KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Western Michigan women's basketball picked up a huge win this evening on its home court, taking care of business against the Eastern Michigan Eagles by a final score of 68-52. The win tonight moves the Broncos to 16-12 on the season and 10-9 against conference opponents, while also clinching WMU a spot in next week's MAC tournament in Cleveland. Furthermore, the win also secures the first regular season sweep of both Eastern and Central Michigan since the 1995-96 season.
The game began with a step back jumper from sophomore guard
Lauren Ross to get Western Michigan on the board first. Eastern Michigan (7-19, 4-15 MAC) knotted the score up twice during the initial quarter, but the Broncos jumped out to a 16-13 lead at the end of one as five WMU players put the ball in the basket. Ross led the way with five points, while redshirt junior forward
Abby Voss added four points of her own.
Period number two was tightly contested, featuring a pair of ties and three lead changes as the Eagles held the advantage by a 12-11 edge in the period.
Lauren Ross entered the locker room with a game-high seven points, while
Abby Voss contributed six points and redshirt sophomore forward
Taylor Williams had a solid half on the glass, pulling down eight rebounds in 10 minutes.
Out of the locker room, the Broncos caught fire, outscoring EMU 27-19 in the third stanza thanks to a 15-2 run in the opening five minutes of the quarter.
Taylor Williams took it to the rack strong for back-to-back layups, while
Lauren Ross rang in a pair of consecutive threes to force an Eagle timeout. Eastern Michigan responded with a basket of their own out of the huddle, but were quickly met by six more WMU points thanks to back-to-back triples from Ross and sophomore guard
Hannah Spitzley. The Broncos entered the final quarter of play with a 54-44 advantage.
The game's final period also went in favor of Western Michigan as WMU notched 14 points and maintained a double digit lead for the entire 10 minutes. Five Broncos contributed points in the final quarter to keep the Eagles at bay and secure themselves a spot in Cleveland. Defensively, WMU held EMU to eight points in the fourth on just 23.1 percent from the field.
Blazing the trail for the Broncos this evening was
Lauren Ross, who finished with a game-high 18 points on 7-14 from the field and 3-6 from deep to go with five rebounds and a pair of dimes.
Taylor Williams was one board shy of another double-double with 13 points on 6-13 shooting and nine rebounds. Williams was also a perfect 5-5 from the floor in the second half.
Senior guard
Maddie Watters added 12 points on 4-6 from beyond the arc, as well as three rebounds for her team. Redshirt senior forward
Reilly Jacobson did a little bit of everything tonight as well, notching six points, 10 rebounds, a career-high five blocked shots, four assists, and three steals for the WMU cause, while also posting a game-high +/- rating of +19.
Collectively, Western Michigan sank 25-63 (39.7 percent) from the field and 8-21 (38.1 percent) from three-point territory. Defensively, the Broncos held Eastern Michigan to 37.3 percent from the field and 29.4 percent from three, while also forcing eight of EMU's 20 turnovers. WMU also led the contest in points off of turnovers (16), paint points (26), second chance points (14), fast break points (8), and bench points (24).
The Broncos wrap up the regular season this Saturday when they head to Toledo, Ohio for a rematch with the Rockets. Tip-off inside Savage Arena on March 5 is set for 2 p.m. and will be available for streaming via ESPN+.
Tickets for the Mid-American Conference tournament are currently on sale at
www.wmubroncos.com/tickets, or by calling 1-888-4-WMU-TIX. A tournament schedule and seeding information will be announced over the weekend, and the tournament begins on Wednesday, March 9. For all postseason updates, follow the Broncos on Twitter/Instagram @wmu_wbb, or on Facebook by searching "Western Michigan Women's Basketball".
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