor a Pair of Seniors Wednesday Evening

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Players Mentioned

Jamaica Bucknor

Sasha Dailey

Janay Morton

Brianna Puni

Cha Sweeney

Desyree Thomas

Phillis Webb

Eastern Michigan Athletics