Sixteen turnovers plague women's basketball in loss at Buffalo
Sixteen turnovers and zero bench-points hindered Central Michigan women’s basketball Wednesday, as the team suffered its first loss in Mid-American Conference play at Buffalo, 67-61.
Despite 23 points and 7 assists from freshman point guard Presley Hudson, the Chippewas — who average 73 points per game — only managed 61 against a physical Bulls defense that has kept opponents to 56 a game this season.
“We knew they were going to be physical with us and they were,” said Central Michigan Head Coach Sue Guevara. “I thought they got the 50/50 balls. They ended up with 20 offensive rebounds — 12 in the second half — and their bench outscored our bench 29 to zero.”
Although Hudson led CMU offensively, she contributed to half of the team’s 16 total turnovers.
“(Hudson) is going to watch the film tomorrow; she’ll watch the whole game. She’s playing with the ball too much,” Guevara said. “She has to cut down how much she’s drippling the ball. She has to change her speed and the type of dribble moves she uses.”
Guevara said Hudson shot the ball in the fourth quarter how she wanted her to shoot all game — coming off screens.
Senior guard Da’Jourie Turner added 12 points of her own and 6-foot-3-inch sophomore forward Tinara Moore finished with a double-double, 10 points and 15 rebounds.
Despite Moore’s 15 rebounds, Guevara said being outrebounded 20 to 12 on the offensive glass is unacceptable.
“We aren’t boxing out. We’re trying to out-jump people and that’s not going to happen,” Guevara said. “When someone is 6-foot-4, I don’t care if they’re a woman, you have to box out. Our guards have to do a better job of rebounding the ball also.”
It was Bulls junior guard Joanna Smith who was able to drop 17 points on the Chippewas in the first half alone, which helped the Bulls to a 35-26 halftime lead.
In the second half, Central Michigan kept it close, cutting the Bulls' lead to six when Hudson sunk a circus-shot layup, while drawing the foul to make it 39-34 at 6:27 in the third quarter.
But UB would not surrender the lead, running the score to 54-45 by capping off the third quarter by a Mirte Scheper jumper with five seconds remaining.
As they did all game, the Chippewas lingered long into the fourth quarter — one offensive hot streak away from taking a lead — but couldn’t get the offensive spark to close the gap. The deficit was as close as two points, 63-61, with 13 seconds remaining in the game.
Central Michigan (7-6, 1-1 MAC) takes the court next Saturday against the Zips at 2 p.m. in Akron, Ohio.
