Eastern Michigan University women’s basketball withstood a 16-2 second-half run by the Mid-American Conference East’s Miami RedHawks to win, 72-62 Saturday in Oxford, Ohio.
The Eagles (15-7, 6-2 MAC) took a 39-31 lead into the locker room at halftime and expanded their lead to as much as 16 early in the second half.
When the Eagles put up their 56th point of the night with 10:22 remaining, the RedHawks (10-11, 2-5 MAC) awoke.
Starting with two made free throws from Kirsten Olowinski at the 9:30 mark, the Redhawks picked away at the EMU lead, bringing it within two with 6:54 to play.
With the score 56-54, EMU grabbed a team rebound off a missed Sydney Huntley jumper, and Paige Redditt put it home to expand the Eagles’ lead back to four.
From there it was all Eagles, who eventually expanded their lead back to 10 to finish the game.
Tavelyn James led the Eagles and the game with 24 points, 15 of them coming in the first half.Cassie Schrock led EMU with six defensive rebounds and scored 18 points, including going 7-of-10 from the free-throw line.
Reddit also posted double-digit points with 10 and grabbed six total rebounds.
In the first 13 minutes, there were three lead changes and three ties. When EMU took its lead with 7:06 remaining, it would not relinquish for the remainder of the game.
Maggie Boyer of Miami (Ohio) had 14 points in the first half and five in the second. Olowinski had a game-high 17 rebounds and had 10 points.The Eagles maintained their shooting percentage of .419 in both halves, going 13-for-31 in both periods.
