It's entirely possible that a handful of people, as I hyped the tar out of this game, gave the ol' MAC West decider a shot, saying "what the hell, it's a slow sports night on." By halftime I would not have blamed them if they had turned to something else or even read a book, because defense isn't sexy except on the scoreboard for the coach and in the record to everyone else.

Holding a team to 50 is great. To 40 is outstanding. To 33 is otherwordly ... and keeping TOLEDO to 33 points? Just take the conference. It's yours

Eastern Michigan's defense simply did not allow the Rockets to get more than a few uncontested shots up. But UT would be so lucky to even get to a point where they could shoot the ball, because on 68 of their possessions, 28 of them resulted in a turnover. That goes half-and-half; half to the Rockets offense for being out of sync, half to EMU for getting them to that point. 16 of the 28 turnovers were listed as steals.

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7 p.m. — Toledo (18-7, 11-2 MAC) at Eastern Michigan (19-7, 11-2 MAC) (MAC-Sports Video Feed, Maybe?)

Sure, the SportsTime Ohio televised game will be Kent State at Miami, and that'll be nifty as Wally Szczerbiak returns to Millett Hall and they're doing some type of ceremony for him. However, Miami is the last-place MAC East team and Kent State ought to be able to handle them. Even if the RedHawks win, it won't cause too much sway in the division. Kent State and Buffalo women also play, but neither are contending for the East.

Which narrows it down to Toledo and Eastern Michigan women for a rather large tilt in Ypsilanti's cavernous Convo. Both are 11-2 in the MAC West, tied for second overall in the division, and a win puts either one in great position to secure that double-bye into the semifinals.

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Today in women's MACsketball scores. Video highlights to be added later as they come available:

Miami 69, Kent State 65 (OT) — On a night where the big three kept rolling along, of course the "worst" game of the day was going to need some drama to reach a conclusion. Courtney Osborn hit two pressure free throws down two with :03 to go in regulation to force overtime, at which point the RedHawks took a lead and never looked back. Osborn had 16 points and Hannah Robertson finished with a career-best 21 points. Itziar Llobet led KSU with 14 points and three others finished in double-figures.

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Before I head off to the men's variety of this game, I needed to therapeutically expound on yet another installment of this classic rivalry.

When the Falcons jumped out to an early double-digit lead — it was as high as 14 points several times in the first half — I was never comfortable that it would be a blowout. You don't go to Savage Arena and just control the tempo and the scoreboard against Rockets women's basketball for 40 minutes. Maybe 20, maybe 30 ... in this case, 38 minutes.

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Previews and notes of the six women's MACsketball games, who haven't played in over a week, so we're ready for them to resume.

12 noon — Bowling Green (20-3, 10-0 MAC) at Toledo (15-7, 8-2 MAC) (TV: SportsTime Ohio/ESPN3)

Not to overhype this game, but if you do not watch women's basketball, watching this game may turn you into a fan. It's basically everything you need: two teams that play smart (it not high-scoring) offense and even better defense. Two coaches in the prime of their careers (Tricia Cullop and Curt Miller). An undefeated MAC team going over one county to play their rivals against arguably the second-best team. Toledo has won seven in a row; BGSU 13. Massive implications however you dissect this game. It's a most excellent way to begin a Saturday.

One of the great perplexing stats of the game is that both teams are actually pretty miserable free throw shooters. BGSU is 10th and Toledo is 11th in the MAC in freebies, shooting 66.4% and 62.3% respectively. And this could come down to whichever team minimizes their greatest weaknesses. For the Falcons, they don't shoot terribly well but they are tops in the MAC in turnovers per game (14.0). And on these two metrics, Toledo is almost the opposite. They're hitting 51.9% of their 2-point shots, best in the conference, but have been a little sloppy, turning it over 20 times per game. Given their slow pace, that's a 28% TO rate, worst in the league. And yet they're 8-2 in the conference.

As excited as I am for the men's version of the game (which I'll be going to), I'm getting double the goosebumps thinking about this one. In a way the women's variety of this rivalry is a bit more intense at least recently, given both teams' successes.

And it's one that only hopes to improve next year. This game will feature a total of three seniors: Jessica Slagle on BG, and Courtney Ingersoll/Haylie Linn for the Rockets. Look, just watch it, then come back and let us know how much of an improved women's hoops fan you are. Deal?

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A five-game women's MACsketball showcase tonight. WMU and Buffalo play tomorrow, if you're interested. A group of four is ascending to the top, and then there's everybody else.

BOWLING GREEN 57, NORTHERN ILLINOIS 47 — Still perfect (9-0), still playing without Curt Miller leading them. And no big deal, that grueling defense still turned in a nice sub-50 performance at home against an overmatched NIU team, who falls to 3-6 in the MAC.

The Huskies actually shot a decent 40.6% on eFG but turned it over 19 times, more than twice that of BGSU's total. Jessica Slagle scored 14 for the Falcons while freshman Logan Pastor turned in a year-best 12 points. Claire Jakubicek gave the Huskies her best with 17 points and eight rebounds.

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You most likely saw last night's punch-scuffle this morning and pretty much assumed there would be more collateral damage than just the two ejections. And now we know.

The MAC handed down its final judgment For CMU, and it's a bit steeper and more prolific than at least I expected. Central Michigan starters Jas'Mine Bracey, Crystal Bradford and Jessica Green were all given two game suspensions. OHIO's Porsha Harris will also sit out two games to cool off and think about what she did. Possibly even call up her enemies and make up.

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Update: We have video. The blurry one always surfaces first.

Update 2: The MAC Digital Network released a version which misses the initial swings but you can see the ensuing pile-on on the court after the jump.

I was not expecting the CMU-OHIO women's basketball game to be the story of the night, but my expectations are continuously in flux. The Chippewas handled the Bobcats easily 67-53 to keep pace in the MAC West but that was not the big reason. In the first half, with 11:08 to play, OHIO forward Porsha Harris was called for a foul. And then [insert details here].

With me so far?

This somehow led to Harris getting into a fight with CMU forward Jas'Mine Bracey, and according to a bunch of Twitter eyewitness accounts, punches were thrown like the wind. And not "girl" punches either. Both ladies are at least six feet tall.

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