Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
Central Michigan
Eastern Comes Up Short at Central
1/26/2019 3:04:00 PM | Women's Basketball
The Eagles are now 10-8 on the season and 3-4 in MAC play
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) - The Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team came up short at Central Michigan University Saturday, Jan. 26, falling 71-61, inside McGuirk Arena. The Eagles were within seven at halftime, but could not claim the lead.
Eastern Michigan (10-8, 3-4 MAC) used the long ball to remain within striking distance, hitting 10-of-21 attempts from deep. Meanwhile, a normally hot-shooting three-point Central squad was held to 4-of-18 from beyond the long line. EMU's edge from distance was outweighed by CMU's edge in overall field goal percentage (42.6 to 37.9) and free throw percentage (78.9 to 63.6).
The Chippewas also held a 48-28 advantage on the glass, while Eastern racked up six blocks to Central's four. Additionally, the Eagles forced the Chippewas into 15 turnovers, while only tallying 11 themselves.
Redshirt senior Danielle Minott (Miami, Fla.-Miami Country Day (Syracuse)) paced the Eagles offensively, while redshirt sophomore Corrione Cardwell (Cleveland, Ohio-New Tech East) stuffed the stat sheet. Minott scored a team-high 21 points, including five triples, while Cardwell added 17 points to go along with a team-high seven rebounds and five assists.
Minott broke the game open with a corner three, but ultimately a balanced offense led the way for the Eagles in the early goings. Along with Minott, sophomore Courtnie Lewis (Belton, Mo.-Belton), freshman Jenna Annecchiarico (Baldwin, N.Y.-Baldwin), and sophomore Autumn Hudson (Richwood, Ohio-North Union) knocked down buckets, to counter the play of Central's bigs to a take a 12-11 lead at the media timeout.
A layup with contact by Hudson gave Eastern a 16-15 lead, but the Chippewas closed out the period on a 5-0 run to take a 20-16 advantage into the second quarter.
After closing out the first period without a bucket for the final two minutes, EMU's shooting woes carried over into the second. The Green and White missed its first 10 shots, while Central scored five straight to inch ahead by nine, 25-16, and force an Eastern timeout.
CMU pushed its lead to as many as 16 before Minott caught fire and led EMU back within seven. Minott closed out the half on 11-2 run to cut the Chippewas edge to seven, 35-28, at the midway point.
Free throws were Eastern's only offense in the first few minutes of the second half, which allowed Central to push its edge back to 16 with 2:37 to go in the third. The Green and White rallied behind the play of Hudson inside, as she hit 3-of-4 shots down the stretch to pull the Eagles within 10, 54-44, with 10 minutes to play.
The Chippewas broke the game open in the final stanza, going up by as many as 19, but the Eagles continued to fight. Despite a late push though, Eastern Michigan came up short, 71-61.
Eastern Michigan enjoys a much-needed week-long break before returning to action at home Saturday, Feb. 2, against Northern Illinois University. The EMU-NIU MAC West battle is the second leg of a doubleheader with the EMU men's basketball team and will get underway at approximately 2:30 p.m.
