WBB Falls Short in Season Opener Against Western Michigan

Box score (PDF) | Highlights | Post Game Press Conference

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – The women’s basketball squad from Eastern Michigan University commenced their Mid-American Conference season on Jan. 1, suffering a defeat to Western Michigan University, 65-51, at the George Gervin GameAbove Center in Ypsilanti. Sisi Eleko (Montreal, Quebec/New Hope Academy/Canisius) played a key role offensively with a game-high of 23 points and 15 rebounds, marking her eighth double-double of the season, while Elena Cabello (Malaga, Spain/IED Mediterraneo) matched her career best with eight points and additionally contributed a career-high of 10 rebounds for the Eagles (1-10, 0-0 MAC) against the Broncos (4-7, 1-0 MAC).



How It Transpired

The Eagles found themselves down, 17-9, at the conclusion of the first period, with Eleko contributing five points and five assists. Both Olivia Smith (Fort Wayne, Ind./South Side) and Mackenzie Amalia (Beaver Falls, Pa./Blackhawk/Canisius) added two points each as the Eagles struggled with just a 17 percent shooting rate while the Broncos hit 47 percent of their attempts.



Eastern opened the second quarter with vigorous defense that resulted in a 6-0 run, prompting a timeout by WMU. Eleko scored four challenging points in the lane and Brooklyn Thrash (Wayne, Ohio/Elmwood/Canisius) sank a mid-range jumper to kick off the scoring, forcing turnovers in two of WMU’s three possessions. The Broncos responded with a 21-3 run after their timeout, establishing a 20-point lead by halftime (40-20), despite Eleko achieving her eighth double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds with 7:14 left in the second quarter.



The Eagles initiated the third quarter with a 10-3 run, beginning with Cabello, who made two layups to energize the offense. During this stretch, the Eagles converted 4-of-5 from the floor, including sinking their first two three-pointers of the game, while restricting the Broncos to just 1-of-9 shooting. Subsequently, Jada Williams (Williamstown, N.J./Gloucester Catholic/St. Peter’s) added four points as the Eagles outscored their opponents in the quarter, 16-11, narrowing the gap to 15 (51-36) entering the final period.



Eastern won the last quarter, 15-14, yet it was insufficient to close the gap as the Broncos secured the victory, 65-51. Eleko recorded seven additional points while Cabello contributed four more to match her career-best (eight). Both teams finished the quarter with shooting stats of 6-of-13 to keep the game competitive.



Game Highlights

» Sisi Eleko notched her eighth double-double of the season and the 26th of her career, scoring 23 points and grabbing 15 rebounds. Eleko leads the MAC in double-doubles and ranks within the top 10 nationally, achieving this milestone during the first half after amassing 11 points and 10 rebounds before intermission. She has now scored in double figures in all 11 games played this season (53 times throughout her career) and has surpassed 20 points for the fifth time this season (13 over her career).

» Sisi Eleko concluded the game with 15 rebounds, marking the third occasion this year and the seventh in her career where she has recorded 15 or more rebounds in a game. Eleko, who last accomplished this feat with a performance of 17 boards at UTRGV (Dec. 19), has now accumulated 129 rebounds this season.

» Elena Cabello contributed a career-high 10 rebounds, doubling her previous best of five which she achieved twice, most recently against St. Thomas (Dec. 28). In fact, Cabello entered the game with 22 total rebounds this season, averaging 2.2 per game.

» Elena Cabello finished the contest with eight points – all from drives to the basket – equaling her career-high scoring for the second time this season after previously scoring eight against Xavier University on Dec. 1. Cabello, who had earlier set a career-best with eight points at the University of Toledo on Feb. 18, 2023, has accumulated 15 points over the last two games (seven against the University of St. Thomas on Dec. 28), eclipsing her previous two-game high of 13 points established in the 2022-23 season. That year, she tallied six points at home against Ball State University (Feb. 8) before adding seven against WMU (Feb. 11).

» Mackenzie Amalia recorded eight assists in this game, marking the seventh time in 11 games this season she has achieved more than six assists. Amalia, who began the game with an average of 5.5 assists per game, has tied her longest career streak of consecutive games with at least six assists at three, following a performance of six assists against Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (Dec. 20) and seven against St. Thomas. She accomplished this feat last year with Canisius University when she had six against Marist College (Feb. 15, 2024), eight versus Siena University (Feb. 17), and six at Manhattan University (Feb. 22).

» The Eagles concluded with a shooting percentage of 2-of-16 from three-point range.the streak to prolong their existing run to 114 straight games with at least one successful three-pointer. After commencing the game 0-of-8 from beyond the arc, Brooklyn Thrash netted a long-range basket in the third quarter to sustain the streak. The last EMU failure to convert a three-point attempt occurred on Nov. 29, 2020, when Eastern concluded 0-of-15 from beyond the arc at home against UIC.

» EMU’s string of consecutive games with 5+ successful three-pointers concluded at 11 games after shooting 2-of-16 versus the Broncos. The Eagles, who had successfully made 5+ in all 10 games this season leading into the matchup, achieved the second-longest sequence since the 2013-14 squad commenced their season with 5+ makes in 13 consecutive games.

» As a collective, the Eagles committed 15 turnovers, which equals the second-lowest count of the season (15 at the University of Detroit Mercy, Nov. 26), with the 10 at home against Xavier (Dec. 1) being the lowest.

 

Historical Insights

» Following the defeat, the Eagles dropped to 1-10 overall and 0-1 in MAC competition while the Broncos improved to 4-7 overall and 1-0 in conference play.

» Eastern’s all-time record against Western is now 53-44, and they stand at 29-17 when hosting the Broncos. WMU has now triumphed in three successive encounters and secured two in a row in Ypsilanti.

» The Eagles now possess a 22-22 record in their MAC opener and are 11-8 when the initial MAC game of the year occurs at home. This loss ended a two-game winning streak in such matchups.

» The Eagles stand at 16-28 in their MAC home opener and 1-1 when facing WMU in that event. The last occurrence was on Jan. 8, 1992, featuring an 83-38 victory for Eastern.

» Eastern holds a 1-1 record in games played on New Year’s Day and 0-1 when competing in a MAC matchup. The previous game was a 71-46 victory over Columbia on Jan. 1, 2005.

 

Next Up

Eastern will return to the court and travel to Bowling Green, Ohio, to take on the Bowling Green State University Falcons on Saturday, Jan. 4, marking EMU’s first road MAC contest of the year. The game at the Stroh Center is set to tip off at 7 p.m. and will be streamed live on ESPN+.