Behind 19 points from redshirt junior Olivia Fouty, the Eastern Michigan University women’s basketball team moves to 3-0 for the first time since the 2009-10 season with a 84-70 road win over the Cleveland State University Vikings at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, Ohio.
Fouty scored 19 on 7-of-14 shooting, 1-of-3 from three-point range and 4-of-4 from the foul line to go along with five rebounds and four assists.
“I am not as hesitant to get my shot blocked,” Fouty said about her willingness to go after the ball more on WEMU Radio’s Postgame.
Freshman guard Cha Sweeney added 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting and 7-of-10 from the charity stripe to go along with four assists and three steals in 32 minutes.
Off the bench, Jamaica Bucknor put a solid effort together with nine points and eight rebounds in 18 minutes.
For Cleveland State (1-2), juniors Imani Gordon and Cori Coleman each scored 15 points.
Junior guard Kiersten Green scored 13 on 4-of-11 from the field, 2-of-5 from three-point range and 1-of-3 from the foul line to go along with four rebounds.
As a team, EMU shot a season-high 50.8 percent (31-of-61), while holding CSU to 35.9 percent on field goals.
Multiple lead changes occurred in the first five minutes until the Eagles took control and never lost the lead for the rest of the game.
EMU went on an 11-0 run to take a 21-9 lead with 12:18 left in the first half.
The sizeable margin carried into the locker room as the Eagles held a 45-35 lead over the Vikings.
Things continued to go EMU’s way in the second half as the lead grew to as many as 20.
The Vikings closed it to within nine, but the Eagles pulled away at the end for the 14-point win.
Game Notes:
Three EMU players scored in double figures along with Natachia Watkins and Bucknor each falling one point short of scoring 10.
“They worked extremely hard today and I am proud of their effort,” EMU coach Tory Verdi said. “Our seniors did a nice job for us as we had close to having five players in double figures.”
The attendance was 205.
Looking Ahead:
The Eagles are off for nearly two weeks before playing Marygrove College on Nov. 30.
Marygrove is 2-2 overall and 0-1 in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference.
On Nov. 16, Marygrove dropped its WHAC opener to Davenport University 110-59.
Game time starts at 2 p.m. and can be heard on WEMU 89.1 FM.
Social Media:
Follow Eugene Evans on Twitter @GenoSportsguy.
