Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
Eastern Michigan*
Eastern Michigan Edges Women's Basketball, 59-51
3/1/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 1, 2006
YPSILANTI, Mich. - A late rally came up just short as the Central Michigan University women's basketball fell to Eastern Michigan on the road Wednesday night, 59-51.
EMU finishes the regular season at 21-6, 15-1 in the Mid-American Conference while the Chippewas are 16-11 overall, 7-9 in conference action. CMU will open the MAC Tournament with a first round game at Ohio on Saturday, March 4. Tip off is set for 4:30 p.m. Eastern Michigan is the West Division champion and earned a bye in the MAC first round.
Chasidy Myers posted a team-high 16 points to lead CMU, going 8-for-10 from the field, while Casey Manning added 15 tallies, going 5-of-8 from the floor. Myers also had a game-high nine rebounds. Ryan Coleman tallied a game-high 18 points to lead the Eagles to victory, going 7-for-15 from the field and 4-of-5 at the free throw line.
After being down by as much as 10 points midway through the second half, CMU battled back to get within two with two minutes to go in the game, 51-49. A lay up by Sarah VanMetre put EMU back up by four, but Myers answered that with a lay up of her own to get CMU back within two with 1:17 left. Unfortunately for the Chippewas, that was as close as they would get as CMU went scoreless the rest of the game and EMU hit insurance free throws.
Rebounding and free throws attempts played a key role in the loss. The Chippewas were out rebounded by EMU, 34-21, with the Eagles pulling down 12 offensive boards to CMU's five. Eastern Michigan also attempted 11 more free throws, going 14-of-16 to CMU's 4-of-5. The Maroon and Gold stayed in the game by tallying a better shooting percentage as the squad shot 44.9 percent (22-of-49) compared to 42.9 percent (21-of-49) by the Eagles. The Chippewas also committed fewer turnovers, 14-16.
Eastern Michigan took control of the contest midway through the second have when the squad put together a 18-3 run. It began after the Chippewas took a five-point lead at the 14:53 mark of the second half, 30-25. Amanda Compton sparked the rally with a three-pointer as EMU reeled off 12-straight points to take a 37-30 lead with 10:43 remaining.
CMU's Angel Chan knocked down a three to stop the run, but Eastern Michigan would tally the next six points for a 10-point lead, its largest of the game, at the 9:11 mark, 43-33. The two squads traded buckets over the next couples minutes before CMU began its comeback when it was trailing by nine with 7:31 to go in the game.
CMU's rally was sparked by Myers, who hit back-to-back jumpers to get her squad within five. Sharonda Hurd than tallied two of her nine points by hitting a midrange jumper as the Chippewas got within three with 5:20 left. EMU pushed its advantage back to seven but CMU would not give in as the squad put together a 5-0 run to get within two, 51-49.
The first half was a back-and-forth defensive battle as the two teams traded the lead eight times with four ties in the stanza. CMU opened the game with a 5-0 run only to have the Eagles answered by scoring the next seven points. From that point on neither team held a lead larger than three points with the game entering the half tied at 23.
Eastern Michigan held a slight advantage in most of the stat categories as EMU had more steals (7-5), assists (15-12) and blocks (5-4). The Eagles were also better from behind the arc, hitting 33.3 percent (3-of-9) of their three-point attempts to 20.0 percent (3-of-15) by CMU.
Erin Kuhl and Manning both finished with four assists to lead the Chippewas while Ann Skufca had a game-high three blocks. Skufca's three blocks moves her into a tie for first on CMU's single season blocks list with 47 this year.
