Breen helps women's basketball snap losing streak in win over SIUE
After cutting a seven-point deficit to two at the end of the third quarter, Central Michigan women's basketball Associate Head Coach Heather Oesterle told her team to keep its "foot on the gas."
The Chippewas used man-to-man defense in the fourth quarter and sophomore guard Cassie Breen scored 10 of her 30 points in the final period as CMU defeated Southern Illinois-Edwardsville 78-65 in a Monday afternoon game at McGuirk Arena.
With the win, the Chippewas snap a four-game losing streak and improve to 5-4. It is the team's first win since Nov. 25 at Loyola-Chicago.
“It’s another notch in our belt," Breen said. "We have a lot more games left, but the MAC is really what’s important. These preseason games are us getting to know each other more on the court. It’s good to struggle a little bit, but there’s a better outcome down the road.”
Down 57-55 heading into the fourth, a jumper from redshirt junior Jewel Cotton tied the game at 57 in the first minute. After Breen hit two free throws to tie the game at 59, she hit a 3-pointer to give the Chippewas a 62-59 lead.
CMU extended its lead to six with a 3-pointer from freshman guard Presley Hudson. She then dished to Cotton, who gave CMU a 67-59 lead with six minutes remaining.
The Chippewas grabbed a double-digit lead when Breen scored her 27th point of the game with 3:11 remaining and forced an SIUE timeout. Breen capped the scoring with her sixth 3-pointer of the game with under a minute left.
“Defensively, we picked it up a lot," said senior guard Da'Jourie Turner of the second half. "It put the pressure on and that kind of built our momentum offensively.”
The Chippewas scored 52 points in the second half after scoring only 26 in the first half.
“Overall, in the second half we shared the ball a lot more than what we did in the first half,” Oesterle said.
The Chippewas were a dismal 3-of-11 from 3-point range in the first half and were outrebounded 29-20 at the break. They also did not lead until the fourth quarter.
At the end of the game, CMU was 9-of-22 from beyond the arc and shot 40 percent from the field. After committing a season-high 20 turnovers in a 65-61 loss to Memphis on Dec. 15, the Chippewas only had nine giveaways against the Cougars.
Turner said the Chippewas are learning to pull away in close games.
“We started off kind of close with (SIUE) in the beginning," Turner said. "Because we learned from our last mistakes, we knew how to push away from it.”
Breen echoed her teammate.
"We’ve been in tight games," she said. "We don’t want it to come down to the wire so we know how to push through that.”
CMU nearly had to push through the second half without Cotton, who needed help off the floor after suffering an ankle injury late in the second quarter. She iced and taped it up and returned for the second half. Cotton missed all but four games last season due to a torn ACL.
Breen had 30 points, including 14 in the third quarter. Hudson totaled 16 points while Turner added 13. Sophomore forward Tinara Moore had 10 points and 13 rebounds in her second consecutive game coming off the bench.
“I thought (Moore) came in and gave us a lot of good minutes," Oesterle said. "She’s the type of player that she’s just got to come out and be aggressive. She’s got the length and the strength. She’s a strong kid and she’s just got to be more aggressive with the ball.”
Playing without Guevara
The Chippewas were without Head Coach Sue Guevara, who was out of town for a funeral. Oesterle said that the coaching staff was informed on Thursday and spent the past three days preparing the team for the Cougars.
“We missed her today," Oesterle said. "(Our coaching staff) tried to do everything the way she would do it. I thought for the most part the kids really responded, especially in the second half.”
Turner said there was added stress with trying to win the game without Guevara.
“It more pressure on us because we wanted to win it for her," she said. "We want her to know that even though she’s gone, we’ll still take care of business.”
CMU will travel to Philadelphia to take on Rider at 1 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 28 in the St. Joseph's Tournament.
“I think this is a little bit of momentum going into playing Rider next week and into conference," Oesterle said. "Hopefully we can build on this."
