Women seek to rebound from loss
The women's basketball team looks to rebound from a poor offensive performance at 2 p.m. Saturday when it faces Buffalo at Rose Arena.
CMU is coming off of its worst offensive performance of the year - in which it scored 65 points against Toledo - its lowest total since a 68-65 loss to Ohio in the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
"It was a complete team loss," said coach Sue Guevara. "A game like last night where it was a team offensive letdown was very disappointing. I have preached all season long the importance of defense and rebounding. When the scoring doesn't come, the defense has to be there."
Buffalo (4-14 overall, 0-5 MAC) has yet to notch a win in the MAC this season, but Guevara said the record is misleading.
"When you have a team that hasn't tasted a conference victory yet, and they are coming to a place where a team like us has just lost. That is one of the most dangerous teams to play," she said. "They are like a wounded animal fighting for its life, they are going to come out fighting."
This season, Buffalo's 63.4 points per game ranks 10th in the MAC, but assistant coach Bill Ferrara said the Bulls have a solid post game.
"They have two good inside kids, so post play is their biggest strength," Ferrara said. "Their skill and their points come from their post players and we have got to try and stop that."
Central leads the MAC with 77 points per game.
Last season, CMU won its lone MAC game against the Bulls in convincing fashion, 80-57 on Feb. 16. Four Chippewas scored in double figures, led by Candace Wilson's 19 and Britni Houghton's 16. Latisha Luckett also fell just two points short of the first triple-double in CMU history. She scored eight points, grabbed 11 rebounds and came away with eight steals.
"Every game I look to have a performance like that but the main goal is to win the game," Houghton said. "I just want to stick to the game plan and if that happens, it doesn't matter how much I score."
Guevara and Houghton remain optimistic about how the team will respond given its play in similar situations.
"Every time we have lost, we have followed that with two good days of practice," Guevara said. "It is like we get knocked down, but we come back and train hard and we fight. I see us coming back; we are resilient."
sports@cm-life.com
