Eastern Michigan Athletics
Wednesday, March 11
Cleveland, Ohio
5 p.m.
Eastern Michigan University
16-15,9-9MAC
64
vs
63
Ball State
21-10,13-5MAC
1
2
3
4
F
Eastern Mich.
18
13
16
17
64
Ball St.
19
14
19
11
63
Survive and Advance: Eagles Secure Semifinal Berth With Win Over Ball State
3/11/2020 8:21:00 PM | Women's Basketball
EMU mounts fourth-quarter comeback to earn first semifinal bid since 2015-16
Following consultation with Ohio governmental and public health officials, and at the recommendation of Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, the Mid-American Conference Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments will be played, however a restricted attendance policy will be implemented at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse this week, March 11-14. The Tournaments will continue as scheduled, however only credentialed institutional personnel, student-athlete family members, credentialed media, television and radio crews, and official team party members will be permitted for attendance for the tournaments. The MAC tournaments will be closed to the general public.
CLEVELAND, Ohio (EMUEagles.com) – A fourth quarter deficit couldn't phase the Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team as it used one final surge of momentum to stun the No. 2-seeded Ball State Cardinals in the quarterfinal round of the Mid-American Conference Women's Basketball Tournament today, 64-63, inside Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Despite the result being an upset on paper, No. 7-seeded Eastern's fourth-year Head Coach Fred Castro sees the outcome in a different light. "We earned this win," said a jubilated Castro postgame. "We fought and made the right plays down the stretch."
Eastern (16-15) will now face the winner of the evening's last quarterfinal matchup, which pits the No. 3-seeded Kent State Golden Flashes against the No. 6-seeded Buffalo Bulls. The semifinal appearance will be Eastern's first since the 2015-16 season. Additionally, the win guarantees that the Eagles will finish with no worse than a .500 record on the season, which will officially be the best finish to a season since Castro's arrival in 2016-17.
The Eagles were led by the upperclassmen pair of Areanna Combs (Oklahoma City, Okla.-Putnam City West (Oklahoma State)) and Courtnie Lewis (Belton, Mo-Belton), who put up 23 and 20 points, respectively. The duo were the first and second leading scores in the game. The 23-point effort extends Combs' double-digit scoring streak to an impressive 24 games.
Down, 52-47, at the start of the fourth quarter, the Eagles put together an impressive run that saw the Green and White score nine unanswered points and totally shift the momentum of the contest. The run was started by redshirt junior and Cleveland native Corrione Cardwell (Cleveland, Ohio-New Tech East), who hit a pull up jumper. Lewis followed with a triple before sophomore standout Jenna Annecchiarico (Baldwin, N.Y.-Baldwin) and Combs scored back-to-back layups.
Up, 56-52, Eastern faced a Ball State counter-run. The Cardinals knotted the game at 59-all before Eastern again took a lead, 64-59, with 4:42 remaining. Up one, 64-63, with 15 ticks remaining, Ball State got one more possession with a chance to win. The stout EMU defense, however, ended all hopes of a Cardinal comeback as it stopped BSU from scoring while the final buzzer sounded. Passionate screams of joy and excitement ensued as the Eagles flooded the half-court MAC logo in celebration.
The first quarter saw Ball State put Eastern down early, 15-8 at the first media timeout. As is customary for the Green and White, Eastern came storming back with a 10-6 run of its own over the final 4:53 of the quarterfinal-opening frame. Second Team All-MAC selection and team scoring leader, Combs, paced the team with eight points in the quarter, while Lewis added a pair of buckets and two free throws to notch six points of her own. All-in-all, the opening period was one that saw five lead changes and one tie en route to a one-point Cardinal lead, 19-18, upon its conclusion.
The back-and-forth continued in the second quarter as the two squads continued to trade buckets. Annecchiarico got in on the action with a six points of her own in the frame to pace EMU in the quarter. Although Eastern was able to knot the game at 29-apiece with just over two minutes remaining before the break, it was the Cardinals who put together a two-bucket run to take a lead, 33-31, at the intermission. Ball State continued its momentum in the third quarter, building a 53-47 advantage before Eastern came roaring back in the final 10 minutes of play.
The Eagles will enjoy a day of rest before they take the court in the second-of-two MAC semifinal games Friday, March 13, in Cleveland. The game is slated for 1:30 p.m. inside Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. For the most up-to-date information on all things EMU women's basketball, visit EMUEagles.com or follow the team on social media at @EMUWBB.
Postgame EMU Quotes
KEN MATHER: We're going to let Head Coach Fred Castro open with an opening statement and then we'll take questions for our student‑athletes, Courtnie Lewis and Areanna Combs.
COACH FRED CASTRO: Yeah, A game that went pretty much how we expected it would go. Two defensive‑minded ball clubs. Ball State has had an incredible season and we knew from playing them twice before how tough the game was going to be, but we made the plays that we had to make down the stretch and made the tough plays that we needed to, so I couldn't be any more proud of my team and my players. The grit, being down 5 going into the fourth and to come back and win the fourth quarter 17‑11 I think speaks volumes.
Q. If you could comment, all season long this matchup between you two teams has been extremely close, you each split during the regular season. Throughout the entire contest it was a close game. You knew this coming in, didn't you? This was the kind of game you expected with a last possession chance to win type of outcome.
AREANNA COMBS: Coming in we knew we were the underdogs and we knew we had a lot to prove. We played them twice already and both games were really close, both were like a wrestling match. We knew that defense had to be one thing that we had to rely on so we prided ourselves on defense and getting tough rebounds, I think that's what separated us the most.
COURTNIE LEWIS: Yeah, I also think that we had to like buckle down on defense, and we've been here three times the last three years so we know it's not going to be given to, we've got to go take it and that's what we did today.
Q. Specifically, that fourth quarter you jumped out with an early 9‑0 run and really kind of turned the page a little bit, so to speak. Talk about the success with that early run in the fourth to give you that confidence down the stretch obviously.
AREANNA COMBS: We knew that we didn't want it to come down to a one‑possession game, so coming out of the half or whatever or into the third, we knew we have to get our run on. Throughout the game we hadn't had a run yet, so we knew it was coming and when it came we took it and we prided ourself on it. Then on the other side, we decided not to give them nothing on defense.
COURTNIE LEWIS: I can remember in the timeout, Castro said they went on their little run, we're gonna go on ours, we're fine. Throughout every timeout, we're fine, we're fine. We knew we were going to come out with it.
Q. Courtnie, you've been here three times now in a row. How much of the experience of being in Cleveland, being in these types of experiences as well, under a minute in a tight game, did that help you in this one?
COURTNIE LEWIS: Definitely. Like you said been, here three times in a row and each time it's a different experience, but each time you win a game it's a new experience. So that's what I want to keep experiencing, new experiences down the road.
Q. And Areanna, for you coming over from Oklahoma State, you sat out last year, you battled through an injury. How rewarding was this to get a win in the MAC Tournament coming to a new team that's embraced you so well?
AREANNA COMBS: I just decided to do it for my team and my coaches. We worked really, really hard throughout the season, it's been ups and downs, we've lost games we probably shouldn't have lost, but this is where it means something, we're zero and zero right now and just want to take it one game at a time and we pushed through and we got the win.
Q. Second team All‑MAC, I know that certainly everybody strives for first, but second team All‑MAC and on the defensive team, what does that mean to you.
AREANNA COMBS: It means a lot. It's just a steppingstone, though. I know that I can be better and I have to prove myself and I'm going to continue to do that, but it's definitely like an upside that I get an award and I get recognized for what I do. But like I said, we have something to prove and we're going to prove it.
KEN MATHER: Ladies, thank you. Congratulations. We'll let you get back and celebrate with your teammates in your locker room and continue with questions for Coach Castro.
Q. Coach, the competitiveness and tightness with these two teams and matchup coming down to the wire, again, what you expected?
COACH FRED CASTRO: Yeah, no, no question. It's just, you know, the one thing is to know it and then another thing is to know it, go out there and execute it and be able to come out on the positive end.
You know, the difference was our kids' toughness in the fourth quarter. I thought Corrione Cardwell was huge for us in the fourth quarter. She gets two big buckets. I challenged her going into the fourth quarter because we are a different team when she helps us, and then that offensive rebound with 30 seconds or less, huge, huge.
You know, we were exhausted and so was Ball State, but I talked to Jenna yesterday and I said greatness is on the other end of fatigue and you've got to go able to fight through it. I'm really proud of our kids' mindset and tenacity.
Q. How impressive of a win is it, Coach, the fact that you did not score a point for the final four minutes and 42 seconds, yet still won this game?
COACH FRED CASTRO: Whew, that's brutal. That I think says a lot about ‑‑ one thing we talked to them about, hey, we can rely on our defense to win this thing if we have to and that's not exactly how I had it planned out, but it did come to fruition and we really have a lot of confidence because of what we've done throughout the year that we're capable because of our speed, our athleticism, our competitive nature, that we can guard.
One of the things that we probably struggle with the team the most defensively is they want to not just stop you, but they want to take the ball from you and it's that ‑‑ in their nature. Sometimes we've just got to be disciplined and solid and just understand that the stop is the defensive rebound. I thought we were really good today. I mean, we won the game by one and the rebounding battle by one and that's not a coincidence.
Q. A light crowd here due to what's going on in the country and the world. What was the atmosphere like in playing this game without the fans and the majority of the fans that we're used to seeing in this tournament and how did your team respond?
COACH FRED CASTRO: I think that was a big, big part because we talked to the team before the game about how we had to create energy in this gym and we could make this a home game for us if we approached it the right way. There may not have been a lot of people, but I heard Eastern Michigan and I think a lot of them were the 10 people on our bench really screaming. I lost count of how many times the referees had to tell us to sit down and be quiet, and as a head coach, that's beautiful. You know your kids are invested, they're connected and they really want it. This time of year, that's everything.
Q. Early fourth quarter that 9‑nothing run, talk about that run and what that meant for you. Also comment on the defensive stop in the final possession.
COACH FRED CASTRO: Yeah, I think it was really a mentality going into the fourth quarter knowing we were going to have to go take it, it wasn't just going to happen. Ball State wasn't going to just tighten up, it was going to be us forcing the issue. We pressed a little bit halfcourt just to get their mindset in that way, and that was something that our assistants talked about and I give them a lot of credit for that. You know, once we get going a little bit, it really enhances our defense. When we can get a couple buckets here and there, our defense takes another step. You hold a team to 11 points in the fourth quarter, you're doing something at a really high level.
CLEVELAND, Ohio (EMUEagles.com) – A fourth quarter deficit couldn't phase the Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team as it used one final surge of momentum to stun the No. 2-seeded Ball State Cardinals in the quarterfinal round of the Mid-American Conference Women's Basketball Tournament today, 64-63, inside Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Despite the result being an upset on paper, No. 7-seeded Eastern's fourth-year Head Coach Fred Castro sees the outcome in a different light. "We earned this win," said a jubilated Castro postgame. "We fought and made the right plays down the stretch."
Eastern (16-15) will now face the winner of the evening's last quarterfinal matchup, which pits the No. 3-seeded Kent State Golden Flashes against the No. 6-seeded Buffalo Bulls. The semifinal appearance will be Eastern's first since the 2015-16 season. Additionally, the win guarantees that the Eagles will finish with no worse than a .500 record on the season, which will officially be the best finish to a season since Castro's arrival in 2016-17.
The Eagles were led by the upperclassmen pair of Areanna Combs (Oklahoma City, Okla.-Putnam City West (Oklahoma State)) and Courtnie Lewis (Belton, Mo-Belton), who put up 23 and 20 points, respectively. The duo were the first and second leading scores in the game. The 23-point effort extends Combs' double-digit scoring streak to an impressive 24 games.
Down, 52-47, at the start of the fourth quarter, the Eagles put together an impressive run that saw the Green and White score nine unanswered points and totally shift the momentum of the contest. The run was started by redshirt junior and Cleveland native Corrione Cardwell (Cleveland, Ohio-New Tech East), who hit a pull up jumper. Lewis followed with a triple before sophomore standout Jenna Annecchiarico (Baldwin, N.Y.-Baldwin) and Combs scored back-to-back layups.
Up, 56-52, Eastern faced a Ball State counter-run. The Cardinals knotted the game at 59-all before Eastern again took a lead, 64-59, with 4:42 remaining. Up one, 64-63, with 15 ticks remaining, Ball State got one more possession with a chance to win. The stout EMU defense, however, ended all hopes of a Cardinal comeback as it stopped BSU from scoring while the final buzzer sounded. Passionate screams of joy and excitement ensued as the Eagles flooded the half-court MAC logo in celebration.
The first quarter saw Ball State put Eastern down early, 15-8 at the first media timeout. As is customary for the Green and White, Eastern came storming back with a 10-6 run of its own over the final 4:53 of the quarterfinal-opening frame. Second Team All-MAC selection and team scoring leader, Combs, paced the team with eight points in the quarter, while Lewis added a pair of buckets and two free throws to notch six points of her own. All-in-all, the opening period was one that saw five lead changes and one tie en route to a one-point Cardinal lead, 19-18, upon its conclusion.
The back-and-forth continued in the second quarter as the two squads continued to trade buckets. Annecchiarico got in on the action with a six points of her own in the frame to pace EMU in the quarter. Although Eastern was able to knot the game at 29-apiece with just over two minutes remaining before the break, it was the Cardinals who put together a two-bucket run to take a lead, 33-31, at the intermission. Ball State continued its momentum in the third quarter, building a 53-47 advantage before Eastern came roaring back in the final 10 minutes of play.
The Eagles will enjoy a day of rest before they take the court in the second-of-two MAC semifinal games Friday, March 13, in Cleveland. The game is slated for 1:30 p.m. inside Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. For the most up-to-date information on all things EMU women's basketball, visit EMUEagles.com or follow the team on social media at @EMUWBB.
Postgame EMU Quotes
KEN MATHER: We're going to let Head Coach Fred Castro open with an opening statement and then we'll take questions for our student‑athletes, Courtnie Lewis and Areanna Combs.
COACH FRED CASTRO: Yeah, A game that went pretty much how we expected it would go. Two defensive‑minded ball clubs. Ball State has had an incredible season and we knew from playing them twice before how tough the game was going to be, but we made the plays that we had to make down the stretch and made the tough plays that we needed to, so I couldn't be any more proud of my team and my players. The grit, being down 5 going into the fourth and to come back and win the fourth quarter 17‑11 I think speaks volumes.
Q. If you could comment, all season long this matchup between you two teams has been extremely close, you each split during the regular season. Throughout the entire contest it was a close game. You knew this coming in, didn't you? This was the kind of game you expected with a last possession chance to win type of outcome.
AREANNA COMBS: Coming in we knew we were the underdogs and we knew we had a lot to prove. We played them twice already and both games were really close, both were like a wrestling match. We knew that defense had to be one thing that we had to rely on so we prided ourselves on defense and getting tough rebounds, I think that's what separated us the most.
COURTNIE LEWIS: Yeah, I also think that we had to like buckle down on defense, and we've been here three times the last three years so we know it's not going to be given to, we've got to go take it and that's what we did today.
Q. Specifically, that fourth quarter you jumped out with an early 9‑0 run and really kind of turned the page a little bit, so to speak. Talk about the success with that early run in the fourth to give you that confidence down the stretch obviously.
AREANNA COMBS: We knew that we didn't want it to come down to a one‑possession game, so coming out of the half or whatever or into the third, we knew we have to get our run on. Throughout the game we hadn't had a run yet, so we knew it was coming and when it came we took it and we prided ourself on it. Then on the other side, we decided not to give them nothing on defense.
COURTNIE LEWIS: I can remember in the timeout, Castro said they went on their little run, we're gonna go on ours, we're fine. Throughout every timeout, we're fine, we're fine. We knew we were going to come out with it.
Q. Courtnie, you've been here three times now in a row. How much of the experience of being in Cleveland, being in these types of experiences as well, under a minute in a tight game, did that help you in this one?
COURTNIE LEWIS: Definitely. Like you said been, here three times in a row and each time it's a different experience, but each time you win a game it's a new experience. So that's what I want to keep experiencing, new experiences down the road.
Q. And Areanna, for you coming over from Oklahoma State, you sat out last year, you battled through an injury. How rewarding was this to get a win in the MAC Tournament coming to a new team that's embraced you so well?
AREANNA COMBS: I just decided to do it for my team and my coaches. We worked really, really hard throughout the season, it's been ups and downs, we've lost games we probably shouldn't have lost, but this is where it means something, we're zero and zero right now and just want to take it one game at a time and we pushed through and we got the win.
Q. Second team All‑MAC, I know that certainly everybody strives for first, but second team All‑MAC and on the defensive team, what does that mean to you.
AREANNA COMBS: It means a lot. It's just a steppingstone, though. I know that I can be better and I have to prove myself and I'm going to continue to do that, but it's definitely like an upside that I get an award and I get recognized for what I do. But like I said, we have something to prove and we're going to prove it.
KEN MATHER: Ladies, thank you. Congratulations. We'll let you get back and celebrate with your teammates in your locker room and continue with questions for Coach Castro.
Q. Coach, the competitiveness and tightness with these two teams and matchup coming down to the wire, again, what you expected?
COACH FRED CASTRO: Yeah, no, no question. It's just, you know, the one thing is to know it and then another thing is to know it, go out there and execute it and be able to come out on the positive end.
You know, the difference was our kids' toughness in the fourth quarter. I thought Corrione Cardwell was huge for us in the fourth quarter. She gets two big buckets. I challenged her going into the fourth quarter because we are a different team when she helps us, and then that offensive rebound with 30 seconds or less, huge, huge.
You know, we were exhausted and so was Ball State, but I talked to Jenna yesterday and I said greatness is on the other end of fatigue and you've got to go able to fight through it. I'm really proud of our kids' mindset and tenacity.
Q. How impressive of a win is it, Coach, the fact that you did not score a point for the final four minutes and 42 seconds, yet still won this game?
COACH FRED CASTRO: Whew, that's brutal. That I think says a lot about ‑‑ one thing we talked to them about, hey, we can rely on our defense to win this thing if we have to and that's not exactly how I had it planned out, but it did come to fruition and we really have a lot of confidence because of what we've done throughout the year that we're capable because of our speed, our athleticism, our competitive nature, that we can guard.
One of the things that we probably struggle with the team the most defensively is they want to not just stop you, but they want to take the ball from you and it's that ‑‑ in their nature. Sometimes we've just got to be disciplined and solid and just understand that the stop is the defensive rebound. I thought we were really good today. I mean, we won the game by one and the rebounding battle by one and that's not a coincidence.
Q. A light crowd here due to what's going on in the country and the world. What was the atmosphere like in playing this game without the fans and the majority of the fans that we're used to seeing in this tournament and how did your team respond?
COACH FRED CASTRO: I think that was a big, big part because we talked to the team before the game about how we had to create energy in this gym and we could make this a home game for us if we approached it the right way. There may not have been a lot of people, but I heard Eastern Michigan and I think a lot of them were the 10 people on our bench really screaming. I lost count of how many times the referees had to tell us to sit down and be quiet, and as a head coach, that's beautiful. You know your kids are invested, they're connected and they really want it. This time of year, that's everything.
Q. Early fourth quarter that 9‑nothing run, talk about that run and what that meant for you. Also comment on the defensive stop in the final possession.
COACH FRED CASTRO: Yeah, I think it was really a mentality going into the fourth quarter knowing we were going to have to go take it, it wasn't just going to happen. Ball State wasn't going to just tighten up, it was going to be us forcing the issue. We pressed a little bit halfcourt just to get their mindset in that way, and that was something that our assistants talked about and I give them a lot of credit for that. You know, once we get going a little bit, it really enhances our defense. When we can get a couple buckets here and there, our defense takes another step. You hold a team to 11 points in the fourth quarter, you're doing something at a really high level.
Team Stats
EMU
BSU
FG%
.400
.431
3FG%
.333
.353
FT%
.786
.722
RB
34
33
TO
11
16
STL
9
3
Game Leaders
Pts
23
FGM
11
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Pts
20
FGM
7
3FGM
4
FTM
2
Pts
11
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
10
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Players Mentioned
G
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