History of women's basketball MAC Tournament appearances
Wednesday marks the 34th Mid-American Conference Tournament for Central Michigan women's basketball program.
Pursuing its fourth conference championship in program history, the Chippewas enter as the No. 2 seed and are set to play the Western Michigan Broncos in the quarterfinals at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. CMU swept WMU during the regular season.
CMU's last conference title came in 2013 in former CMU star Crystal Bradford's sophomore season. The fourth-seeded Chippewas defeated No. 3 Akron 86-68 in the final. It was Guevara's first and only tournament title of her tenure.
Bradford was named tournament MVP as CMU went on to the NCAA Tournament as a No. 11 seed. She recorded 36 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists in a first round 78-73 loss to No. 6 Oklahoma in Columbus.
A year earlier in 2012, the Chippewas lost in the championship to Eastern Michigan by one point, 72-71. Bradford, a freshman, was named to the MAC All-Tournament Team, recording three straight double-doubles and setting three tournament records with 36 made field goals on 80 attempts and 53 rebounds.
Before the 2013 championship, CMU underwent a 29-year championship drought in which it reached the finals five times, but could not produce a win.
CMU's first two conference tournament titles came back-to-back in 1983 and 1984 under Head Coach Laura Golden. In '83, the third-seeded Chippewas defeated top-seeded Miami 78-73 in Oxford for the program's first tournament championship.
In '84, top-seeded CMU routed Toledo 71-55 in Rockford. LaTanga (Cox) Christmas, who recorded 1000 points and 1000 rebounds during her career at CMU, was named tournament MVP. CMU recorded a perfect 18-0 MAC record and 27-3 overall record in '84.
CMU went on to the championship game the next three seasons under Head Coach Donita Davenport, but were withheld from a three-peat by the Broncos of Western Michigan in '85, losing 73-63.
CMU lost the next year 92-85 to Ohio in overtime and lost to Bowling Green 63-62 in '87.
After a three-year hiatus from reaching the MAC championship game, CMU returned in '91, but were blown out by Toledo 93-66 in Detroit.
From 1993 until 2008, the Chippewas were ousted from the tournament in the first round 15 straight seasons. CMU has 16 total one-and-done MAC tournament appearances. The other first-round exit came in 1990.
