Women beat EMU for first time in 17 games
Matthew StephensThe women's basketball team snapped a 16-game losing streak to Eastern Michigan Saturday in Ypsilanti with a 77-56 victory.
The losing streak, which dated back to January 29, 2000, was halted by the team's rebounding and overall team defense. CMU outrebounded EMU 46 to 35 and held the Eagles to just 27.9 percent shooting for the game.
"We outrebounded them and that was key," Coach Sue Guevara said. "We stuck to our game plan defensively throughout the game as well. It was the first game that we played man-to-man pretty much the whole game and it was good."
The Chippewas took control of the game early, having a 22-9 lead at the midway point of the first. The team took a 33-22 advantage into the half. The first half saw 31 total turnovers.
In the second half, Central's lead shrank to five, 41-36, with 12:26 left on the clock. The Chippewas bounced back with a 12-4 run to boost the lead back to 13 with just 8:04 left in the game. The Chippewas continued to add to their lead and the Eagles never got back within 10 points. A lay up by junior guard Britni Houghton gave the team its biggest lead of the contest, 71-47.
This contest saw four Chippewas score in double figures led by Houghton and freshman guard Brandie Baker with 18 each. Senior guard Angel Chan had 15 points and junior center Kaihla Szunko had 10.
Leading the rebounding charge for the Chippewas was Baker with 11, recording her first career double-double.
"When we get 11 rebounds from our point guard that's not too shabby," Guevara said.
This win evens Central Michigan's MAC record at 1-1 and pulls them to an overall mark of 9-6.
The team opened their MAC campaign with a tough loss to the Northern Illinois Huskies on Wednesday night, 75-70 at home.
Guevara was proud of how her team bounced back especially on the road and against a team like Eastern Michigan.
"It was a good game for us in the sense that we got knocked down at home and we came back from that," she said.
The team travels to Ball State on Wednesday.
sports@cm-life.com
