The Eastern Michigan women’s basketball team competed in a conference matchup against the University of Buffalo at the Convocation Center on Wednesday. The game resulted in a 91-84 overtime loss for the Eagles. This is the team's second Mid-American loss, which pushes their overall record to 7-6.
Danielle Minott led the way for the Eagles with 43 points and shot 51 percent from the floor.
“Our main thing was to stick to the game plan, we just came up short,” said Minott.
Sophomore Autumn Hudson finished with 12 points, shooting 71 percent from the floor.
The game maintained its competitiveness, especially throughout the first half. The score tied five times and there were three lead changes. Coming out of the locker room, both Buffalo and EMU found themselves in foul trouble. By the end of the first half, UB had 10 team fouls and EMU had eight.
Taking care of the ball was another problem for both teams. EMU and UB had a total of 12 turnovers to end the half. Despite the foul trouble and turnovers, EMU managed to keep the game close by holding a three point deficit going into halftime.
The second half was just as competitive as the first. The score was 32-29 to start the third quarter and the score remained close. With the help of Cierra Dillard, UB was able to maintain the lead until the third quarter neared the two-minute mark. At 2:27, Minott checked into the game. A few seconds later, she made an and-one layup that brought the Eagles within one.
Momentum continued to shift in the Eagles direction after Minott made the foul shot that tied the game at 52-52 with a little over two minutes left in the third quarter. Sophomore Courtnie Lewis was responsible for giving the Eagles the lead late in the third.
The Eagles were able to hold onto the lead for about three minutes into the fourth quarter. From there on, it seemed as though the game had gone back and forth. With under a minute left in the fourth quarter, Minott made one free-throw attempt that would tie the game at 73-73. With a layup by redshirt sophomore Corrione Cardwell and a free throw by Minott, EMU went up by three. Hanna Hall of UB hit a 3-pointer to send the game into OT.
The overtime battle went back and forth as both teams maintained a close lead. It wasn’t until Dillard made a layup which put UB up by three with 1:06 left to play. UB led the way to victory as they maintained to keep the lead through the rest of OT.
Both teams shot 46 percent from the floor. EMU had the advantage in 3-point shooting making 47 percent from deep with UB shooting 39 percent.
The Eagles have another conference matchup against Western Michigan on Jan. 12 at the Convocation Center.
