Women's basketball holds on for 10-point win against Rockets
Patrick SillerThe woman's basketball team put an end to Toledo's four-game winning streak with an 80-70 win Tuesday at Rose Arena.
"It was a really nice win for us," said coach Sue Guevara. "Like I have said before, we bounce back after a loss and we did that here tonight with a big win against a pretty good basketball team."
CMU's 10-2 run closed out Toledo, which came within two with three minutes, 30 seconds remaining.
"In the last minute I was confident," senior Angel Chan said. "Then after Latisha (Luckett) got that steal, that is when I knew we won the game."
The Chippewas fell behind 7-2 early after Toledo freshman Naama Shafi's scored five points in the first two minutes. The Rockets maintained the lead until a layup by Britni Houghton tied the game at 17. Houghton was fouled on the play, and she hit the ensuing free-throw which put CMU up by one.
CMU (16-13 overall, 8-7 Mid-American Conference) held the lead for nearly nine minutes. At one point, the Chippewas led by as much as 10, 31-21, at the 7:07 mark. Toledo battled its way back, tying the game at 35-35 with just 2:15 remaining in the half. The teams were tied 39-39 at halftime.
The second half began with three lead changes in the first six minutes. CMU fell behind 50-49 after a jumper by Toledo's Melissa Goodall with 14:06 remaining. The Chippewas came back to tie the game up 53-53 at the 10:18 mark of the half. From that point on, CMU held the lead despite a 7-0 run by the Rockets.
"In that last timeout we took with about three minutes left, I looked at them and told them that we are going to win this ball game," Guevara said. "I thought that our players were very composed tonight."
Brandi Baker led the team and tied the game-high with 22 points. Baker also led all players with seven rebounds and was one of four Chippewas that reached double-digit points. Shafi scored 22 points to lead the Rockets in scoring.
"I truly felt, in my opinion, that we saw the freshman of the year in the Mid-American Conference in Brandie Baker," Guevara said. "I thought that she had a tremendous all-around game. She put us on her back when we needed the shots down the stretch."
With the win, CMU avoided its third consecutive season sweep by Toledo.
The Rockets (17-11, 11-4 MAC) were second in the MAC West standings before their loss to CMU.
"Today we came out to be the spoiler," Chan said. "That is what we did, we spoiled the game for them tonight."
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