The Eastern Michigan University women’s basketball team beat the University of Detroit Mercy Titans in a high scoring affair inside Calihan Hall 104-96 Sunday.
This contest featured a total of nine players scoring more than 10 points, five of which from EMU and each squad saw a player collect a double-double.
Olivia Fouty finished with 18 points and 13 total rebounds for the Eagles (7-1).
Freshman guard Janay Morton tied a season and career-high with 23 points, matching that effort in a game against Butler University earlier this year. Morton also had three steals, a pair of blocks and four assists.
Natachia Watkins (21 points, five rebounds), Desyree Thomas (17 points, five assists, six rebounds) and Cha Sweeney (14 points, six rebounds) were the other Eagles to tally double-digit points.
“I’m thrilled with the win and I thought our kids were tough down the stretch,” EMU coach Tory Verdi said. “On the other hand, we did not display a great deal of defensive pride, and we broke down defensively.”
Detroit (3-8) junior guard Ellisha Crosby reached double digits in points (33), which was a new career-high for her and total rebounds (10).
Senior Senee Shearer scored 28 points, the sixth straight game she notched over 20 tallies, along with seven rebounds before fouling out. Megan Hatter and Reyna Montgomery each collected 11 points.
Shearer fell one point short of matching her career high that came against Western Michigan University.
“She took herself out of the game as well with some silly fouls, but I’m glad she did because she was tough to defend,” Verdi said.
Eastern Michigan led the way in most team stats. The Eagles scored 18 off turnovers against Detroit’s nine, scored 27 on the fast break while Detroit got 21, and collected 25 off the bench against the Titans’ 11.
The first half saw Detroit open up with a 4-0 lead in the first minute, only to see the Eagles tie it back up with Watkins scoring four.
EMU led by as much as six points, but Detroit tied the game near the halfway mark of the first half. Both teams had some late scoring runs, trying to take the lead heading into halftime.
Eastern Michigan went on a 9-2 run, only to see UDM score eight unanswered in a span of two-and-a-half minutes. The Eagles held on late by draining some baskets to take a 56-47 halftime lead with Morton knocking down a three-point shot as time expired.
It was all Eastern Michigan in the second half all the way through with the lead expanding by as much as 14 points.
Detroit got to within six with three minutes left in the contest, but the Eagles continued to pour it on late and reached the century mark with 1:15 left.
With a heavy snowfall throughout the weekend, water was found dripping onto the court from the ceiling of historic Calihan Hall. With 15.7 showing on the game clock, the officials called off the end of the game.
Detroit remains at home Dec. 21 to take on Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, while EMU hits the road Saturday and Sunday to Stony Brook, N.Y. for the Stony Brook Invitational.
Eastern Michigan plays Wagner University Dec. 21 and will take on Monmouth University the following day.
Both games are scheduled for a Noon tip-off.
The next home game for EMU is a New Year’s Eve meeting with Lawrence Tech University with tip-off scheduled for 1 p.m.
