Not a lot of great games in women's basketball, but some trends are starting to take shape:
CENTRAL MICHIGAN 84, BALL STATE 66 — They went into halftime with an eight-point lead and weren't satisfied, so they kept up the pace and finished the job with a 44-34 advantage. CMU enjoyed a strong 58.1 eFG% and got contributions from nine players, all who scored at least six points. Crystal Bradford didn't have to do it alone, finishing with 16 points, eight rebounds and four steals.
Taylor Johnson had seven points and 13 rebounds. For BSU, Shanee' Jackson led them with 14 points.
CMU is now 3-1 in the conference, tied with…
EASTERN MICHIGAN 84, WESTERN MICHIGAN 59 — … their directional foes, who are also at 3-1 and just swallowed the Broncos whole. Maybe that whole bus-stuck-in-the-snow episode really got to them. Probably not though. There were outstanding games from a trio of Eagles. Olivia Fouty gave them 18 points and 11 rebounds; Paige Redditt had a similar night with 19 points and 11 rebounds, and Tavelyn James provided the scoring/sharing/stealing thanks to 21 points, six assists and six steals. MWU also suffered thanks to 26 turnovers. Jazmine Windham led the Broncos with 12 points. From the looks of the highlights, EMU was just able to drive to the basket at will, or pass into the interior quite often.
TOLEDO 49, NORTHERN ILLINOIS 47 — Never a doubt, right? The Rockets prevailed in a slugfest on the road in a game nobody could really dominate. Andola Dortch hit the go-ahead jumper with 21 seconds to go then tacked on a free throw with six six seconds to go. NIU had their pocket picked on the final chance and that was the game. Dortch had 14 points, six rebounds, four assist and three steals. Yolanda Richardson paced the Rockets with 16 points. NIU was led by Claire Jakubicek who netted 15 points. From the looks of it NIU stayed with this very deep team for 40 minutes.
AKRON 68, KENT STATE 62 — Not entirely a rivals' dream game, but Akron did finally escape with the win after going back and forth a little. Four Zips finished with 13+ points: Jasmine Mushington and Ti'eshia Stubbs had 15 while Sina King and Carly Young finished with 13. For KSU, Diamon Beckford led with 21 points and Tamzin Barrolhet added 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists — but was tagged for eight turnovers.
Sunday's games, seen live on MAC-Sports.com:
2 p.m. — BGSU (3-0) at Buffalo (0-3)
2 p.m. — Miami (3-0) at OHIO (1-2)