Senior forward Paige Redditt powered her way toward the basket, spun left and scored the game-winning two-point field goal with 1.5 seconds remaining.
The basket not only clinched a Mid-American Conference Tournament Championship for Eastern Michigan’s women’s basketball team (23-8, 13-3), but also clinched EMU’s first NCAA Tournament berth since 2004 and the second tournament championship ever for the Eagles.
Redditt’s spin move and left-handed finish capped off a 72-71 victory for the Eagles against the Central Michigan University Chippewas (20-15, 8-8) on Saturday.
“What people don’t know about this game today – Paige Redditt came over to me with 35 seconds left, we were down, and she said: ‘Coach, no matter what that score reflects, we got this,’” said Eastern Michigan head coach AnnMarie Gilbert.
“For her to be the one to make the basket at the end of the game is just amazing,” Gilbert said.
After Central Michigan’s freshman guard Jessica Green missed the frontend of a 1-and-1 opportunity, sophomore guard/forward Natachia Watkins raced down the court and found a wide-open Paige Redditt streaking down the right wing.
Redditt spun toward the basket and made a shot she’s practiced all season.
“I do that move so much and Coach Gilbert is like ‘stop going to the middle,’” Redditt said. “It came through for me. I work
at it. It came through at the end.”
To add to the tournament championship, Watkins and senior guard Tavelyn James were named to the MAC All-Tournament Team and James won the award for Most Valuable Player in the tournament.
Watkins led all scorers with 25 points and James added 23. To go along with the game-winning basket, Redditt also scored 18 points.
“Tavelyn James put this team on her back game in and game out… I just can’t say enough about the way we played,” Gilbert said. “We thought that if we could have the lead going into the end of the game, we’d win the game. We thought we’d separate and even blow them out at one point, but that never happened.”
Leading the way for the Chippewas was sophomore forward Taylor Johnson. Johnson scored 20 points and recorded seven assists.
The teams played a high-scoring first half, in which EMU led 40-35 at the end. It appeared EMU would go into the half leading by seven; however, senior forward Skylar Miller would score a last-second, two-point field goal to close the gap to five.
The Eagles came out hot in the second half, as they extended their lead to 10 after just one minute had been played in the half.
The Chippewas would respond with a 7-0 run of their own, and the game would remain tight the rest of the way.
With Central Michigan leading 71-70, Eastern Michigan had a chance to take a lead when James made a key turnover by traveling and giving the ball back to the Chippewas.
The Eagles were forced to foul and send Green to the line, where she missed the first of a 1-and-1 and sent the ball going the other way, where Redditt would seal the victory.
Eastern Michigan will find out whom they will play in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Monday during ESPN’s
Selection Monday broadcast. The broadcast will air at 7 p.m.
