The Eastern Eagles (12-10, 5-6 MAC) rolled over the Central Michigan University Chippewas (11-12, 6-6 MAC) Saturday, beating the visiting conference team 85-64. This 21-point victory marks the largest win all season for the Eagles.
Right from the start the Eagles had an impressive offensive performance scoring back-to-back three point baskets to put them on the board. These would be the first of 13 three-pointers for EMU in Saturday’s game, a season high.
The Eagles definitively took the lead at 16:55 and used their 45 percent shooting and 22 assists to hold that lead for the rest of the game. Central attempted to match the Eagles fire with some three point plays of their own but continued to trail behind, heading into half time down 17 points (28-45).
The second half mirrored the first with the Eagles coming out strong scoring two threes, this time both from sharp-shooter Sera Ozelci. Eastern continued to pull away, with the smallest deficit being 15 points.
Jamacia Bucknor led the Eagles with 24 points, just one short of her career high. She plans to use the momentum of Saturday’s game to power through the busy upcoming week for the lady Eagles.
“We have three games next week, that we’ve got to bring the same energy and the same focus” she said.
The Eagles travel to Ohio for back-to-back contests this week, first to Oxford for a rescheduled game against University of Miami-Ohio, and then to Athens to take on the Ohio University Bobcats.
The week promises some variety as Ohio University boasts some of the best stats in the MAC and Miami some of the worst. This week will mark the first set of conference rematches. In the previous match-ups, Eastern beat Miami of Ohio 56-38 and fell to the University of Ohio 59-82.
“We just got to do what we do. If we do those things and come out and play for one another, obviously good things are going to happen.” Coach Tory Verdi said. “We’re going to enjoy this [win] for about the next ten minutes or so, and then get focused on Miami here.”
