CMU & EMU pull off tight wins to enter the MAC championship

The #5 Central Michigan Chippewas continued its run through the MAC Women's Tournament in the semifinals by defeating the #1 Bowling Green Falcons, 69-66.

Freshman Crystal Bradford scored a game-high 20 points in the contest, including seven straight down the stretch, grabbed 12 rebounds and dished out eight assists, helping the Chippewas into their first MAC title game since 1991.

In addition to Bradford's near triple-double, freshman Jas'Mine Bracey scored 12 points & pulled down 12 rebounds, while Taylor Johnson finished with 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting. Sophomore Niki DiGuilio scored 12 points off the bench and freshman Jessica Green scored eight points, along with eight rebounds.




In the other semifinal game, clutch second-half performances from Tavelyn James, Natachia Watkins, and Paige Redditt propelled the #2 Eastern Michigan Eagles into the MAC championship after a thrilling come-from-behind 59-57 victory over the #3 Toledo Rockets. Toledo led for the first 39 minutes of the game, but the Eagles fought back to take their first lead with 1:09 remaining in the contest.

Toledo led by as many as 10 points with 7:45 to play, but Eastern finished the contest on a furious pace by ending the game on an 18-6 run. Redditt notched the game-winning layup and added a free throw with less than 30 seconds left to give her 11 points for the game. The Rockets mounted a frenzied attack in the final minute, but were unable to force overtime.

The Eagles (22-8; 14-3 MAC) punched their ticket to the MAC Championship game for the second straight season against a Rockets team whom they have now beaten on consecutive occasions in the tournament's semifinals. Eastern Michigan makes its third trip to the finals in school history and improves its mark to 3-4 in semifinal matchups.

The women's MAC Championship is set for this Saturday afternoon at 1 pm when the Eagles take on Central Michigan. For just the second time in MAC history, the tournament championship game will feature two schools from the state of Michigan. The last was the 1985 title game that featured Western and Central Michigan, with the Broncos posting a 73-63 victory in Toledo, Ohio.