Women's basketball begins quest back to MAC title game against Western Michigan
The road back to the Mid-American Conference Championship for the Central Michigan women's basketball team will begin with a familiar foe.
The Chippewas will take on in-state rival Western Michigan at noon Wednesday at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
No. 9 WMU had to play its way into Cleveland as only the top four seeds earned an automatic bid to Quicken Loans Arena. The Broncos defeated No. 8 Miami (OH) 73-66 Monday night in the first round of the tournament to set up another matchup with the Chippewas.
CMU has owned the series winning eight of the last 10 meetings including two this season and five straight. The Chippewas defeated the Broncos 66-62 in last year's quarterfinals. WMU's last win in the series came in the 2014-15 MAC quarterfinals.
The Chippewas rode the momentum from last year's win against WMU all the way to last season's title game where they fell to Buffalo, 73-71. UB's Stephanie Reid scored the game-winning basket as time expired, sending the Bulls to the NCAA Tournament instead, and sending CMU to the Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT).
Head coach Sue Guevara said the disappointment from that game will be what fuels her team as the Chippewas seek a return to the championship game.
“I’m going to go back to 3.2 (seconds),” she said. “There’s no way you can overlook anybody in this league. It doesn’t matter what your seed is. Everybody comes in hungry.”
This season, Chippewas (23-7, 15-3 MAC) enter the tournament as the No.1 seed and the outright MAC regular season champions, their first since the 1984-85 season.
"We're going to keep the same mindset because we've been excelling when we take it one game at a time and every game is a championship game," said junior forward Jewel Cotton. "That's what we're going to continue to do. It's working for us, so we're not going to fix it if it's not broken."
A look at the Chippewas
CMU finished the regular season ranked second in scoring at 78.8 points per game and field goal shooting percentage at 44 percent.
Sophomore guard Presley Hudson ranks fifth in scoring and assists at 17.3 points and five assists per game. Cotton is second in the MAC in field goal percentage at 58 percent.
The Chippewas rank first in the MAC in 3-point shots. CMU shoots 36 percent from beyond the arc. Junior guard Cassie Breen and Hudson lead the charge in that category as they are ranked second and fourth in 3-point shooting in the MAC, respectively.
To go along with their offensive firepower, the Chippewas are one of the top teams on the glass. Sophomore forward Reyna Frost leads the conference in rebounding at 11.1 per game, which has helped CMU maintain the second highest rebounding margin in the MAC.
Although the Chippewas are in the middle of the pack on the defensive side of the court, junior forward Tinara Moore anchors the that side of the floor. Moore was named MAC Defensive Player of the Year Tuesday after recording a conference high and program record 64 blocks this season. Moore also averages 16.3 points per game and 7.3 rebounds per contest.
Not only was Moore named to Defensive Player of the Year and selected to the All-Defensive team, she and Hudson were both named to the All-MAC first team, becoming the first duo to be named to the first team in the same year in CMU history.
Cotton and Frost were both named to the third team for their performances this season.
Previewing the Broncos
Western Michigan is 4-6 in its last 10 games, but has won the past two contests. The Broncos (18-12, 8-10 MAC) are led by senior Meredith Shipman and sophomore Breanna Mobley. Both players joined Cotton and Frost on the third team.
Mobley leads the team in scoring at 14.3 points and rebounds at 9.9 per game. Shipmanaverages 12.2 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game. Junior Marley Hill is second on the team with 14.1 points and averaged 5.7 rebounds.
The Broncos rank seventh in points per game (69.4) and fifth in scoring defense (65.2). WMU is led on the defensive side of the ball by sophomore Deja Wimby, who joined Moore on the All-MAC defensive team. Wimby leads the MAC with 52 steals.
What's at stake
The winner will not only have bragging rights, but will advance to the semifinals to face the winner of No. 4 Northern Illinois and No. 5 Ohio at 11 a.m. Friday.
CMU swept both NIU and Ohio in the regular season, while WMU split with the Huskies and was 0-1 against the Bobcats.
