CMU women ready for showdown with No. 2 Bowling Green
CLEVELAND - The most important game of the season is upon them.
The CMU women’s basketball team is in the semifinals of the Mid-American Conference tournament for the first time since 1992, and they do not want to go home just yet.
At noon Friday at Quicken Loans Arena, the No. 3 seed Chippewas will face No. 2 Bowling Green with a chance to reach the championship game on Saturday.
“We are a much better basketball team now then when we played them back then,” said head coach Sue Guevara. “We lost to Buffalo and we beat them. We lost to Bowling Green and, yes, we welcome another shot at them.”
CMU beat Buffalo on Wednesday 90-69 behind a 40-point outburst from senior Shonda Long.
Last time the Chippewas faced Bowling Green they lost 90-62 in what was by far the worst game of the season for CMU.
Long was held to just seven points in the game and the Falcons had five players reach double figures. BGSU shot 19 first-half free throws compared to just four for CMU.
“I think as a team we are gaining more confidence. We have to make it difficult for them to shoot,” said senior Kaihla Szunko. “I think if we take that away and play good defense we will be OK.”
The Falcons struggled in their first game of the MAC tournament against Ohio, trailing for most of the game. BGSU leading scorer Lauren Prochaska averages about 18 points per game, but was just 2-for-8 from the field for 10 points on Wednesday.
Tracy Pontius carried the team by scoring 15 points as they escaped an upset attempt by Ohio.
BGSU shot just 38.9 percent as a team and the Chippewas will rely on defense to force some more bad shots for the Falcons on Friday.
“We still have things to work on, each day we work on something different,” Long said. “We just keep on working at getting better at something that we did not do well last time out.”
Bowling Green (26-4 overall) has had few lapses throughout the season and will prove to be a tough for any team that stands in front of them.
The Chippewas understand the task at hand and how important discipline will be throughout the game. Senior Kaihla Szunko said she thinks it is a level playing field this time around.
“When it comes to tournament time, teams come to play,” Szunko said. “I know we are ready and I think it is time for us to go out and do what we have got to do.”
CMU vs. Bowling Green Tipoff: 12 noon, Quicken Loans Arena (Cleveland) TV/Radio: SportsTime Ohio, Comcast Michigan, ESPN3.com, ESPN Full Court/91.5 WMHW-FM Previous meeting: Bowling Green had five players score in double figures in its 90-62 win on Jan. 22 in Bowling Green, Ohio
