Women's Basketball Travels to Twin Cities for Sunday Tilt Versus Minnesota

Women's Basketball at Minnesota
Date	Sunday, Dec. 3 - 1 p.m. CT
Venue	Minneapolis, Minn. - Williams Arena (14,625)
Preview Info	EMU Notes \| UM Notes
Live Stats	Live Stats vs. Minnesota
Watch	ESPN3
Listen	N/A
Twitter	@EMUWBB \| @EMUAthletics

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (EMUEagles.com) - Continuing its month-long road trip, the Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team heads to Minneapolis, Minn., Dec. 3, to take on the University of Minnesota. Tipoff from Williams Arena is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT.
EMU (2-4) heads to the Twin Cities with hopes of snapping a four-game losing skid, most recently dropping a pair of games at the LMU Thanksgiving Classic, Nov. 24-25. Meanwhile, Minnesota hosts the Green and White after suffering its first loss of the season, 88-83, in Chapel Hill, N.C. Wednesday, Nov. 29.
A student production of the contest will be shown on a subscription basis on BTN Plus at BTN2Go.com. Fans can also follow the game via Twitter, as it will be live tweeted from the team's account, @EMUWBB.

ESABELLE RETURNS HOME: Sophomore guard Esabelle Levine will return to her home state this weekend, when the Eagles battle the Golden Gophers. Levine, a native of Eden Prairie, Minn., grew up 20 miles southwest of Williams Arena where she was a four-year letterwinner for Eden Prairie High School. There, she averaged 17.4 points, 4.3 assists, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.6 steals per contest, while leading her team to a conference championship and third-place state finish.

SO, WE MEET AGAIN: Sunday's contest will be the first meeting between the Eagles and Golden Gophers in the history of the two programs, but it will be the third for Minnesota Head Coach Marlene Stollings. A two-year standout at Ohio University in the late 90's, Stollings played in two OU-EMU games during her Bobcat career, helping Ohio to a pair of wins, while averaging 13.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.0 steals, and 2.0 assists.

NICE TO MEET YOU: For the third straight game, the Eagles will square off against an opponent they have not met previously. In 41 seasons, Eastern Michigan has never faced Minnesota.

ROAD TRIP TROUBLES: The Green and White are in search of its first win away from the Convocation Center since beating Incarnate Word, 66-47, in San Antonio, Texas, Nov. 29, 2016. Since knocking off UIW, the Eagles have lost 14 consecutive games away from the Convo.

LAST B1G WIN: Eastern Michigan's last win over a Big Ten Conference opponent came in thrilling fashion back during the 2015-16 season when EMU knocked off Michigan. The Eagles trailed for 39 minutes before regaining the lead with one minute to play, upending Michigan (8-3) by a final score of 64-63. Phillis Webb led EMU with 22 points while finishing just one rebound shy of the double-double.

FIRST QUARTER STRUGGLES: Since hitting the road, the first quarter has been a thorn in the side of Eastern Michigan. Through its four road games, EMU is connecting on just 19 percent (13-of-68) of its shots in the opening period, while opponents are hitting shots at a 38 percent (28-of-73) clip.
To make matters worse, the Eagles are just 2-of-18 from three-point range, while opponents have hit 11 triples in 28 tries in the opening period over that span. The difference in efficiency has the Green and White trailing by an average of about 10 points (EMU-9.2, OPP-19.0) after 10 minutes of play during the four-game stretch.

STARTING LINEUP SHUFFLE: In just six games, Head Coach Fred Castro has utilized five different starting lineups. Nine different players have made starts so far this season, while Sasha Dailey is the only Eagle to earn the nod in all six games.

STUFFING ISN'T JUST FOR THANKSGIVING: Redshirt junior Danielle Minott stuffed the stat sheet at the LMU Thanksgiving Classic, Nov. 24-25, en route to garnering all-tournament honors. Minott averaged 12.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 3.5 steals per game over the two-game span to pace the Eagles on both ends of the floor.

BALANCING THE BOX SCORE: The Green and White did something it had not done in more than a year against Loyola Marymount at the LMU Thanksgiving Classic, Nov. 25, as Sasha Dailey, Courtnie Lewis, and Danielle Minott all scored 15-or-more points. Dailey led the way with a season-high 17 points, while Lewis and Minott chipped in 16 points apiece. It was the first time the Eagles had accomplished the feat since Nov. 13, 2016, versus Morehead State when Dailey, Phillis Webb, and Sheyna Deans scored 29, 17, and 16, respectively.

SO MUCH FOR CHARITY: Free throws have been anything but free for the Eagles through the first six games of the season. The Green and White connect on just 63.3 percent of its shots from the charity stripe and boast the second-worst FT percentage in the league. In its last two outings, missed free throws have been the difference, as EMU's margin of defeat has match its misses from the line (L vs. Denver, 54-60 - 13-of-19 - (-6); L, vs. LMU, 64-73 - 11-of-20 (-9)).

RACKING UP THE FREQUENT FLYER MILES: The Eagles will soar from coast-to-coast this season, racking up a total of 12,256 miles traveled. EMU's longest trip of the season was a trek to Los Angeles for Thanksgiving, a round-trip of 4,544 miles. The Green and White's trip to California was 1,000 miles more than the mileage the Eagles will wrap up in a combined nine conference road trips.

WORKING TOWARDS THE 1000-POINT CLUB: Senior Sasha Dailey stands 98 points short of the 1,000-point mark in her final season donning the Green and White. Dailey amassed 855 points for her career through her first three seasons, and has scored 47 points so far this year. If Dailey eclipses four-digits, she will become the 22nd player in program history to score at least 1,000 points during their career.

ON THE HORIZON: Eastern returns to action next weekend, Dec. 8-10, when it travels to the Land of Lincoln for a pair of games. The Eagles will travel to Chicago, Dec. 8, for a Friday night date with the Flames of Illinois-Chicago, before taking on Illinois State, Dec. 10, in Normal, Ill.

Women's Basketball Travels to Twin Cities for Sunday Tilt Versus Minnesota

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Players Mentioned

Sasha Dailey

Esabelle Levine

Courtnie Lewis

Danielle Minott

Eastern Michigan Athletics