The BG women’s basketball team will go on the road to Eastern Michigan on Saturday, Feb. 15 nearly a week after their last game.
BG enters Saturday’s matchup at 20-3 overall and 10-1 in conference play.
The Falcons are coming off of a bye week, following their win over Miami last Sunday. Head coach Jennifer Roos said that this bye week “could not have come at a better time.”
“[The day] allows them to rest a little bit, catch up on some homework and also to have some aching bones and bruises heal up a little bit more, but we were excited this bye week happened when it did,” Roos said.
They will play Eastern Michigan for the second time this season.
Roos said once they reach the point in the conference slate where they start facing teams for the second time around, the Falcons must add new things here and there. In order to catch familiar opposing teams off guard in the second matchup, the Falcons must incorporate new plays from time to time customized for each opponent.
Although both teams are already familiarized with one another, Roos said that the second time around has a different feel to it.
“Anytime you play an opponent for the second time around in conference season, it always has a different feel to it even though you are familiar with the opponent’s players, their offensive sets and their defensive strategy,” Roos said.
Eastern Michigan enters Saturday’s matchup with a 14-8 overall record and is 4-7 in MAC play. The Eagles have conference wins at home to Kent State and Western Michigan and road wins over Ohio and Kent State. EMU lost at home to Ball State, Akron and Miami and at Northern Illinois, Buffalo, BG and Central Michigan.
The Falcons lead the overall series with Eastern Michigan 49-14. BG has won the last 12 meetings, including a 71-57 win over the Eagles earlier this season on Jan. 23 at the Stroh Center. The teams only faced off one time last season where the Falcons won 61-47 in Ypsilanti.
The Eagles welcomed back five letterwinners, including three starters, from the 2012-13 season. Last year’s squad finished 8-22 overall and 6-10 in the MAC.
Eastern Michigan is top 10 in the nation in both turnover margin and in steals. They also rank 30 in the nation in scoring offense, averaging 78.4 points per game
The Falcons will return to the Stroh Center on Wednesday Feb. 19 to face off with conference foe Central Michigan, who handed BG their only conference loss so far this year.
