Ball State women's basketball hosting Eastern Michigan

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Ball State women’s basketball (12-4, 4-1 Mid-American Conference) will look to avenge last season’s Mid-American Conference semifinal loss when it hosts the Eastern Michigan Eagles (12-4, 3-2 MAC) at 7 P.M. on Jan. 20 at Worthen Arena.

Ball State currently holds the advantage in the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s RPI rankings, sitting at 56th while the Eagles are ranked 86th. Only one other MAC team, Ohio, is ranked higher than either team.

In last seasons conference semifinal matchup, the sixth-seeded Eagle's took down the second-seeded Cardinal's.

In the loss, the Cardinals were out-rebounded 52-34, but the team enter tonight’s matchup hauling in 6.5 more rebounds per game than their opponents – sitting atop the MAC.

Ball State also has the most efficient offense in the conference with a 43.3 percent shooting percentage.

Eastern Michigan makes up for its sixth-ranked shooting percentage (40.4 percent) with volume. The Eagles have attempted a league-high 1120 shots en route to scoring 76.1 points per game, second in the MAC.

Like last season, this game features a matchup between two of the MAC’s most prolific scorers – Cardinal senior guard Nathalie Fontaine is second in the conference with 21.1 points per game and Eastern Michigan junior guard Cha Sweeney is fourth with 18.1 points per game.

Although Eastern Michigan scores more points per game, Ball State’s defense allows the third-fewest points per game in the MAC, 60.9.

Still, the Eagles lead the MAC with 10.9 steals per game and a plus-5.69 turnover margin and earlier this season beat the University of Michigan (11-6, 3-3 Big Ten).

In the coaches preseason poll, the two squads were voted to finish at the top of MAC West Division. Eastern Michigan was picked to finish first in the MAC West in the preseason MAC coaches’ poll despite receiving fewer first-place votes (4) than Ball State (8).