The Eastern Michigan Eagles (11-11, 6-5) women’s basketball team won 83-79 against Western Michigan for its first win in Kalamazoo since the 2015-16 season. Jenna Annecchiarico scored a career-high 31 points, eight rebounds and shot 50 percent from 3-point range.
Annecchiarico’s previous high in scoring was 26 points on Jan. 23, 2019 against Bowling Green. Areanna Combs scored 21 points with six rebounds in the win over the Broncos. Breanna Mobley finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds and Jordan Walker scored 21 points for Western Michigan. Mobley broke the school record for career rebounds with 1,038.
Corrione Cardwell tied the score late for EMU in the game at 72 with 1:29 left. After a 3-pointer on the opposite end by WMU’s Kamrin Reed, Annecchiarico hit a three to tie the game again with 58 seconds remaining. The Broncos turned over the ball quick and Courtnie Lewis knocked down a short jump shot to give the Eagles a 77-75 lead.
WMU fouled on the next several EMU possessions but the victory was secured at 83-79 for the Eagles. Lewis scored eight points and Cardwell finished four points in the victory. Reed had four points for the Broncos. The last win at WMU for the Eagles was on March 2, 2016 where they won 63-52.
The teams have since split the matchups 4-4, including that game. Eastern Michigan sits at the fourth spot in the West division of the MAC, now one spot ahead of Western Michigan and close behind the Toledo Rockets, who are 6-4 in conference and 11-10 overall.
In the win over the Broncos, EMU jumped to a 12-2 start midway through the first quarter. That lead stayed around a 10-point margin until late in the second quarter when WMU took the lead. Sydney Shafer got a steal for the Broncos and led to a missed layup by Jordan Walker but a rebound and putback bucket by Mobley to make it a 27-25 EMU lead.
Combs missed a shot moments later and Shafer grabbed the rebound to took it all the way for the layup and tie the game with 1:17 left in the half. Mobley added a pair of free throws at the end of half to put the lead at 31-29. The third quarter had six lead changes until WMU pulled away to a 10-point lead with 1:46 left at 53-43.
Combs hit a jump shot a few minutes into the fourth quarter to tie the game at 56 as the Eagles went on a 13-3 run. Annecchiarico then went on a scoring frenzy in the final minutes of the game and helped EMU overcome the Broncos. She had an incredible 19 points in the final seven and a half minutes.
EMU will next play their next game versus the Bowling Green Falcons on Wednesday, Feb. 12. The Eagles defeated the Falcons in the last matchup by 17 points on Tuesday, Jan. 4. The game after that will be back at home as Eastern Michigan takes on Akron on Saturday, Feb. 15 at the Convocation Center at 12 p.m.
