Eastern Michigan University’s women’s basketball team defeated the Miami University-Ohio RedHawks 56-38, taking its second Mid-Atlantic Conference win.
Cha Sweeny led the Eagles with 12 points and two steals, marking her eighth game as lead scorer. She has led in over half of the season’s games.
“She’s our catalyst,” coach Tory Verdi said. “She’s confident and we’re just better off when she gets going.”
Miami-Ohio came out strong in the first half, scoring five unanswered points before Janay Morton sank five of her own and tying the score at 17:00, killing the only lead the RedHawks would hold.
Eastern then dominated the half, not allowing another field goal from Miami-Ohio until 8:07.
The lady Eagles led 24-14 at half time -- Sweeny leading with 10 points in her 14 minutes of play.
The Eagles continued to pull away throughout the second half with their highest lead being 24 points with two minutes left on the clock.
“We knew going in that we could take advantage of that, we wanted our defense to create our offense and obviously, you know, we turned them over.” Verdi said. “ I just thought that overall our intensity and our 1-2 was off the charts.”
Coach Verdi hopes to use the momentum from this win at Toledo on Saturday to help a relatively young team realize its potential.
“I was so excited about this game because I wanted to find out what is our identity and I think we're starting to find out who we are,” she said. “It’s time to grow up, and you’re starting to see us grow and develop. Hopefully we continue to win here.”
