Eastern Michigan Athletics
Friday, March 11
Cleveland, Ohio
2:15 p.m.
Eastern Michigan University
21-11
71
vs
86
Central Michigan
22-9
1
2
3
4
F
Eastern Michigan
24
17
17
13
71
Central Michigan
19
18
32
17
86
Photo by: Jonathan Knight Photography
Eagles Bounced by Central Michigan in MAC Semifinals
3/11/2016 5:10:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Eastern led by as many as 13 in the game
Photo Gallery.
CLEVELAND, Ohio (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team looked to secure a spot in the Mid-American Conference Championship when it tangled with No. 2 seed Central Michigan University in the semifinals, March 11. The Eagles (21-11, 10-8 MAC) could not overcome CMU's (22-9, 13-5 MAC) 15 three-pointers, falling by a final tally of 86-71.
A career-day from junior Phillis Webb (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) paced the Green and White with 20 points. The Brooklyn Park, Minn. product knocked down a career-high four three-pointers while also adding six rebounds, a rebound, and an assist. Fellow juniors Cha Sweeney (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers) and Janay Morton (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) also reached double figures, adding 18 and 12 points, respectively. Graduate transfer Chanise Baldwin (Pontiac, Mich.-Martin Luther King-Providence College) nearly collected a double-double, grabbing a team-high nine rebounds while also chipping in eight points. The 6-foot-3 center also tied a season-high with five blocks, becoming the first Eagle to reject five shots twice in a season in more than a decade.
Eastern converted 27-of-67 shots from the field good for a 40.3 field goal percentage, including a 9-of-28 performance from behind the arc. Meanwhile, Central knocked down 51.7 percent of its shots (31-of-60) and 15-of-27 triples. The Chippewas held a 41-29 advantage on the boards while the Eagles held the upperhand in the turnover battle, 18-12.
Following an early triple by Morton, Webb went on to hit 3-of-4 from downtown to fuel the Eagles to a 24-17 lead after one quarter of play. Central struck first, opening the game with a layup before Morton's trey. Feeding off the energy a stout defensive effort that forced CMU into three turnovers in the first three minutes, the Eagles continued to take advantage of their speed and the Chippewas' miscues. EMU held a 7-0 lead in fastbreak points in the opening period, allowing Eastern to take a 24-17 lead into the second quarter.
The Green and White continued to outwork the Chips in every facet of the game in the second half. Defensively, the Eagles forced CMU into three turnovers while cashing in on those miscues to the tune of seven points. Baldwin used her size and aggressiveness down low to provide the Eagles with extra possession offensively and limit the MAC's top offense in Central. Corralling an offensive rebound in the early goings, Baldwin kicked it out to Sweeney at the top of the key. With the defense completely collapsed in the paint, Sweeney drained the trey to extend EMU's lead. As shots kept falling for the Eagles, the Green and White became even more locked in defensively. On the ensuing inbounds, EMU's full-court press forced a 10-second violation before sophomore Sasha Dailey (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers) converted a mid-range jumper to push Eastern's lead to double digits, 29-19.
After Sweeney kicked to Webb for a baseline three-pointer gave EMU its largest lead of the game, 37-24, Central Michigan called timeout with 5:24 left in the half. Despite scoring just four points over the course of the next five minutes, the Eagles held a 41-37 lead at halftime.
Central used a 32-point third quarter to take their largest lead of the game into the final period. CMU shot 68.4 percent in the frame, converting 13-of-19 shots compared to EMU's 7-of-15 showing. More notably however was the Chippewas 6-of-8 shooting from distance.
Entering the fourth quarter trailing 69-58, the Eagles could not overcome the deficit despite forcing the Chippewas into seven turnovers. Converting just 6-of-20 shot attempts, the Eagles' offense sputtered, as the Green and White fell 86-71.
The Eagles now await their postseason fate. Eastern Michigan will learn its future Monday, March 14, at 9 p.m. at which point the field of teams for the Postseason WNIT will be announced.
POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES
COACH VERDI: Obviously greatly disappointed about the results here, which is unfortunate. We didn't play our best basketball. I thought for the first 16 minutes of this basketball game we dictated, we did what we were supposed to do, and obviously found a lot of success in that. Then for whatever reason kind of faced some adversity, kind of went away from what we were doing and kind of downward spiral from that point on the last four minutes and then obviously into the second half.
But extremely proud of our girls and everything that they've done and accomplished this postseason and during the season and we'll have another season that will start next week as I believe we'll get into the WNIT.
Q. For Janay and Phillis, kind of talk about what you guys were trying to do out there, what worked for you guys and what didn't and why it kind of wasn't working that well?
JANAY MORTON: I think what we tried to do was limit Central to their scoring. They're a scoring team, get on their runs, make their runs for us. Defensively we slacked a little bit so that's probably what we struggled with this game.
PHILLIS WEBB: Just, you know, game plan was had defensive assignments and, you know, communicate with one another. We did do that, but not the whole 40 minutes though.
Q. Just kind of talking about the season and you guys had a run last year, started from the first round, made it all the way to the finals this year, had another start in the first round, made it to the semis. Talk a little bit about the resiliency of your team starting from early round and fighting all the way through as far as you can and how can you take that moving forward to next year?
PHILLIS WEBB: I mean, I know I play with all these girls, they're very talented, including, you know, and just got to stay consistent at the end of the day and believe in one another. If we take that on to next season and next week, then no doubt in my mind that we'll win games one by one.
Q. I guess Cha's not up on stage but just talk about her and how much she means to the team. She obviously had a great game the other day as well, and being the point guard and one of the leaders on the team, and just how much she means to you guys and for next season as well.
JANAY MORTON: I mean, she's a big part of the team, scores for us and everything, so next season we'll be looking forward to that as well and distributing the ball to other teammates.
Q. For Coach, just talk about your team's play today, what areas did you see that they were good in but what areas they could improve on.
COACH VERDI: Sure. Like I said earlier, I thought in the beginning, especially through the first 16 minutes of play, we did a great job of dictating defensively. We got up and we pressured them, we matched up, we created a lot of havoc and I think we are very, very disruptive defensively. A lot of that created some of our offense as well. It definitely frustrated them and then obviously that's the reason why and we were able to create the lead that we did. For us defensively, we weren't very disciplined. We missed a lot of assignments defensively as far as we didn't do a very good job of staying down, knowing where non-shooters were, flying and running a non-shooter off the line, and just identifying red light shooters. Didn't do a very good job of communicating. When you play obviously a zone you've got to fix a lot of mistakes. We wanted to take away all paint touches and then obviously be there on catches. I'm not sure if we did either, especially in the second half here tonight.
Q. What can you take away from this tournament run that you guys had these three games and looking forward to next year and how they played and moving forward?
COACH VERDI: Yeah, you know, for these two guys and Cha, our first recruiting class, my first recruiting class at Eastern, these guys are special. Now we've gone back to back 21 seasons. My first year before they came, we only won eight games and these guys have been a part of and going to be part of three postseason tournaments. In our first year we won 18 games. Last year obviously we went on a run and got to the Finals and won 24 games, made it to the Sweet 16 in the WNIT. And this year, obviously we're at 21 wins and getting to the Semifinals and we'll get another WNIT run here. They've been a part of something special.
Now we have one more year together and we're going to work our tails off, especially this summer, so that we can get back here and not settle for the Semifinals, to get in the finals and win this thing once and for all.
CLEVELAND, Ohio (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team looked to secure a spot in the Mid-American Conference Championship when it tangled with No. 2 seed Central Michigan University in the semifinals, March 11. The Eagles (21-11, 10-8 MAC) could not overcome CMU's (22-9, 13-5 MAC) 15 three-pointers, falling by a final tally of 86-71.
A career-day from junior Phillis Webb (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) paced the Green and White with 20 points. The Brooklyn Park, Minn. product knocked down a career-high four three-pointers while also adding six rebounds, a rebound, and an assist. Fellow juniors Cha Sweeney (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers) and Janay Morton (Brooklyn Park, Minn.-Osseo) also reached double figures, adding 18 and 12 points, respectively. Graduate transfer Chanise Baldwin (Pontiac, Mich.-Martin Luther King-Providence College) nearly collected a double-double, grabbing a team-high nine rebounds while also chipping in eight points. The 6-foot-3 center also tied a season-high with five blocks, becoming the first Eagle to reject five shots twice in a season in more than a decade.
Eastern converted 27-of-67 shots from the field good for a 40.3 field goal percentage, including a 9-of-28 performance from behind the arc. Meanwhile, Central knocked down 51.7 percent of its shots (31-of-60) and 15-of-27 triples. The Chippewas held a 41-29 advantage on the boards while the Eagles held the upperhand in the turnover battle, 18-12.
Following an early triple by Morton, Webb went on to hit 3-of-4 from downtown to fuel the Eagles to a 24-17 lead after one quarter of play. Central struck first, opening the game with a layup before Morton's trey. Feeding off the energy a stout defensive effort that forced CMU into three turnovers in the first three minutes, the Eagles continued to take advantage of their speed and the Chippewas' miscues. EMU held a 7-0 lead in fastbreak points in the opening period, allowing Eastern to take a 24-17 lead into the second quarter.
The Green and White continued to outwork the Chips in every facet of the game in the second half. Defensively, the Eagles forced CMU into three turnovers while cashing in on those miscues to the tune of seven points. Baldwin used her size and aggressiveness down low to provide the Eagles with extra possession offensively and limit the MAC's top offense in Central. Corralling an offensive rebound in the early goings, Baldwin kicked it out to Sweeney at the top of the key. With the defense completely collapsed in the paint, Sweeney drained the trey to extend EMU's lead. As shots kept falling for the Eagles, the Green and White became even more locked in defensively. On the ensuing inbounds, EMU's full-court press forced a 10-second violation before sophomore Sasha Dailey (Toledo, Ohio-Rogers) converted a mid-range jumper to push Eastern's lead to double digits, 29-19.
After Sweeney kicked to Webb for a baseline three-pointer gave EMU its largest lead of the game, 37-24, Central Michigan called timeout with 5:24 left in the half. Despite scoring just four points over the course of the next five minutes, the Eagles held a 41-37 lead at halftime.
Central used a 32-point third quarter to take their largest lead of the game into the final period. CMU shot 68.4 percent in the frame, converting 13-of-19 shots compared to EMU's 7-of-15 showing. More notably however was the Chippewas 6-of-8 shooting from distance.
Entering the fourth quarter trailing 69-58, the Eagles could not overcome the deficit despite forcing the Chippewas into seven turnovers. Converting just 6-of-20 shot attempts, the Eagles' offense sputtered, as the Green and White fell 86-71.
The Eagles now await their postseason fate. Eastern Michigan will learn its future Monday, March 14, at 9 p.m. at which point the field of teams for the Postseason WNIT will be announced.
POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES
COACH VERDI: Obviously greatly disappointed about the results here, which is unfortunate. We didn't play our best basketball. I thought for the first 16 minutes of this basketball game we dictated, we did what we were supposed to do, and obviously found a lot of success in that. Then for whatever reason kind of faced some adversity, kind of went away from what we were doing and kind of downward spiral from that point on the last four minutes and then obviously into the second half.
But extremely proud of our girls and everything that they've done and accomplished this postseason and during the season and we'll have another season that will start next week as I believe we'll get into the WNIT.
Q. For Janay and Phillis, kind of talk about what you guys were trying to do out there, what worked for you guys and what didn't and why it kind of wasn't working that well?
JANAY MORTON: I think what we tried to do was limit Central to their scoring. They're a scoring team, get on their runs, make their runs for us. Defensively we slacked a little bit so that's probably what we struggled with this game.
PHILLIS WEBB: Just, you know, game plan was had defensive assignments and, you know, communicate with one another. We did do that, but not the whole 40 minutes though.
Q. Just kind of talking about the season and you guys had a run last year, started from the first round, made it all the way to the finals this year, had another start in the first round, made it to the semis. Talk a little bit about the resiliency of your team starting from early round and fighting all the way through as far as you can and how can you take that moving forward to next year?
PHILLIS WEBB: I mean, I know I play with all these girls, they're very talented, including, you know, and just got to stay consistent at the end of the day and believe in one another. If we take that on to next season and next week, then no doubt in my mind that we'll win games one by one.
Q. I guess Cha's not up on stage but just talk about her and how much she means to the team. She obviously had a great game the other day as well, and being the point guard and one of the leaders on the team, and just how much she means to you guys and for next season as well.
JANAY MORTON: I mean, she's a big part of the team, scores for us and everything, so next season we'll be looking forward to that as well and distributing the ball to other teammates.
Q. For Coach, just talk about your team's play today, what areas did you see that they were good in but what areas they could improve on.
COACH VERDI: Sure. Like I said earlier, I thought in the beginning, especially through the first 16 minutes of play, we did a great job of dictating defensively. We got up and we pressured them, we matched up, we created a lot of havoc and I think we are very, very disruptive defensively. A lot of that created some of our offense as well. It definitely frustrated them and then obviously that's the reason why and we were able to create the lead that we did. For us defensively, we weren't very disciplined. We missed a lot of assignments defensively as far as we didn't do a very good job of staying down, knowing where non-shooters were, flying and running a non-shooter off the line, and just identifying red light shooters. Didn't do a very good job of communicating. When you play obviously a zone you've got to fix a lot of mistakes. We wanted to take away all paint touches and then obviously be there on catches. I'm not sure if we did either, especially in the second half here tonight.
Q. What can you take away from this tournament run that you guys had these three games and looking forward to next year and how they played and moving forward?
COACH VERDI: Yeah, you know, for these two guys and Cha, our first recruiting class, my first recruiting class at Eastern, these guys are special. Now we've gone back to back 21 seasons. My first year before they came, we only won eight games and these guys have been a part of and going to be part of three postseason tournaments. In our first year we won 18 games. Last year obviously we went on a run and got to the Finals and won 24 games, made it to the Sweet 16 in the WNIT. And this year, obviously we're at 21 wins and getting to the Semifinals and we'll get another WNIT run here. They've been a part of something special.
Now we have one more year together and we're going to work our tails off, especially this summer, so that we can get back here and not settle for the Semifinals, to get in the finals and win this thing once and for all.
Team Stats
EMU
CMU
FG%
.403
.517
3FG%
.321
.556
FT%
.889
1.000
RB
29
41
TO
12
18
STL
6
5
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
20
FGM
6
3FGM
4
FTM
4
Pts
18
FGM
7
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
12
FGM
5
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
F
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