The bottom 4 teams didn’t do such a good job during the regular season, compiling a combined 12 wins in conference play. That wouldn’t have been good enough to earn a bye. In tournament basketball, you can throw the regular season records out the door. Anything is possible.

Western Michigan 73, Miami 66

According to the seeding, this was supposed to be the closest game of the night. In their previous meeting, the Broncos won by 15 on the road.

At the end of the third quarter, the score was tied at 50.

After Meredith Shipman made a layup, the Broncos were up by 5 with 5:39 to go. Then Kendall McCoy hit a couple of threes for the RedHawks. Freshman Lauren Dickerson responded to a couple of WMU scores and Miami was up 64-63.

Deja Wimby then scored 7, putting Western Michigan up for good.

Senior Meredith Shipman led the Broncos with 30 points, 5 rebounds and 5 steals. Deja Wimby added 15.

Lauren Dickerson, the freshman phenom, led the RedHawks with 33, half of her team’s total. Kendall McCoy added 13.

Western Michigan travels to Cleveland to take on #1 seed Central Michigan at noon.

Ohio Bobcats 63, Eastern Michigan 49

You can read a full recap here.

Ohio takes on #4 seed Northern Illinois 30 minutes after the CMU/WMU game.

Buffalo 61, Bowling Green 45

An Andrea Cecil layup brought the Falcons within 3, 27-24, with 6:45 to go in the third quarter.

JoAnna Smith then went on a 14-4 run to give the Bulls the lead for good.

Buffalo out rebounded the Falcons, 47-35. They also were +6 in turnover margin.

Smith led the Bulls with 24 points and 8 rebounds. Cassie Oursler added 16 points and 5 rebounds. Stephanie Reid scored 12 and dished 9 assists. She also had 4 steals.

Abby Siefker had 13 points and 7 rebounds for the Falcons. Sydney Lambert added 10 points, and Carly Santoro had 10 rebounds.

Buffalo takes on #2 Ball State 30 minutes after the Ohio/NIU game.

Toledo Rockets 65, Akron Zips 37

In the sole blowout of the day, the Rockets used a huge second quarter to blow past the zips. Not only did they get the win, they were able to rest their players, with no starter playing in the 4th quarter.

Freshman Mariella Santucci led the Rockets with 12 points and 8 assists. Mikaela Boyd added 6 points and 10 rebounds.

Hannah Plybon ended her distinguished career for the Zips with 6 points.

The Rockets take on #3 Kent State 30 minutes after the Buffalo/BSU game.