'Cats Return Home for Eastern Michigan Thursday

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?Cats return home for three straight

After playing their last four games away from home, the Weber State women's basketball team (2-3) returns home for three straight games, beginning this Thursday when the ?Cats host Eastern Michigan. Weber State is coming off a 1-1 week last weekend where they lost to Arkansas State and beat Idaho at the Washington Husky Classic in Seattle.

Sara Tuomi named to Washington All-Tournament Team

WSU senior Sara Tuomi was named to the All-Tournament Team at the Husky Classic for her performance over the weekend. The Billings, Montana native averaged 18.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in WSU's two games. She scored 13 points and pulled down seven rebounds in WSU's 57-44 loss to Arkansas State on Friday and came back with a season-high 24 points, six rebounds, and tied her career-high with five steals in Sunday's 56-48 win over Idaho in the consolation game of the tournament. She scored 15 of her 24 points in the second half to lead the ?Cats to a win and also was 11-12 from the line. In the two games she was 14-16 from the free throw line. This season she is averaging 15.4 points per game, eighth best in the Big Sky and also ranks ninth in the league in rebounding at 6.8 per game. Tuomi is also second in the conference in minutes played at 35.8 minutes per game.

Ahkiah Hunter also posts strong tournament

Weber State senior guard Ahkiah Hunter also was strong in the two tournament games last week. Hunter averaged 15.5 points, and had three steals and three assists in the two games in Seattle. Hunter posted a career-high 20 points on 7-14 shooting in WSU's loss to Arkansas State on Friday. She followed that up with 11 points in the win over Idaho. The Huntington Beach, California native was also 10-12 from the free throw line in the two games. On the season Hunter is averaging 12.4 points which is 14th in the Big Sky.

Tashina Taylor tops in the Big Sky in field goal shooting

WSU's third senior Tashina Taylor leads the Big Sky Conference in field goal percentage after five games. On the season Taylor is 15-22 from the field for 68.2 percent shooting, the best in the Big Sky by nearly 18 percent. Taylor ranks third on the Wildcat team in scoring at 7.8 points per game and is second in rebounding at six per game. She has played in 82 games in her career at Weber State and ranks ninth in school history in career blocks with 38. She has five blocks this season and is sixth in the conference in blocks.

Turnovers continue to hurt ?Cats

Weber State is averaging 19.8 points per game so far this season, the third most of any team in the Big Sky. In the two games last week, WSU averaged 21.5 per game.

Wildcats looking for bench production

Weber State has had the same starting lineup in all five games this season. So far the five starters have combined for 79 percent of the Wildcat scoring this season. The WSU bench players combined for just ten points in the two games last week in Seattle.

WSU returns home for Eastern Michigan

Weber State will play just the second home game of the season this Thursday when they host the Eastern Michigan Eagles at 7:00 p.m. at the Dee Events Center. Thursday's game can will be broadcast live on KWCR 88.1 FM with Eric Knighton calling the action. The game can also be heard on weberstatesports.com and can be seen on bigskytv.org.

About Eastern Michigan

Thursday night Eastern Michigan comes to Ogden for their first ever game against the Wildcats. The Eagles enter this game with a 4-1 overall record. This year the Eagles won their first four games, beating Temple Baptist, Detroit, Wright State, and Alabama. They are coming off their only loss of the year a 63-41 loss to North Carolina State last Saturday in a tournament in the Bahamas.

The Eagles are averaging 68.0 points per game so far this year and are giving up just 44.6. They are also shot 47 percent from the field, including 45 percent from three-point land, and they are holding their opponents to 33 percent shooting from the field. EMU is averaging 22 turnovers per game and shooting just 68 percent from the free throw line.

So far this season the Eagles are led by sophomore guard Alyssa Pittman who is averaging 21 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, while shooting 49 percent from the field. Sophomore Kelly Watts is averaging 10.2 points and a team-high six rebounds a game and is shooting 57 percent from the field.

Eastern Michigan is coming off a 16-13 overall record in 2006-07 and was 10-2 in the MAC, finishing second in the league. The Eagles are coached by AnnMarie Gilbert who is in her first season with the team. They return starters and ten letterwinners off last year's squad.

All-time series

This will be the first ever meeting between Weber State and Eastern Michigan. It is also the first ever game for Weber State against a team fro the current Mid-American Conference.

Big Sky rankings

Weber State leads the Big Sky in three categories so far this season: scoring defense, defensive three-point percentage, and defensive rebounding. The ?Cats are allowing just 59.8 points per game so far in five games. They are also holding their opponents to 24 percent shooting from three-point land and allowing their opponents to average just 37.4 rebounds per game.

The Wildcats are also third in the league in free throw percentage, and field goal percentage defense. They rank eighth in scoring offense, sixth in field goal percentage and eighth in rebounding.

Individually, Tashina Taylor leads the league in field gaol percentage at 68.2 percent. Sophomore Tonya Schnibbe is fifth in assists at 4.8 per game.

Looking ahead

The ?Cats have just one game this week. After Thursday's game they will have nine days until their next game when they host Colorado State on Saturday, December 8. WSU will host BYU on December 12 to wrap up their current three game home stand.

Weber State University Athletics

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