Women's Hoops Hosts Western Michigan Wednesday

Women's Basketball vs. Western Michigan
Date	Wednesday, Jan. 17 \| 7 p.m.
Venue	Ypsilanti, Mich. \| Convocation Center (8.783)
Preview Info	EMU Notes \| WMU Notes
Live Stats	Fan Stats \| Media Stats
Watch	E SPN3
Listen	N/A
Twitter	@EMUW BB \| @EMUAthletics

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) - Winners of three of its last four, the Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team looks to keep rolling when it hosts to in-state foe Western Michigan University Wednesday, Jan. 17. The Mid-American Conference West Division tilt is scheduled for 7 p.m. inside the Convocation Center.
   Eastern Michigan moved to 7-9 overall and 3-2 in MAC play with a 74-59 win at Miami, Jan. 13. Western Michigan makes the trip to Ypsilanti after suffering a 69-54 loss at home to Ohio, Jan. 13, and sits at 10-7 overall and 3-2 in league play.
   The game will be broadcast on ESPN3, as well as WEMU 89.1 FM where fans can listen to the smooth sounds of veteran broadcasters Chad Bush and Greg Steiner. Fans can also follow via Twitter through the team's account, @EMUWBB.

THAT'S A PERFECT 10: Miami University's Millett Hall has traditionally been a building that has caused EMU coaches to have nightmares. However, with the Eagles' 74-59 win over the RedHawks, Jan. 13, EMU picked up its 10th win inside Millett and its sixth in its last eight tries.

DANIELLE BREAKS LOOSE: Redshirt junior Danielle Minott turned in the best performance of her career at Miami, Jan. 13, stuffing the stat sheet in the process. Minott went off for a career-high 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting, including 3-of-3 from long range. The Miami, Fla. native added four rebounds, four steals, and three assists to fuel EMU past MU, 74-59.
   Minott's 21-point effort made her the third Eagle to score 20-or-more points in a game, as she joined Courtnie Lewis (29 vs. Longwood, Dec. 20) and Sasha Dailey (20 vs. Toledo, Jan. 6).

TRENDING UP: Since the Eagles have turned their attention to Mid-American Conference play they have been one of the top defenses in the league. In conference games, EMU is giving up just 62.2 points per contest, the best in the league and more than a point better than second-ranked Toledo (63.8 ppg). The Green and White also rank second in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to a 38.0 percent clip, and tied for second with 11.0 steals per game.
WHO SAID SIZE MATTERS: Freshman Juanita Agosto has often been called upon for her defensive dominance, but in EMU's road win over Miami, Jan. 13, the 5-foot-6 guard nearly came away with EMU's first double-double of the season. Agosto finished the day with 10 points, one off her career-high, while registering a career-best and team-high eight rebounds in the win.

DIALING IN: Eastern Michigan shot 49.2 percent from the field in its, 74-59, win at Miami, Jan. 13, its second-best field goal percentage of the season and EMU's best in MAC play under Fred Castro. Eastern knocked down 31-of-63 field goal attempts, tying its previous season high for makes, while also going 7-of-13 from beyond the arc. The Eagles' seven made triples tied for the most this season, while its 53.8 percent clip from deep was EMU's best in the Castro era.

ALL-TIME VERSUS WESTERN MICHIGAN: The midweek contest against Western Michigan marks the 83rd meeting between the Broncos and Eagles, who first met during the 1976-77 season. Eastern leads the all-time series by a count of 47-35, including winning 19 of the last 26 meetings.
    WMU swept last year's series, as the Broncos outlasted the Eagles, 76-67, in Ypsilanti, Jan. 14, before downing EMU, 70-60, in Kalamazoo, Feb. 18.

OLD FACES IN NEW PLACES: Western Michigan Head Coach Shane Clipfell spent nine seasons as an assistant coach at Eastern Michigan, and was the acting head coach for most of the 2006-07 season when then-Head Coach Suzy Merchant was on maternity leave.
While serving as the acting head coach at EMU for a majority of the 2006-07 season, he guided the Eagles to a 16-13 overall record and a 10-6 finish in the MAC, good for second place in the West Division. Individually, Sarah VanMetre became the first women's basketball player in program history to be named Academic All-American, Patrice McKinney was named MAC Defensive Player of the Year and Alyssa Pittman was named the MAC Freshman of the Year.

SWEET CHARITY: A key to Eastern Michigan's ability to win close games this season has been how the Green and White perform at the free throw line. In its seven victories EMU is shooting 70.3 percent (90-of-128), while Eastern is converting just 61.2 percent (93-of-152) of its attempts from the stripe in losses.

CREATING SECOND CHANCES: The Green and White have dominated the offensive glass, racking up 250 offensive rebounds. EMU's 16.0 offensive rebounds per game ranks first in the MAC and 28th nationally, while leading to 191 points or 18.3 percent of Eastern's scoring this season.

OFF TO THE RACES: Eastern Michigan has been dominant in transition through its first 16 games, outscoring the opposition, 207-76, in fast break points. Offensively, the Green and White average 12.9 transition points per game, while giving up just an average of 4.8 points per contest. For the season, EMU is 5-4 when scoring 10+ fast break points.

SHARING IS CARING: EMU's ability to distribute the ball has been a true-tale sign of its success offensively this season. Eastern has racked up 10-or-more assists in nine games this year and has averaged 69.3 points in those contests. On the flip side, the Eagles score 10 points less (59.3 ppg) when finishing with a single digit assist total.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS: Senior Sasha Dailey has proven to be one of the best defensive players Eastern Michigan has ever seen, as she has frustrated opponents with her knack for racking up steals over the course of her career. The Toledo, Ohio native has registered 49 swipes on the season, and currently has 222 for her career. Dailey's 222 career thefts put her just outside the top-10, as she trails Janay Morton (223) by one. Desyree Thomas owns the program record, having accumulated 297 from 2010-14.
   As of Jan. 8, Dailey's steals ranked most in the league and the 16th-most in the country, while her 3.43 steals per game are the best in the MAC and come in at 12th in the nation.

ON THE HORIZON: Eastern Michigan makes the trek to DeKalb, Ill. this weekend, Jan. 20, for a clash with Northern Illinois University. The EMU-NIU matchup is slated for 1 p.m. CT inside NIU's Convocation Center.

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Players Mentioned

Juanita Agosto

Sasha Dailey

Courtnie Lewis

Danielle Minott

Eastern Michigan Athletics