Rapid Reaction: No. 2 Central Michigan 86, No. 6 Eastern Michigan 71
CLEVELAND — The Central Michigan women's basketball team is one game away from the Mid-American Conference Tournament title.
The Chippewas defeated Eastern Michigan 86-71 at Quicken Loans Arena on Friday to advance to Saturday's MAC Tournament Championship against Buffalo.
CMU improves to 22-9 record (14-4 in the MAC). It was another comeback victory for the Chippewas, who trailed by 13 points in the second quarter. CMU rallied from being down 15 on Wednesday to defeat Western Michigan in the quarterfinals.
Sophomore guard Cassie Breen led CMU with 24 points, while sophomore forward Tinara Moore and freshman guard Presley Hudson added 21 and 19 points, respectively.
The run
CMU trailed 41-37 at halftime and then trailed 45-40 in the third quarter. The Chippewas then used a 12-0 run to take the lead.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Breen and Hudson gave CMU the lead. A layup by redshirt junior forward Jewel Cotton and a pair of jumpers from senior guard Da'Jourie Turner made it a 52-45 game, which was the Chippewas' largest lead up to that point.
CMU had a seven-point lead, 57-50, with 4:02 in the third. CMU added a 10-0 run that lasted until 8:56 left in the game.
Breen hits from long range
CMU got some offense early on, courtesy of Cassie Been.
The sophomore guard went 3-of-5 from 3-point range in the first quarter. Her third three of the first quarter dwindled Eastern Michigan's lead to 20-17. Breen was .500 from three in the first half.
She added three more 3-pointers in the third quarter. The final 3-pointer was the final points of the quarter for CMU, which led 68-58 after capping an 8-0 run to end the quarter.
She finished the game 8-of-14 from 3-point range.
Moore offense
Early in the game, CMU turned to sophomore forward Tinara Moore to pour in some offense.
In the game's first six minutes, Moore totaled six of CMU's first 11 points.
Moore had a team-high 13 points in the first half and was tied for the team high in rebounds with four. She finished the game with 21 points and 11 rebounds.
What's next
CMU will advance to the MAC Tournament Championship against Buffalo, which will take place at 1 p.m. Saturday. CMU lost to the Bulls 67-61 on Jan. 6. The No. 8-seeded Bulls defeated No. 1 Akron 88-87 on Friday.
